Times Square Hotel
680 8th Avenue | also 684 8th Avenue, 686 8th Avenue, 255 West 43rd Street | Times Square | built 1920
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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.
- 1923
Henry Claman completes the Claman Hotel for single men on Eighth Avenue
Developer Henry Claman first planned a movie theater on his 43rd Street site, but with hotels in demand after World War I he built one for single men, including demobilized soldiers. The firm Gronenberg & Leuchtag designed it, and it finished in April 1923 and opened under the name Claman Hotel. The New York Times described it as "the finest structure on Eighth Avenue north of Pennsylvania Station."
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
New owner William S. Brown lets jobless white-collar workers stay free
A syndicate headed by William S. Brown bought the Times Square Hotel in March 1931, and Brown served as its general manager until he died in 1934. During his tenure he reserved a tenth of the rooms for unemployed white-collar workers, letting them stay up to six months free. Nearly all offered to pay back rent once they were hired, and Brown turned the offers down.
“Brown set aside 10 percent of the rooms for unemployed white-collar workers, who could stay at the hotel free for up to six months.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
Covenant House's hotel opens 200 rooms to students as a $14-a-night hostel
By 1987 Covenant House was losing about $3 million a year on the hotel. To help cover the deficit, the American Independent Hostel began running 200 of the rooms in April, renting them to students for $14 a night. Hostel officials gave free rooms to students who helped promote it, and the rooms soon grew popular.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1990
Rosanne Haggerty founds Common Ground to take over the derelict hotel
Rosanne Haggerty visited the run-down hotel at Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street and was appalled by the scene in its lobby. Established charities turned down her plan, so about six months later she formed Common Ground, which the Chronicle of Philanthropy dates to 1990. The city lent it $28.8 million at low interest to buy and renovate the building, and four companies, including Dime Savings Bank and J.P. Morgan, added $22 million through tax credits.
Source: philanthropy.com
- 1994
The Times Square Hotel's $32 million restoration is complete, with cooking facilities and a gym
City Limits reported in 2001 that a $32 million restoration of the hotel had been finished in 1994. Rooms had cooking facilities and private baths, and the building offered a gym, a darkroom, an art room and lounges. A Ben & Jerry's, a Papaya King and a Starbucks brought in revenue and jobs for tenants, while the Center for Urban Community Services supplied health and social services.
Source: citylimits.org
- 2001
Haggerty wins a MacArthur Fellowship after Common Ground's Times Square success
In 2001 Rosanne Haggerty, then 41, won a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship. Her group, Common Ground, now managed more than 1,200 apartments in three buildings, two on the National Register of Historic Places. The Chronicle of Philanthropy put the Times Square's cost to the city at about $10,000 per resident a year, against $18,250 at a city shelter.
Source: philanthropy.com
Further reading
- Times Square HotelWikipedia
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