Endicott Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Endicott Hotel is a former luxury hotel which now serves as a coop
. The building sits between 81st and 82nd St. on Columbus Avenue
in New York City's Upper West Side
diagonal from the American Museum of Natural History
.
When the hotel opened, it was described as "in all respects, the finest and best appointed in this part of the city." The Hotel was built of Pompeian brick
and terra cotta
and boasted many modern marvels of its day including steam heat, lighting by its own electric plant, and good ventilation. The original decor was elaborate, sporting marble tile and onyx wainscoting.
The original hotel included a glass-roofed Palm Room where today in its place is the restaurant Calle Ocho. There was a dining room
on the second floor which could seat upwards of 500 to 600 people, as well as a cafe, barber shop
and newsstand on the ground floor.
Outside, the elevated platforms of the 81st Street station ran by the hotel's third floor windows.
. The cost of a suite at that time was $65 a month or upward furnished, or $50 a month unfurnished.
The hotel also faced issues with race relations early on. In 1893, soon after opening, the hotel's chambermaids and pantry girls threatened a strike when a non-union "colored waiter" took the place of a union striker. The manager made an agreement with the strikers to pay them $32 a month and discharge the non-union (colored) waiter.
In 1897, there was an explosion at the hotel when Charles E. Tripler, a chemist and inventor, was exhibiting a "secret fluid compound" made of nitrogen and oxygen to some friends. Tripler poured the liquid on bread, whisky and pure alcohol, freezing them. One of the spectators touched a lighted match to the alcohol, shattering the glass and injuring several onlookers.
The hotel seemed to run into hard financial times almost from the beginning. The Hotel Endicott changed hands several times during the period, from Charles Fuller to Cyrus C. Marble and Benjamin Gates to Cyrus Marble and Isaac Anstatt.
, a room at the Endicott cost $3 on the American plan (including room and meals) and $1 for the European plan (room only).
The hotel was home to several disasters and scandals during the first decade of the century. In 1900, the hotel was the site of a grisly murder when Mrs. Mary Hayes was shot in the left temple by Dr. Franklin Caldwell, who then shot himself. Dr. Caldwell was an assistant to Mrs. Hayes' husband, Dr. E.P. Hayes, a dentist at the Siegel Cooper Company. Caldwell allegedly had an infatuation with his employer's wife.
The year 1904 was particularly tough for the Hotel. In May, a "mentally unbalanced" forty year old woman dropped from one of the hotel's sixth story rooms and died shortly afterward. A month later, a former state senator was assaulted in the lobby of the hotel. Then in September, Don Carlos Frederico von Bauditz, the 26 year old head of a wealthy Venezuelan family, shot himself in the head after a shattered romance.
In 1909, the hotel witnessed one of the stranger events in its storied history. One of the chambermaids of the hotel had fallen in love with the superintendent of a nearby building on W. 83rd St. According to the Joseph Freal, the object of her affections, he had avoided the woman who appeared to be stalking him. Out of desperation, the chambermaid showed up to his apartment, drank carbolic acid
, then knocked on the door of Freal's apartment. She died soon after.
There were two major fires in the Endicott during the 1900s. In 1902, a fire broke out in the hotel when chemicals used by a chamber maid blazed up in some unexplained manner and set fire to the hangings. Then in 1905, another fire broke out due to a faulty flue in the kitchen. The fire ate its way through the flooring of the second floor dining room.
The hotel continued to change hands throughout the period. In 1901, the Hotel Endicott property, was sold by Isaac Anstatt and Cyrus C. Marble to the Hotel Endicott Company for $499,500 plus the assumption of all liens on the property.
But the property's financial misfortunes continued. In late 1911, the executors of the Marshall O. Roberts estate brought suit against the hotels owners, who at the time included John D Rockefeller
, to secure two mortgages made to Charles Fuller for $650,000. In August, after considerable legislation, the property was sold under foreclosure and transferred to the trustees of the estate, for an expressed consideration of $750,000. Later in October that year, the property was leased by the trustees for $1 million for 21 years to William and J. Manger, bankers of 10 Wall Street
, who at the time also owned the Plaza Hotel
in Chicago.
