Allerton Hotel for Women
Encyclopedia
The Allerton Hotel for Women, 130 East 57th Street
in the New York City
borough
of Manhattan
, is a seventeen story brick, limestone, and terra cotta building designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon in 1920. It was built on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue
and 57th Street by the Allerton House Company at a cost of $700,000. It originally had stores on its ground floor. The hotel intended to accommodate six hundred business and professional women and also shelter young girls. When completed in 1923, the Allerton Hotel had room for four hundred tenants. Its occupancy was filled prior to completion and there was a long waiting list. After opening it was so popular that another establishment of its kind was anticipated. It is now Hotel 57 owned by Marriott.
descendant of Cushman.
Cushman was injured critically in a car wreck in September 1934. He collided with a truck on the Berlin Turnpike
in Newington, Connecticut
. He was taken to Hartford Hospital
and found to have fractured his skull. Cushman was chosen by the Presbyterian Board Of Christian Education as chairman of a special gifts committee of the New York division of the Sesquicentennial Fund for Christian Education, in January 1939. Cushman resided at 815 Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
. He died at eighty years of age in March 1952.
in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1924, was owned and operated by the Allerton Company of New York. They managed a hotel chain that grew to eight hotels. This included
establishments in Detroit, Michigan
and Cleveland, Ohio
. The owners of the Allerton Hotel purchased the property formerly occupied by the De La Salle Institute
in December 1923. The land was located at 106 West 59th Street through to 58th Street. Its dimensions were 53.6 by 200 feet. They also bought the adjoining Kinlock Apartments at the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue
and 58th Street, 71 by 100 feet. They acquired the Temple Rodeph Sholom site at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street from Simon Brothers and Hartstein Brothers in October 1926. At the time William H. Silk was secretary of the Allerton Hotel interests. The plot measured 112 feet on Lexington Avenue and 120 feet on 63rd Street.
The owners built a new hotel at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street. The fourth store to lease space in the new edifice was Sheldon Cleaners and Dyers in March 1927. The lease for a term of years was negotiated by Gaines, Van Nostrand & Morrison, Inc.
In September 1942, the Allerton Hotels leased the eight story Club Hotel at 317 West 45th Street from Vincent Astor
. The building contained one hundred sixty-five sleeping rooms, reception room, lounge, library, and dining room. The Club Hotel enabled the hotel chain to provide low cost accommodations in the Midtown Manhattan
section of the West Side
. Broker Abraham Steers negotiated the lease.
There were six Allerton Hotels in New York City. The Allerton Hotel became part of a new chain of hotels that included six cities in October 1958. The new Mansion Hotels chain also included the Henry Hudson Hotel and Midston House in New York City. The Detroit-Leland Hotel and the Allerton Hotel and Belmont Hotel in Chicago, were the others in the group. They had a total of 4,600 rooms.
, tried to jump off the roof of the Allerton Hotel in May 1929. She was prevented by the quick effort of a policeman. Whiley, 26, lived at the Allerton before moving to an apartment house at 238 West 11th Street. Friends said she had been ill with influenza
. She was seen by friends as she climbed to the Allerton clubroom on the penthouse floor of the roof. She talked with several of them before she walked through to the roof. No one saw her when she climbed the narrow parapet which encircled the roof. After being rescued she was sent to Bellevue Hospital Center
for observation.
The Women's University Club made the Allerton Hotel its headquarters beginning in May 1956. Their former headquarters was the New York Biltmore Hotel
.
The Allerton Hotel at 302 West 22nd Street, New York City, was described as a welfare hotel in a 1990 article. A crying newborn baby was found in a garbage can there by a porter. The baby girl was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and was reported to be in stable condition. Police thought the infant belonged to one of eighteen pregnant women then residing at the hotel. The facility is now an upscale The GEM Hotel
.
Contrary to popular belief in Chicago, the Chicago hotel was never built nor owned by Robert Allerton
, son of Samuel Allerton. Mr. Cushman asked Robert Allerton if he minded having the hotel named "Allerton" rather than "Cushman." Mr. Allerton had no problem with it.
57th Street (Manhattan)
57th Street is one of New York City's major east-west thoroughfares, which runs east-west in the Midtown section of the borough of Manhattan, from the New York City Department of Sanitation's dock on the Hudson River at the West Side Highway to a small park overlooking the East River built on a...
in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, is a seventeen story brick, limestone, and terra cotta building designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon in 1920. It was built on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue
Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)
Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
and 57th Street by the Allerton House Company at a cost of $700,000. It originally had stores on its ground floor. The hotel intended to accommodate six hundred business and professional women and also shelter young girls. When completed in 1923, the Allerton Hotel had room for four hundred tenants. Its occupancy was filled prior to completion and there was a long waiting list. After opening it was so popular that another establishment of its kind was anticipated. It is now Hotel 57 owned by Marriott.
Ownership
James Stewart Cushman was a founder and former owner of the Allerton chain of reasonably priced club hotels for white collar men and women that started in 1916. The group of financiers who joined Allerton included George W. Perkins and Arthur Curtiss James. The chain was named for Mary Allerton, a MayflowerMayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
descendant of Cushman.
