Hoffman House, New York City

Hoffman House was an hotel located on Broadway (Madison Square West) with and annex on the corner of West 25th Street, in New York City. It opened in 1864, expanded several times and closed in 1915.

The site on which Hoffman House was erected was a portion of the estate of Garret Storms, later owned by the Hoffmans and Livingstons. The hotel was named after Samuel Verplanck Hoffman (1802-1880), a wealthy merchant, senior member of the dry goods firm of Hoffman, Waldo & Co. He retired from business in 1842, was a vestryman in Trinity Church and was identified with several charitable institutions. His ancestors first arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1655.

In 1859, the nearby Fifth Avenue Hotel was opened and the adjacent Albemarle Hotel opened in 1860. This year, the Hoffman and Livingston estates determined the construction of a hotel that would became the Hoffman House.

The original Hoffman House was a seven-story palatial establishment completed about October 1864. At the time, the hotel contained 212 rooms. It was designed in Italian Renaissance and decorated with fine paintings.

It was formally opened to the public by the proprietors Read, Wall & Co., with Daniel Howard. Cassius H. Read (1832-1915) came to New York when 19 years old as a clerk for Howard, his relative, who kept the Irving House on Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets. Later, Read became steward of the Albemarle. When Howard opened the Hoffman House he took Read and a young man of the name Wall with him and gave them an interest in the business.

In November 1864 Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893) of the Union Army and staff took quarters at the Hoffman House. General Winfield Scott also stayed at Hoffman House for a few days. They were sent for the Confederate plot to burn down some New York City's prominent buildings.

In 1867, architect George Edward Harding (1843-1907) lived at Hoffman House while studied at Columbia College. He designed notable decorations of the main floor of the old Hoffman House, including the main entrance on Broadway, probably for a later renovation before 1885.

Howard retired in 1866 and was succeeded by Read & Mitchell. In 1871, on the termination of the lease, Cassius H. Read (1832-1915) became the sole proprietor.

In 1869, two houses on West 24th Street were added and later housed a café. In 1870, the buildings on 25th Street were joined to the hotel. The five-story building on the corner of Broadway was renovated with the addition of a sixth floor, in the form of a mansard roof. In 1876 it was found that the accommodations were still inadequate and two more houses, with forty rooms, were taken in.

In 1881, Edward Stiles Stokes (1841-1901) joined the firm. Stokes was a former owner of a New York oil refinery and a guest in Hoffman House, when he killed James Fisk in the Central Grand Hotel. When he was arrested and locked up in the Tombs he sent for Read and asked him to take charge of his affairs. After serving his term in prison, Stokes and Read became partners in various business. Read gave Stokes a one-third interest in his Hoffman House business. The hotel became a stock company and gradually Stokes managed to get control of the majority of the stock.

In 1882, Stokes suggested the idea of doubling the capacity of the hotel by the erection of an eight-story fire-proof building on 25th Street, directly communicating with the one on Broadway. This annex (behind the other annex on Broadway and 25th St.), in Italian Renascence architecture, was completed in 1885.

In December 1893, the Hoffman House was declared bankrupt with business to be continued by order from the Supreme Court. Stokes, the manager, was given full power to continue the business until the outcome of the proceedings. On January 3, 1894, an order from the Supreme Court determined the Hoffman House to be sold under foreclosure to pay off a mortgage to William Earle Dodge Stokes (1852-1926), E.S. Stokes' cousin. Later, the Hoffman House Company was organized, with E.S. Stokes as president.

On June 11, 1894, Hoffman House closed for renovation and expansion to accommodate nearly 400 guests. Three floors were added to the main building (1111 Broadway), which reached 10 floors in height.

Demolition of the annex, on the southwest corner of 25th Street (1115 Broadway), began on June 19, the same year. It was replaced by a 10-story annex in Moorish style (the one in the photo on the top), designed by the Alfred Zucker & Company. The same company employed John H. Eldelman, who designed the landmark Decker Building, in Union Square, also in Moorish style (1893).

The Hoffman House at 1111 Broadway reopened on January 1, 1895, with John P. Caddagan as hotel manager. The new Hoffman House annex (1115 Broadway) was completed many months later.

Stokes, president of the Hoffman House Company, continued to act as manager of the hotel until it was closed in 1894, for expansion. When the hotel reopened in 1895, John P. Caddagan was the hotel manager and Stokes continued as Hoffman House Company's president.

The iconic Hoffman House Bar opened about 1881 and became a popular resort for politicians and sportsmen. It was finished in mahogany and richly decorated with paintings and sculptures. The ceiling was frescoed and the tiled floor was strewn with Turkish rugs. It was closed in July 1896 and a new smaller bar opened in the 25th Street wing.

In 1897, Stokes retired and disposed of his interest in the hotel to a syndicate headed by Graham Poly of Brooklyn. At the time, the company had an eight-year leasehold on the property from the Gerry state, with the privilege of ten years' extension. In January, 1898, Stokes brought an action against the new Hoffman House Company to recover money he had expended on the place while he was receiver of the Hoffman House. On June 10, 1901, as a result of Stokes' action, the execution issued by the Supreme Court resulted in the apprehension of most of the Hoffman House's art treasures. Stokes died on November 2, the same year.

For many years Hoffman House was the informal headquarters of the National Democratic Committee and one of the greatest resorts for turfmen in New York.

On June 14, 1904, the New York Times announced that the Hoffman House, the old building, would be torn down and rebuilt. The decision was reached by the directors of the Hoffman House Company and John P. Caddagan, the manager of the hotel and president of the corporation, which was composed of representatives of the Gerry and Hoffman estates. But the imposing 14 stories high new building was not erected.

Francis S. Kinney of the adjoining Albemarle bought the property of the old Hoffman House. The old building was demolished in mid-1906. The new 12-story Hoffman House building, at 1111 Broadway, was completed by October, 1907 and opened to the public on December 31. It occupied a frontage of 50 feet on Broadway, with an "L" fronting 50 feet on 24th Street. This, with the 50-foot frontage of the annex, on the corner of 25th Street, gave the entire structure 100 feet on Broadway.

In December 1910, the Hoffman House went into bankruptcy again. Frederick Laughlin was the receiver. On April 4, 1911, the Albemarle manager, Alexander Macdonald, assumed control of the hotel. By this time, a big sign "Hoffman House" was placed between the two buildings of the hotel on Broadway.

In 1911, due to street widening operations on Broadway, between Madison square and 33rd street, plans had been filed for removing the columns, steps and entablature at the main entrance to the new Hoffman House, at 1111 Broadway, and setting them back, as required by the Borough President.

In May, 1912, according to the New York Times (May 19, 1912), the Hoffman House's annex on the corner of 25th Street had been demolished and a 12-story loft was under construction from plans by John B. Snook's Sons. The Moorish balconies and some marble of the old building was acquired by Georgina Timken Fry for her mansion in Connecticut. At the time, this parcel on the corner of 25th St. was owned by Louise M. Gerry, widow of John Gerry (1829-1911). It was leased for a long term to a wholesale lace house. The new building at 16 Madison Square West (originally known as Hoffman Business Building), was completed in 1914.

Hoffman House, at 1111 Broadway, owned by the Kinney estate, was sold on February 23, 1915, when A.A. Caddagan was the manager. The hotel closed on March 15, the same year and demolished by July. On its site and the site of the of the Albemarle Hotel a 16-story store and loft building (10 Madison Square West / 1107 Broadway) was erected. The building was redeveloped into a 24-story condominium residence, completed in 2016.