Fraunces Tavern in Valentine's Manual

This print of the historic Fraunces Tavern was published in the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1854 by D.T. Valentine.

This illustration does not depicts the architecture of the building exactly the way it was in 1854. See, for example, illustrations in works by Benson John Lossing (1813-1891), published in the 1852 and another in 1874 (before and after the Valentine's print). Both illustrations show at least three doors in the Pearl Street front. Only one is shown in the Valentine's print above. The illustration of 1852, already shows an extension to the left, in Pearl Street, that existed until the restoration in 1906-1907, but it does not exist in the Valentine's print. It also shows an enlarged building on the extreme right on Broad Street, corner of Water Street, with seven rows of windows, in a warehouse-like design. Other illustrations do not confirm the existence of such a building. It was probably a building with three rows of windows as depicted in the Woodrow Wilson's book.

The referred Valentine's Manual was compiled in February 1854 or before and it does not mention the fire that destroyed much of the building, in June 1852, but it does mention its preservation (page 550, contributed by William J. Davis): "The city of New York has made many futile attempts to erect to the memory of Washington, a suitable monument. It is already done. The preservation of Fraunces' Tavern is the greatest monument that can be conceived or erected. Let the demagogue who would barter the liberties of his country for his personal aggrandizement, visit it, and stand within that room [the Long Room], where the greatest of men, resigned his power, and became a simple farmer again,...".

The illustration above was a Lithograph by G. Hayward at 120 Water St. He was lithographer who made many works for the Common Council at the time. The drawing is not signed which leads to the conclusion that Hayward could be the author of the original sketch. This lithograph was made specially for the Valentine's Manual 1854 to illustrate an article about Fraunces Tavern.

This could be the building that was restored after the fire of June 15, 1852, because about 1850 the artist Thomas Wakeman (1812-1878) created an illustration depicting a Long Room with a decayed ceiling and walls. It was certainly not the time the Long Room was visited by the contributor of the Valentine's Manual for the

The building burned in the second fire was at least four stories high, according to the report in the New York Times (June 16, 1852). The fire burned the roof. The walls on the Pearl Street side fell outward to a line just over the second-story windows. On the Broad Street side, the walls remained intact.

Ernst Buermeyer leased part of the property in 1845 and he ran the Broad Street Hotel on the place, until 1860.

The original building was a family residence. Construction began in 1719, on the corner of Dock Street (now Pearl Street) and Broad Street. It was bought by Samuel Fraunces in 1762 and established as a tavern the following year.