St. Nicholas Hotel (surviving section)
521 Broadway | SoHo | built 1854
Open on the map3 entries
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.
- 1853
The St. Nicholas Hotel opens as the first New York building to cost over $1 million
The St. Nicholas Hotel opened on January 6, 1853, with 600 rooms and grew to 1,000 by the end of that year. Its white marble front ran from 507 to 527 Broadway, 275 feet along the avenue, and it was said to end the Astor House's reign as the city's leading hotel. Today's 521 and 523 Broadway are the small surviving piece of its north end.
“It opened on January 6, 1853, and by the end of the year had expanded to 1,000 rooms. It was the first New York City building to cost over US$1 million.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1855
A quarrel between steamship partners ends in a knife fight in the hotel bar room
In September 1855, steamship captain J. J. Wright and his partner R. S. Dean argued loudly in the St. Nicholas bar room. Wright struck Dean in the face with a cowhide strap, and Dean answered with a bowie knife, wounding Wright fatally in the abdomen as he tried to leave. Newspapers followed the case for days, giving the refined hotel unwelcome publicity.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1861
The hotel holds a grand ball for the anniversary of Jackson's New Orleans victory
In 1861 the St. Nicholas management gave a ball celebrating Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans. The ballroom was hung with American flags and drew military officers and society figures including August Belmont and Augustus Schell, with Dodworth's Band playing. The New York Times reported that the freshly waxed floor was a little too sticky underfoot.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
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- St. Nicholas Hotel (surviving section)523 Broadway | 3 entries
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