1800s, Broadway, Old Posts, Random Stuff

Ghost of the Broadway Central Hotel

18
Nov

My first post is a simple interesting one. I had just read Alone Together: A History of New York’s Early Apartments and had the book with me when I skated over to the site of the old Broadway Central Hotel (the west side of Broadway just north of the Bond Street intersection).  It was built in 1871 and collapsed, as a welfare hotel, in 1973.  The site is an NYU dormitory today. I saw a very distinct shape incised on the adjacent building where the hotel once stood. I pulled out the book and looked at a picture of the old hotel.  Sure enough, the mark on the building was left from the old hotel, sometimes referred to as a ghost or a palimpsest. Here it is…

Notice the distinct shape of the “Broadway Central Hotel” sign in the upper left corner. It juts out a bit from the main building…

A vintage photo of some buildings and cars

The mark on the adjacent building (built after the above picture) matches perfectly…

A wall with some holes in it and the corner of the building
A busy city street with cars and pedestrians.

The site of the old hotel today is an NYU dormitory (behind the trees). Also, you can see the red brick building from the old post card view is still standing!

Look closely at the side of the building above the tree branches!

A building with many windows and trees in the foreground.

17 thoughts on “Ghost of the Broadway Central Hotel”

  8. valerie923 says:

    "Rock Flow" was the first DISCO in NYC located in the Broadway Central Hotel! It was about 1966-7 that I went with a couple of girlfriends. We entered the lobby and off to the right curtains was the dance floor. There were strob lights, infused smoke and two live bands. It was a "far out" evening. Anyone else remember?

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  14. bookah.ddiction says:

    In 1972 I used to go there every night, hoping to catch a glimpse of maybe a Warhol Factory personality or a Mick Jagger or a David Bowie. Closest I came was attending a showing of LEMMINGS with John Belushi. It was shocking to hear that the old Mercer building just collapsed!

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