Throughout the 1930s, the building became a center for organized crime
. The infamous gangster Dutch Schultz
maintained a residence in the building. It also likely served as the headquarters for the Moe and Shim Syndicate, an alleged liquor ring during the age of prohibition that distributed more than 650,000 gallons of alcohol.
By the late 1940s and 1950s, the hotel had gone downhill. According to one mafia drug pusher, "Uncle Sonny," it was a venue where he could fill his packets with money from addicts, "some rich and famous, and some down and out losers who apparently had money." According to Sonny, jazz singer Billie Holiday
had a room there and by then had become a hardened heroin user.
In 1951, the hotel was leased by Milner Hotels, owner of the Eagle Hotels chain. It was to be completely remodeled and renamed the New Endicott Hotel. Yet the hotel continued its decline.
By the 1960s, the hotel had been branded one of the worst welfare hotels in the city. A person could get a room there for $3 a night or, as most of its residents did, from $13.95 a week. Described by one neighbor as "a scene from Calcutta," scores of desperate people could be seen drinking, fighting, and screaming with prostitutes roaming up and down the metal stairways selling themselves. In 1964, a 33-year old man was arrested for shooting off a rifle on the roof of the hotel.
By the early 1970s, the Endicott had become very dangerous. At the time, about 40-50% of its tenants were receiving welfare. Management tried to evict "undesirable elements" from the premises but was unsuccessful. A violent crime
wave struck the building. In 1972, there was a slaying of four women in the hotel. In 1973, a 63-year old welfare recipient was found murdered and the body set afire. Then in 1974, a man was stabbed to death in the elevator.
The sole highlight was that it played host to the American rock band, the New York Dolls
' first public performance around Christmastime 1971. Workers at the hotel were organizing a party for the residents; they heard the Dolls jamming across the street and asked if they'd play in exchange for free food.
hit several upper west side buildings including the Endicott Hotel. In 1979, Robert Quinlan embarked on an $8.2 million project to convert the Endicott hotel into Museum Park Apartments, featuring 146 coop apartments and several commercial condominiums. Stephen B. Jacobs, who led several other condominium conversion projects at the time, was the architect for the ambitious project. The 144 apartments were put on the market in March 1981. They had nearly all sold by June, at prices ranging from $67,000 to $205,000. Peter Salwen in his book Upper West Side Story wrote that “By 1983, even the Endicott Hotel had been emptied, fumigated and converted to expensive co-ops.”
The newly revived building included ground floor shops with wood facades including the Penny Whistle Toys Shop, Salou (a custom florist), and Endicott Book Sellers. In November 1982, movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis
turned the restored Palm Court into DDL Foodshow
, a specialty food shop. On a 34-foot marble counter, De Laurentiis served countless varieties of cheeses, breads, salads, even a suckling pig
or two. By April 1984, DDL Foodshow had succumbed, along with many neighbors, to what the Times then called “one of the biggest retailing busts in recent memory.” After several other unsuccessful attempts, the space became what is now the Latin fusion restaurant Calle Ocho. Olde Good Things, New York City's architectural salvage company, now has a shop in this building.
Housing cooperative
A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...
. The building sits between 81st and 82nd St. on Columbus Avenue
Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)
Ninth Avenue / Columbus Avenue is a southbound thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs downtown along its full length...
in New York City's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
diagonal from the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
.
The origin and construction of the hotel
The original hotel was built by Charles A. Fuller and designed by Edward L. Angell, who also designed several other prominent buildings on the Upper West Side. The hotel was originally intended to be an apartment house, the Endicott. The original plans filed in April 1889 called for two buildings, each with 44 families and seven stories high. But the initial plans were not approved by the Building Department. After several changes to the plans, the Endicott began construction in 1889 at a cost of over $1,500,000. The first building on 81st Street for 52 families was finished in 1890; the second building on 81nd street for 72 families opened in 1891.When the hotel opened, it was described as "in all respects, the finest and best appointed in this part of the city." The Hotel was built of Pompeian brick
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
and boasted many modern marvels of its day including steam heat, lighting by its own electric plant, and good ventilation. The original decor was elaborate, sporting marble tile and onyx wainscoting.
