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In 1834,Henry Brevoort built a mansion at 24 5thAvenue, at the northwest corner of 9th Street. Mr. Brevoort was descended from Dutch settlers and since 1701, his earlier ancestors had retained their farm, stretching from 5th Avenue to the Bowery and extending north of 14th Street. He was a lifelong friend of Washington Irving, with whom he corresponded by letters for over 50 years. His son, James Carson Brevoort, was a world famous collector of rare books and coins and was very involved with the Astor Library.J. Carson Brevoort also studied with his uncle, James Renwick. Mr. Renwick built the house at 21 5th Avenue, which would become the home of Mark Twain. According to Nathan Silver’s book Lost New York, the Brevoort House was probably designed by the firm of Ithiel Town and A.J. Davis. Its classic Greek Revivalelements made it a model for later homes in the City.

In 1845,directly across the street from the Brevoort House, a large, stately hotel was erected by the family, stretching the Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets.Called the Hotel Brevoort, it kept alive the family’s name after the mansion was torn down in 1925 to make way for another hotel.

In 1902, restaurateur Raymond Orteig purchased the Hotel Brevoort along with the nearby Hotel Lafayette, located at University Place and 9th Street. A native of France, Mr. Orteigmodeled both hotels on French precedents. The Café Brevoort, which he opened on the ground floor and basement of the hotel, served up haute French cuisine to notables of the day including Mark Twain, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Eugene O’Neill and George F. Baker. It included a Parisian sidewalk café, a new feature for the time. A deep interest in aviation had led Orteig to donate the $25,000 prize which inspired Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight, another venture that made him an international figure.Charles Lindbergh collected his prize at the Brevoort Hotel. Raymond Orteig would run the hotel until 1933 when it was taken over by the Knott Management Corporation.

From 1901-1938 Henri Grechen operated a barber shop out of the hotel where, according to the Times, he “cut the hair and shaved the beards of many famous persons.” This included Mark Twain, who used Mr. Grechen’s services for the 4 and ½ years that he lived nearby at 21 5thAvenue.

The Hotel Brevoort was extremely popular for the European elite and royalty. Congressmen, Senators, Mexican and Turkish heads of state, past U.S. presidents, army generals, and even Prince Arthur all frequented the hotel. It was a popular spot for book readings, luncheons for nearby churches, dinners for the likes of Gertrude Whitney, and big fundraisers for institutions like St. Vincent’s. On January 18, 1916, the day before she was tried in Federal Court for sending her articles on birth control through the mail, Margaret Sanger gave a rousing speech at the hotel during a dinner held to support her. The New York Times captured the event saying it had, “the flavor of Bohemia and Greenwich Village.”

In 1954 the hotel was demolished to make way for a large apartment building. Built by architects Corbet and MacMurray and completed in 1956, this 19-story building has 296 apartments that were converted to co-ops in 1981. It features a limestone and polished brick façade, interior courtyard garden, and lobby complete with murals painted by Paul Sample. One of the building’s earliest residents was Buddy Holly and, interestingly, Judge Judith Scheindlin lived there before she became television’s Judge Judy. The building was named the Brevoort, a lasting reminder of this prominent Dutch family and the hotel that anchored the Village.



18 thoughts on “Brevoort in the Village

    • Author gravatar

      Dana, Great artical,I am in the middle of gathering family history as to apply some dates and events together for some of my relatives.Unfortunetely most of my “best” sources have past on.My Grandfather was a barbor in the Hotel Brevoort from the early 1890’s until the late 1940’s .Then in 1955 moved to Virginia with his son (my father)George. I know my father would share with us that grampa “Nino” was,with his brother Frank(,and a couple other gentleman) “honored” by “who” asked them for shaves and cuts. Mark Twain,’Dimond’ Jim Brady, Lincoln Stephens,John D,and John D JR.and Enrico Caruso.Also another story was the Vanderbuilts would sometime meet for family meetings as not to be “followed” to the Waldorf-Astoria,instead stay there.It was sure nice to put another story about this fine hotel together with what I grew up hearing.Thank You

    • […] for a 19-story apartment building.  Read more about the hotel’s history in the July issue of WestView News. Washington Square […]

    • […] Hotel Brevoort was built in 1845 by the Brevoort family, owners of a large tract of land stretching from 5th […]

    • Author gravatar

      The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” on 4/25/1925 says that many people mistakenly believed the hotel when going to be demolished along with the mansion.

      In describing the venerable hotel, they write “It is, of all hostelries in the city, richest in memories. One cannot even walk through the thin, inadequate lobby without encountering some reminder of older glories. Such a commonplace rite as checking one’s coat leads one directly to the wall whereon hangs framed the menu of the banquet served on the occasion of the visit of that Prince of Wales who became King Ed ward. VII. They ate richly then, one reflects with a sigh; and turning to the accompanying gorgeous wine list, one is moved almost to tears. Another early menu has a printed request that patrons and guests of the hotels will please to order on Saturday evening whatever wines are desired for Sunday’s dinner, the law of those quaint times having had scruples about liquor selling on the Sabbath.”

    • Author gravatar

      Our dad, Howard William Brevoort, was descended from one of the Brevoort brothers who settled in the New York area. The original family name in the Netherlands was van Bredevoort. We are scattered across the USA, but we have a great interest in gathering family history.

