Lovejoy's Hotel
The old Lovejoy's Hotel was located in a six-story building at 34 Park Row, on the southeast corner of Beekman Street. The hotel operated from about 1833 through 1870.
The Lovejoy's Hotel opened in the early 1830s, possibly in 1833. Jonathan Lovejoy was the original proprietor. The hotel was listed in the New-York as it is, in 1834; and Citizens' Advertising Directory by Edwin Williams. It was originally a four-story building, with main entrance in Beekman St. (see engraving on the right), facing the old Brick Church (demolished in 1856).
In the late 1840s, two stories were added to the Lovejoy's Hotel building. Libby, Whitney & Co. were the proprietors in the early 1850s. John P. Huggins, who started in the old Merchants' Hotel in Murray Street, took over Lovejoy's Hotel in 1858. It was then a prosperous hotel conducted on the European plan for accommodation of both ladies and gentlemen. It could easily house 250 persons. There was a large private restaurant in the basement, adjoining the ladies' parlor. At the time, there was a house in Greenwich Street called "Fallon and Lovejoy's Hotel" falsely represented as a branch of the Lovejoy's.
The hotel was among those the "Confederate Army of Manhattan" attempted to burn down in November 1864.
The hotel was closed by April, 1870. On April 13, the hotel's furniture and fixtures were auctioned. In 1869, Huggins and his brothers had purchased the Girard House at Chambers Street and West Broadway and opened it as the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
The Lovejoy's Hotel building was owned by the Lorillard state. It had a front of about 100 feet on Park Row and about 50 feet on Beekman Street. The new lessee, Abner Lord Ely (1805-1871), a real state investor, reformed the building to house offices and stores. At the time, Park Row was dominated by newspapers, and subsequent tenants of the building included the New York Evening Mail and the Rural New Yorker.
The original 4-story Lovejoy's Hotel, fronting Beekman Street, corner of Park Row, in a fragment of a bill dated 1837, signed by the proprietor Jonathan Lovejoy.
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Copyright © Geographic Guide - Old hotels of NYC. 19th Century |
The 6-story Lovejoy's Hotel from Park Row, corner of Beekman Street (left) in the 1850s, under the Libby, Whitney & Co. management. Illustration from advertisement of unknown origin.
The 6-story Lovejoy's Hotel and the old Brick Church in 1849.
Lovejoy's Hotel on the corner of Park Row and Beekman Street. Illustration published in the Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, December 17, 1864.
Lovejoy's Hotel