The original hotel included a glass-roofed Palm Room where today in its place is the restaurant Calle Ocho. There was a dining room
Dining room
A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...
on the second floor which could seat upwards of 500 to 600 people, as well as a cafe, barber shop
Barber
A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
and newsstand on the ground floor.
Outside, the elevated platforms of the 81st Street station ran by the hotel's third floor windows.
The early days of the hotel (1890s)
From its earliest days, the hotel often played host to meetings of the elite of society and often served as the meeting place for the city's Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. The cost of a suite at that time was $65 a month or upward furnished, or $50 a month unfurnished.
The hotel also faced issues with race relations early on. In 1893, soon after opening, the hotel's chambermaids and pantry girls threatened a strike when a non-union "colored waiter" took the place of a union striker. The manager made an agreement with the strikers to pay them $32 a month and discharge the non-union (colored) waiter.
In 1897, there was an explosion at the hotel when Charles E. Tripler, a chemist and inventor, was exhibiting a "secret fluid compound" made of nitrogen and oxygen to some friends. Tripler poured the liquid on bread, whisky and pure alcohol, freezing them. One of the spectators touched a lighted match to the alcohol, shattering the glass and injuring several onlookers.
The hotel seemed to run into hard financial times almost from the beginning. The Hotel Endicott changed hands several times during the period, from Charles Fuller to Cyrus C. Marble and Benjamin Gates to Cyrus Marble and Isaac Anstatt.
The turn of the century (1900-1909)
Throughout the 1900s, the Hotel was frequently mentioned in the society pages. By then, according to an article in the Brooklyn EagleBrooklyn Eagle
The Brooklyn Daily Bulletin began publishing when the original Eagle folded in 1955. In 1996 it merged with a newly revived Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and now publishes a morning paper five days a week under the Brooklyn Daily Eagle name...
, a room at the Endicott cost $3 on the American plan (including room and meals) and $1 for the European plan (room only).
The hotel was home to several disasters and scandals during the first decade of the century. In 1900, the hotel was the site of a grisly murder when Mrs. Mary Hayes was shot in the left temple by Dr. Franklin Caldwell, who then shot himself. Dr. Caldwell was an assistant to Mrs. Hayes' husband, Dr. E.P. Hayes, a dentist at the Siegel Cooper Company. Caldwell allegedly had an infatuation with his employer's wife.
The year 1904 was particularly tough for the Hotel. In May, a "mentally unbalanced" forty year old woman dropped from one of the hotel's sixth story rooms and died shortly afterward. A month later, a former state senator was assaulted in the lobby of the hotel. Then in September, Don Carlos Frederico von Bauditz, the 26 year old head of a wealthy Venezuelan family, shot himself in the head after a shattered romance.
In 1909, the hotel witnessed one of the stranger events in its storied history. One of the chambermaids of the hotel had fallen in love with the superintendent of a nearby building on W. 83rd St. According to the Joseph Freal, the object of her affections, he had avoided the woman who appeared to be stalking him. Out of desperation, the chambermaid showed up to his apartment, drank carbolic acid
Phenol
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...
, then knocked on the door of Freal's apartment. She died soon after.
There were two major fires in the Endicott during the 1900s. In 1902, a fire broke out in the hotel when chemicals used by a chamber maid blazed up in some unexplained manner and set fire to the hangings. Then in 1905, another fire broke out due to a faulty flue in the kitchen. The fire ate its way through the flooring of the second floor dining room.
The hotel continued to change hands throughout the period. In 1901, the Hotel Endicott property, was sold by Isaac Anstatt and Cyrus C. Marble to the Hotel Endicott Company for $499,500 plus the assumption of all liens on the property.
1910-1929
From 1910-1929,the Endicott continued to play an important role in the social life of New York. It was the site of several major society weddings and hosted several political and scientific conferences over the years.But the property's financial misfortunes continued. In late 1911, the executors of the Marshall O. Roberts estate brought suit against the hotels owners, who at the time included John D Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
, to secure two mortgages made to Charles Fuller for $650,000. In August, after considerable legislation, the property was sold under foreclosure and transferred to the trustees of the estate, for an expressed consideration of $750,000. Later in October that year, the property was leased by the trustees for $1 million for 21 years to William and J. Manger, bankers of 10 Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, who at the time also owned the Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
in Chicago.