      Jan Brevoort Allen-Spencer, Long Island NY

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        Hi, I am wondering if you have information on a small, one-block Brevoort Place, which I believe was located off East 10th Street in the Village. Mainly, I am looking for a map of the area and thought you might have one related to geneology that shows Brevoort Place..

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      I too am doing some digging and just recently realized that the name Brevoort was mispelled in my notes. As I can see it, an Elizabeth Brevoort was a widow who married Abraham Freer. Their only child, Sally Freer, married, Josiah Broas..one of my ancestors.

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        Hi, my name is Timothy William Brevoort (Tom’s older Cousin) my father Richard William Brevoort and I are from the N.Y. Brevoort’s. We are decendents of Henery Brevoort. I would love to find out any history you might have.
        Thanks,
        Tim Brevoort

        • Author gravatar

          Tim:
          Our branch of the family is looking into all the Brevoort heritage, and the legacy that surrounds the entire family tree. We are also descendants of Henry, and the various branches of the family that are related to the “Manhattan” Brevoorts, and the old farm in the east village. You likely know about the portion of the land donated to Grace Church, and that there is a plaque in the back of the church dedicated to Henry….lots to talk about sometime…
          Roger Brevoort

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      Several episodes from the novels of Dawn Powell took place at the Brevoort (and the nearby Lafayette), including the one I’m reading now, “Angels on Toast” c. 1940). As the Brevoort was being torn down in the early 1950’s, she took photos to refresh her memories, as The Brevoort continued to be the locale for her later novels.

    • […] http://westviewnews.org/2012/07/brevoort-in-the-village/ Share this:Like this:Like Loading… […]

    • […] 1902, the Brevoort was purchased by restaurateur Raymond Orteig, who brought his native French flair to the property, including sidewalk café seating, then a […]

    • […] O’Neill’s social world gathered around the table she endowed at the Hotel Brevoort, on the north side of Washington Square Park, at 5th Avenue between 8th and 9th streets. Among other amenities, the Hotel Brevoort  offered the first “Parisian style” sidewalk café in New York City, and the hotel’s French owner, Raymond Orteig, hired French chefs to make his restaurant the “Rendezvous for Epicures” from around the world. This strategy proved so successful that the Brevoort attracted a clientele ranging from foreign aristocrats to Bohemians like Edna St. Vincent Millay. The café had a permissive reputation, which strengthened its association with Paris culture. Friends held a fundraiser there for Margaret Sanger in 1916, the night before her federal trial for sending “indecent” information about birth control through the U.S. mail. And Rose O’Neill kept a table at the restaurant in her name where her artist friends, when down on their luck, could drop in for a free meal. Paris-style café at the Hotel Brevoort. (Look here for a brief history of Hotel Brevoort) […]

    • Author gravatar

      In the middle of watching MGM’s “After Office Hours,” from 1935, in which Clark Gable meets his date at The Brevoort, midst a crowd of white-tied swells.

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      My grandfather, Jean Barrere, managed the restaurant until his death in December 1946. I’m trying to find details as I believe his death was violent. Anyn help much appreciated.

    • Author gravatar

      John Barrere, did you ever get any info about Jean Barrere’s death? Below is a newspaper article about it:
      The Courier News (Bridgewater, New Jersey) – Thursday, 5 December 1946 – page 28, column 3:
      Hotel Employe Gives Self Up
      New York–(AP)–Anthony Titone, 37, wanted by authorities in connection with the fatal stabbing of the manager of the Hotel Brevoort and the wounding of the hotel’s auditor, walked into the Mercer St. police station last night and voluntarily surrendered.
      He was charged with felonious assault on the complaint of Joseph Treppe, the auditor. Treppe and Jean Barrere, the manager, were stabbed on Tuesday by Titone, police said, in an altercation which followed Titone’s discharge by Barrere.
      Barrere died Tuesday night in Columbus Hospital. Dr. B. Morgan Vance, chief assistant medical examiner, said the preliminary findings of an autopsy on the body indicated Barrere died of stab wounds in both hands “and cerebral and coronary arterio-sclerosis.”
      The auditor, who was stabbed in the arms, is in a serious condition at Columbus Hospital.
      [Another newspaper gave the auditor’s name as Joseph Troppe.]

    • Author gravatar

      I have a dinner platter, part of the service of a “New Hotel Brevoort”, further decorated with a crest — a shield with an arrangement of globe thistles, and, beneath this, in a band, the motto “Nemo Me Impune Lacassit”. I’d like to hear from anyone about a connection between the Brevoort and the “new” hotel. Are they one and the same? Is it possible I have a dish eaten on by some luminary? I live in Maine, where I bought the platter 38 years ago from an antique dealer, “Guppy” Guptill, in Portland.

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      Hi. I am wondering about whether there is any information on why Paul Sample chose to depict Peter Stuyvesant and his slaves in the mural. I am also curious about whether there has been any opposition to the mural, or movement to have it removed. The mural, with its gentle brushstrokes, soft lighting and pastoral quality, has a very jarring effect on the visitor who has any knowledge of the brutality of both slavery and the extermination of Native Americans that followed soon after the Europeans arrived. I understand that Paul Sample’s genre of Regionalism and Realism is meant to depict everyday life. However, that everyday life was horrifying for people of color – the absence of this reality from the painting makes it feel very disturbing.

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