Hotel Europe

138 1/2 East 13th Street | also 138 East 13th Street | East Village | built 1899

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1839
Charles Devoe builds a Greek Revival row house at 138 East 13th Street
A three-story Greek Revival row house was built here between 1837 and 1839 for Charles Devoe. The lot was vacant and valued at $3,000 in 1836, and by 1839 it held a house valued at $3,800. It began as a single-family home and was later converted to a rooming house.
Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org
1886
January
Lina Schmidt leases the house and opens it as the brothel known as Hotel Europe
In January 1886, Lina Schmidt, who also went by Lena Annus, leased 138 East 13th Street from Wilhelmina Rupprecht, who had bought it the year before. To rent rooms for an hour or two at a time, the house was named the Hotel Europe, and it operated as a brothel until Schmidt left in 1924.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1894
September 21
Reformers and neighbors move against the Hotel Europe brothel
In the fall of 1894, reformer William C. Rhem, agents of the Parkhurst Society, and the Rev. Dr. McEwen realized what went on at the Hotel Europe. On September 21, a committee of residents delivered a petition to the Mayor's office demanding its suppression, and a hearing followed on October 6 at Essex Market Police Court. Less than a month later, the hotel was running again.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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