Franconi's Hippodrome: New York's Roman Coliseum

Did you know that in for a few years in the 1850s, you could go see a Roman circus and Roman chariot races right in the middle of New York? 

Welcome to Franconi's Hippodrome, which opened in May 1853 at Madison Square, at the intersection of 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Franconi's was built by 8 American showmen including Avery Smith, Richard Sands and Seth B. Howe.

Franconi's was named for the famous Italian equestrian Antonio Franconi (1738-1836) who, with his sons and grandsons, rode in the Cirque Olympique in Paris; the last Franconi, Laurent, lived until 1849, only 4 years before the opening of the Hippodrome (the journalist quoted below indicates that Laurent or another Franconi was at the opening performance here). A hippodrome was a horse and chariot racing arena, from the Greek words hippos (horse) plus dromos (course).

According to Moses King in King's Handbook of New York (1892, p. 538) the site had originally been occupied by Madison Cottage, "a famous road-house...kept by Corporal Thompson, which was very popular with horsemen." Madison Cottage was also a stagecoach stop. By the 1840s, the site was also being used as a parade ground.

The Hippodrome was a brick structure two stories high, measuring 700' around, and could accommodate 6000 people. There was an enclosed auditorium, but the main attraction was the open-air course, which was 1/6 mile around. C,S, Francis wrote in his 1854 guidebook to New York that

The middle of [the arena] is laid out in green parterres, ornamented with illuminated fountains and flower-vases. The course itself is about forty feet wide, and is covered over with loose earth. The interior is illuminated by a thousand gas-lights, and the spectacle it presents is very brilliant. The roof is formed by a canvas covering 90,000 feet square, supported by five poles or masts, eighty feet in height...The exterior of the building is a plain wall of brick about twenty feet high, with two rather fantastic wooden towers at the side facing Broadway.

Francis added that in addition to the horse and chariot races, one could see "surprising gymnastic exercises," ostrich races and performing monkeys, deer, camels and elephants.

Four thousand people attended the opening, and for two or so years, the place was very popular. A journalist who attended the opening night performance in 1853 wrote in Musical World that

The affair came off in very elegant and resplendent style despite...the frisky humors of many of the blooded horses, after the excitement of their late sea-voyage. We are not very used to the turf and its belongings, and therefore the racing of lady riders on madcap steeds and in flying chariots, the leaping of hedges, the shrieks of dismayed monkeys 'tearing round' on demented horses, the irregular flight of gaunt and lean-shank'd ostriches - most uncertain and scary of bipeds - the magnificent bounds of Monsieur Franconi on his leaper, and his admirable feats upon his dancer - all this made our blood tingle (which is a good deal to accomplish in a city like New York)...

Unfortunately, this exotic amusement palace did not stand for long. By September 1859, the Hippodrome had been torn down, and the Fifth Avenue Hotel stood in its place. The latter was a six story white marble structure remarkable as the first building in New York to boast a successful "vertical railway" or elevator (the very first one was built in 1857, but lacked adequate safety features). During the Civil War, the site also served as an army camp.

Interior view and exterior view of Franconi's Hippodrome, both from NYPL. The picture of Franconi from Britannica Online Encyclopedia.

Sources

Booth, Mary Louise. History of the City of New York (1859), p. 753.
Fisher, Harriet Fletcher. The Darlings of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom (2008), p. 37 [more on the Fifth Avenue Hotel]
Francis, C.S. Francis's New Guide to the cities of New-York and Brooklyn and the vicinity (New York, 1854), p. 83.
"Franconi's Hippodrome," Musical World (vol. 6, 1853), p. 3.
King, Moses. King's Handbook of New York (1892), p. 538.
Maurice, Arthur Bartlett. Fifth Avenue (2008), p. 74.
Robertson-Lorant, Laurie. Melville: A Biography (1998). p. 458.

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I have decided not to post the story of the clairvoyant I am using in Frozen Charlotte, because I am using some of the key events in her life as an integral part of the mystery plot. And if I tell you about them, I will be giving away clues right and left, which will never do...

Also, on a similar note: I will try to visit and comment on blogs as much as possible, but am marking out more time to work on the mystery novel. Same goes for Twitter. I will drop in when I can, though.