St. Nicholas Hotel (New York City)

The St. Nicholas Hotel, depicted in an 1855 lithograph by Friedrich Ludwig Heppenheimer

The St. Nicholas Hotel was a 600-room, mid-nineteenth century luxury hotel on Broadway in the neighborhood of SoHo in Manhattan, New York City.[1] It opened on January 6, 1853, and by the end of the year had expanded to 1,000 rooms.[2] The St. Nicholas raised the bar for a new standard of lavish appointments for a luxury hotel.[3] It was the first New York City building to cost over US$1 million.[2][4][5] The hotel was said to have ended the Astor House's preeminence in New York hostelry.[6]

  1. ^ Landau & Condit 1996, p. 16.
  2. ^ a b Miller, Tom (February 13, 2012). "The Lost 1853 St. Nicholas Hotel – Broadway between Broome and Spring". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved August 6, 2016. The St. Nicholas set a new standard for luxury, expense and lavish appointments. It was the first New York City building to cost $1 million in construction—approximately $29 million by today's standards.
  3. ^ McGinty 1978, pp. 20, 24.
  4. ^ "NYC Luxury Hotels". Vox_Media. June 25, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2015. The New York Times soon anointed the St. Nicholas, also New York's first building to cost $1 million in construction, the city's premier hotel, writing, "This magnificent establishment, which in extent of accommodation, completeness of arrangement, costliness and chaste elegance of decoration, and combination of all modern improvements, takes place as the Hotel par excellence of our day."
  5. ^ Johnson 2010, p. 201.
  6. ^ "St Nicholas Hotel". Curbed_NY. Retrieved December 4, 2015.