Broadway and Fifth Avenue at Madison Square

Several hotels began to be erected in this area, where the two arterial thoroughfares in New York City meet. The St. Germain, at Twenty-second Street, was the first (1856), followed by St. James (1857), Fifth Avenue Hotel (1859), Albemarle (1860), Hoffman House (1864) and others.

The Worth Monument in the center of the photo, at West 25th Street, was dedicated in 1857. Worth House is behind it. The spire of the Marble Collegiate Church, dedicated in 1854, is on the right on Fifth Avenue and 29th Street.

Below, another photo taken about the same day from a higher point. Fifth Avenue Hotel, opened in 1859, is on the left. The spire seen on the left belongs to the Broadway Tabernacle on Sixth Avenue at 29th Street, dedicated in 1859 and demolished in the early 20th century.

The intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue at Madison Square, looking north from St. Germain Hotel (today site of Flatiron Building). Photograph by American Studio, in the early 1860s. Source: Photographic views of New York City, from the collections of the New York Public Library. Continue below...