The Grand Union Hotel at Park Avenue and 42nd Street was hard to miss. Built in 1874, it was an enormous building directly across the street from the Grand Central Depot (later called Grand Central Station). It catered mainly to travelers who were not staying long in the city, and did not want to pay to transport their bags back and forth from a greater distance. There were 600 rooms, costing a dollar a day "and upwards" in the 1880s and guests could have their bags transported to and from the Depot for free.King's Handbook of New York (1892) calls the Grand Union "a large, plain five-story structure" that appealed to business men wishing to stay a night or two in New York. The restaurant was "excellent" (as per the ad above right) and "its managers [were] thoroughly practical hotel men."
It was torn down in 1914 in advance of the construction of the subway. There is, however, a new Grand Union Hotel at 32nd St. between Madison and Park Avenues, where you can stay now. You'll probably have to pay to get your bags over to Grand Central, though.
Picture of Grand Union Hotel from NYPL Digital Gallery.
SOURCES
Hirsch, Jeff. Manhattan Hotels, 1880-1920 (New York: Arcadia, 1997), p. 26.
King, Moses. King's Handbook of New York (Boston: Moses King, 1892; facsimile edition pub. Barnes and Noble, n.d.) p. 211.
Advertisement from the Yale Banner (1887), p. 64, Google Books link here.
9 comments:
Its influence no doubt inspiring the construction of another hotel of that name in the upstate spa resort of Saratoga Springs about that same time....
thanks for the info.
I so enjoy reading about past hotels. I often wonder how the frequent guests reacted upon it's closure. For many years I spend many a stay at the historic Regent Palace Hotel at Picadilly in London. A reasonably priced Art Deco period hotel with the best location in the city. I was very sad to see it's doors finally closed not too long ago. Here is a link to it's history...if interested.
http://www.regentpalacehotel.co.uk/history.htm
Maureen
That's a shame that it was torn down. It looked so majestic. I imagine that it will cost more than a dollar to stay at the new one?
Exaggerato - Indeed yes, I came across that one while I was looking for info. Apparently Ulysses S. Grant used to hold shindigs up in the G.U. at Saratoga.
Mike - You are welcome! I might do a building post most weeks, there are loads of places I'd like to write about (most of them long gone, alas)
Celestial Charms - How wonderful to stay in such a place! It is so sad when they close...
tahtimbo -From the look of their website, definitely.
Don't you love all those 'thoroughly practical' men of the 1880s? - M
Look at all of the space around the buildings! I often wonder what people from that era would say if they could see the same place now. www.satisfiedsole.com
bellanta - Yes, there were an awful lot of practical men! :)
Patricia - I tried to find a good photo of what that address looks like now, but aside from Google Maps street view I did not...You're right, people back then would be horrified and amazed, it is all built up. I went to school quite near there in the 70s, BTW!
Ah, yes, THAT Grand Union Hotel, formerly located at Pershing Square. Lidian, the Grand Union Hotel commanded a frontage of 198 feet on the Park Avenue side; and also 130 feet on both East 41st Street and along East 42nd Street.
Lidian, I also have a lovely card [hand-colored] showing a much older version of the Grand Union Hotel . . . when it was located opposite Union Square Park when the Union Square area was the THEATRE DISTRICT and the piano showroom district in Manhattan.
_____
Come up and see Mae . . .
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