Hotel Griffou

23 West 9th Street | Greenwich Village | built 1870

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1855

    Three matching rowhouses are completed at 19 to 23 West 9th Street

    Three rowhouses, completed in 1855 and most likely designed by James Renwick Jr., stood at 55 through 59 Ninth Street, which became 19 to 23 West 9th Street in the 1868 renumbering. The four-story houses had rusticated ground floors with arched openings, a single iron-railed balcony at the second floor, and a shared bracketed cornice. Merchant John W. Quincy and his family lived at what is now No. 23.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1884

    Marie Griffou expands her boardinghouse into the Hotel Griffou

    Marie Griffou bought 19 West 9th Street in 1879 and opened an exclusive boarding house there. By 1884 she had taken over No. 21 as well, and the combined houses beside this one were known as the Hotel Griffou. It became a favorite with Spanish visitors, and in warm months diners could eat at an awning-covered outdoor restaurant at the rear. Griffou ran the hotel until her death in April 1906.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1890

    September 12

    Cuban general Antonio Maceo arrives at the Hotel Griffou after being ordered out of Cuba

    General Antonio Maceo, known to fellow Cubans as "The Bronze Titan," checked into the Hotel Griffou on September 12, 1890, with his wife and a dozen trunks and boxes. He told a reporter that he had been ordered to leave Cuba within 24 hours. The Evening World reported that many callers came to see him. The hotel's guests over the years also included writers, sculptors, and painters.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1907

    Louis Griffou loses the family hotel, which is sold and renamed the Hotel Europe

    Marie Griffou's son Louis tried unsuccessfully to keep the hotel going after her death, and by March 1907 he was hiding from his creditors. Oreste Giolito then bought the hotel and renamed it the Hotel Europe.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 2009

    A restaurant named Hotel Griffou opens in the joined houses and revives the old name

    In 2009 a restaurant named Hotel Griffou opened in the connected houses at 19 to 23 West 9th Street, reviving the name of Marie Griffou's old hotel. Earlier restaurants there included the Penguin, whose owner Nat Simons bought all three houses in 1958, and Marylou's, which had replaced it by 1985. Calle Nueve and then Pierres Roulantes, in 2002, came before the revival.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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