Washington Hall was a red brick hotel designed by
John McComb Jr. and built from 1809 to 1812 on the site of the
African Burial Ground
African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street) in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. ...
. It was original owned by Dutch-American merchant
John Gerard Coster
John Gerard Coster (August 1762 – August 8, 1844) was a Dutch-American merchant who served as president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company.
Early life
Coster was born in August 1762 in Haarlem, Holland. He was a son of John Henry Coster (d. 17 ...
, and had been a meeting place and headquarters for the
Federalist Party. On September 20, 1824, it was the site of a banquet for the
Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...
as part of his
1824-1825 tour of the United States. In 1835, it was the location of the first meeting of the
Saint Nicholas Society, which was founded by
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
. Washington Hall became less prominent during the mid-19th century, as the oyster bar in its basement became more important than the hotel itself. The hotel burned down in July 1844 and was replaced by the original section of the
A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Store.
That building still stands today on the site at
280 Broadway
280 Broadway – also known as the A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Store, the Marble Palace, and the Sun Building – is a seven-story office building on Broadway, between Chambers and Reade Streets, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Defunct hotels in Manhattan