Fraunces Tavern at 54 Pearl St.

The Fraunces Tavern at 54 Pearl Street, from Broad Street under renovation, looking southeast, in 1890. The old tavern was also under renovation that year. Photo by Robert L. Bracklow (1849-1919) dated 1890. Source: New-York Historical Society.

Etienne de Lancey began to erect the original building as a family residence, in 1719. In 1762 it was purchased by Samuel Fraunces that opened the Queen’s Head Tavern, in the place.

Since 1881, Jacob Etzel had operated the Jacob Etzel Hotel at 101 Broad Street, in the old Fraunces Tavern. The 54 Pearl Street address, in the same building, was a store leased for the J. Grimes Steam & Gas Fitting and its sign can be seen in the photo above. The No. 56 Pearl Street can be seen in a door to the left at the extension of the building (see enlargement on the right).

In the early 1890, the Fraunces Tavern building was in very bad condition and a renovation began, with completion scheduled for June, the same year. McCarthy estate was the owner and Ewald Hagan had leased the property on May 1. He explained to the New York Times (May 15, 1890) that "the colonial relic was not a comfortable habitation as it stood". The first floor was dropped to street level and the exterior was remodeled with cast iron and glass storefronts. Beginning in September of the same year, the Holland Society's agents marked some historical landmarks in New York with tablets, including the site of Fraunces Tavern (about October).