Cushman was injured critically in a car wreck in September 1934. He collided with a truck on the Berlin Turnpike
Berlin Turnpike
The Berlin Turnpike is a 4-lane/6-lane divided arterial road carrying U.S. Route 5 and Route 15 through the towns of Berlin, Newington, and Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States. The road begins at the Meriden-Berlin town line. The official length of the Berlin Turnpike is 11.02 miles but the...
in Newington, Connecticut
Newington, Connecticut
Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 29,306. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington....
. He was taken to Hartford Hospital
Hartford Hospital
Hartford Hospital is an acute care hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. The hospital was formed in 1854 after the State of Connecticut granted a charter for the Formation of Hartford Hospital following a boiler explosion and resulting fire at the Fales and Grey Car Works...
and found to have fractured his skull. Cushman was chosen by the Presbyterian Board Of Christian Education as chairman of a special gifts committee of the New York division of the Sesquicentennial Fund for Christian Education, in January 1939. Cushman resided at 815 Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...
. He died at eighty years of age in March 1952.
Expansion
The Allerton HotelAllerton Hotel
The Allerton Hotel is a 25-story 360 foot hotel skyscraper along the Magnificent Mile in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. It was the first building to feature pronounced setbacks and towers resulting from the 1923 zoning law...
in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1924, was owned and operated by the Allerton Company of New York. They managed a hotel chain that grew to eight hotels. This included
establishments in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
and Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. The owners of the Allerton Hotel purchased the property formerly occupied by the De La Salle Institute
De La Salle Institute
De La Salle Institute is a Catholic, Lasallian, secondary school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The school is currently housed on two separate campuses. The original school, now called the Institute Campus is for men...
in December 1923. The land was located at 106 West 59th Street through to 58th Street. Its dimensions were 53.6 by 200 feet. They also bought the adjoining Kinlock Apartments at the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
and 58th Street, 71 by 100 feet. They acquired the Temple Rodeph Sholom site at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street from Simon Brothers and Hartstein Brothers in October 1926. At the time William H. Silk was secretary of the Allerton Hotel interests. The plot measured 112 feet on Lexington Avenue and 120 feet on 63rd Street.
The owners built a new hotel at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street. The fourth store to lease space in the new edifice was Sheldon Cleaners and Dyers in March 1927. The lease for a term of years was negotiated by Gaines, Van Nostrand & Morrison, Inc.
In September 1942, the Allerton Hotels leased the eight story Club Hotel at 317 West 45th Street from Vincent Astor
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.-Early life:...
. The building contained one hundred sixty-five sleeping rooms, reception room, lounge, library, and dining room. The Club Hotel enabled the hotel chain to provide low cost accommodations in the Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
section of the West Side
West Side (Manhattan)
The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side. The major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper...
. Broker Abraham Steers negotiated the lease.
There were six Allerton Hotels in New York City. The Allerton Hotel became part of a new chain of hotels that included six cities in October 1958. The new Mansion Hotels chain also included the Henry Hudson Hotel and Midston House in New York City. The Detroit-Leland Hotel and the Allerton Hotel and Belmont Hotel in Chicago, were the others in the group. They had a total of 4,600 rooms.
Hotel addenda
Helen Whiley, a music teacher and graduate of Vassar CollegeVassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, tried to jump off the roof of the Allerton Hotel in May 1929. She was prevented by the quick effort of a policeman. Whiley, 26, lived at the Allerton before moving to an apartment house at 238 West 11th Street. Friends said she had been ill with influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
. She was seen by friends as she climbed to the Allerton clubroom on the penthouse floor of the roof. She talked with several of them before she walked through to the roof. No one saw her when she climbed the narrow parapet which encircled the roof. After being rescued she was sent to Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...
for observation.
The Women's University Club made the Allerton Hotel its headquarters beginning in May 1956. Their former headquarters was the New York Biltmore Hotel
New York Biltmore Hotel
The New York Biltmore Hotel was a luxury hotel in New York City. It was one of three palatial hotels built as part of the Terminal City development...
.
The Allerton Hotel at 302 West 22nd Street, New York City, was described as a welfare hotel in a 1990 article. A crying newborn baby was found in a garbage can there by a porter. The baby girl was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and was reported to be in stable condition. Police thought the infant belonged to one of eighteen pregnant women then residing at the hotel. The facility is now an upscale The GEM Hotel
The GEM Hotel
The GEM Hotel brand is a neighborhood boutique hotel collection in Manhattan, New York City. The brand, which was launched in 2007, currently has three locations: The GEM Hotel Midtown West, The GEM Hotel SoHo and The GEM Hotel Chelsea, which was voted Best New York City Boutique Hotel in 2010 by...
.
Contrary to popular belief in Chicago, the Chicago hotel was never built nor owned by Robert Allerton
Robert Allerton
Robert Henry Allerton , born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, was the son and heir of First National Bank of Chicago founder Samuel Allerton...
, son of Samuel Allerton. Mr. Cushman asked Robert Allerton if he minded having the hotel named "Allerton" rather than "Cushman." Mr. Allerton had no problem with it.