Fraunces Tavern, Drawing before 1890

The Fraunces Tavern in an engraving (right) signed in 1893 by an artist from American School. A similar drawing was published in 1894 by the New York Times (see below).

However, this illustration depicts the building before its renovation in 1890, when the ground floor was dropped to street level and the exterior was remodeled with cast iron and glass storefronts.

There was another column of windows in the building to the left (outside of illustration). They were removed in the 1906/1907 restoration, because they were not part of the original building of the 18th century. That 6th column, however, did not follow the geometry of the others and made the appearance of the Pearls Street façade, somewhat strange.

There were "Washington's Head Quarters" signs on both façades at Pearl and Broad Streets. Later, they were replaced by "Fraunce's Tavern signs". Until the early 20th century it was common to put the apostrophe before the "s" when writing the tavern's name, although the proprietor's name was Samuel Fraunces, not Fraunce.

The building was originally erected in 1719 as a residence. Samuel Fraunces owned the property from 1762 to 1785 and operated a historic tavern on the place.