Depression and the decline of the Endicott (1929-1978)
When the depression hit in 1929, the neighborhood began to spiral downward and the hotel gradually fell into disrepair. In 1932, the building was auctioned to Diederich A. Christoffers, on a bid of $10,000 above a mortgage of $500,000.Throughout the 1930s, the building became a center for organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
. The infamous gangster Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
maintained a residence in the building. It also likely served as the headquarters for the Moe and Shim Syndicate, an alleged liquor ring during the age of prohibition that distributed more than 650,000 gallons of alcohol.
By the late 1940s and 1950s, the hotel had gone downhill. According to one mafia drug pusher, "Uncle Sonny," it was a venue where he could fill his packets with money from addicts, "some rich and famous, and some down and out losers who apparently had money." According to Sonny, jazz singer Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
had a room there and by then had become a hardened heroin user.
In 1951, the hotel was leased by Milner Hotels, owner of the Eagle Hotels chain. It was to be completely remodeled and renamed the New Endicott Hotel. Yet the hotel continued its decline.
By the 1960s, the hotel had been branded one of the worst welfare hotels in the city. A person could get a room there for $3 a night or, as most of its residents did, from $13.95 a week. Described by one neighbor as "a scene from Calcutta," scores of desperate people could be seen drinking, fighting, and screaming with prostitutes roaming up and down the metal stairways selling themselves. In 1964, a 33-year old man was arrested for shooting off a rifle on the roof of the hotel.
By the early 1970s, the Endicott had become very dangerous. At the time, about 40-50% of its tenants were receiving welfare. Management tried to evict "undesirable elements" from the premises but was unsuccessful. A violent crime
Violent crime
A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
wave struck the building. In 1972, there was a slaying of four women in the hotel. In 1973, a 63-year old welfare recipient was found murdered and the body set afire. Then in 1974, a man was stabbed to death in the elevator.
The sole highlight was that it played host to the American rock band, the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
' first public performance around Christmastime 1971. Workers at the hotel were organizing a party for the residents; they heard the Dolls jamming across the street and asked if they'd play in exchange for free food.
Gentrification and conversion to coops (1979-present)
By the late 1970s, the neighborhood had begun to recover and gentrificationGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
hit several upper west side buildings including the Endicott Hotel. In 1979, Robert Quinlan embarked on an $8.2 million project to convert the Endicott hotel into Museum Park Apartments, featuring 146 coop apartments and several commercial condominiums. Stephen B. Jacobs, who led several other condominium conversion projects at the time, was the architect for the ambitious project. The 144 apartments were put on the market in March 1981. They had nearly all sold by June, at prices ranging from $67,000 to $205,000. Peter Salwen in his book Upper West Side Story wrote that “By 1983, even the Endicott Hotel had been emptied, fumigated and converted to expensive co-ops.”
The newly revived building included ground floor shops with wood facades including the Penny Whistle Toys Shop, Salou (a custom florist), and Endicott Book Sellers. In November 1982, movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
turned the restored Palm Court into DDL Foodshow
DDL Foodshow
DDL Food Show was an Italian specialty foods store with the three locations, two in New York City and one in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. They were opened in the early 1980s and owned and operated by the film producer Dino De Laurentis....
, a specialty food shop. On a 34-foot marble counter, De Laurentiis served countless varieties of cheeses, breads, salads, even a suckling pig
Sucking pig
A suckling pig is a piglet fed on its mother's milk . In culinary, a suckling pig is slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is traditionally cooked whole, often roasted, in various cuisines...
or two. By April 1984, DDL Foodshow had succumbed, along with many neighbors, to what the Times then called “one of the biggest retailing busts in recent memory.” After several other unsuccessful attempts, the space became what is now the Latin fusion restaurant Calle Ocho. Olde Good Things, New York City's architectural salvage company, now has a shop in this building.