SimpleSevens.org Mr John Donohoe's site.

Index of sub-pages:

• Harry K. Thaw   Hotel Program from Thaw's 1907 murder trial of Stanford White    [Program] NEW
  
• Mercer Arts Center   Article; NY Times article from 1971 with one photo    [Mercer Arts Center, and photos]
  
• Mercer Arts Center    Floor plan/clickable map;    [1st floor, photos and more docs]
  
• Mercer Arts Center     Floor plan/ clickable map;    [2nd floor, photos and more docs]
  
• Interview     With Cynthia Parker Kaback 10/03;    [Interview]
  
• Survivor's account     Cynthia Parker Kaback;    [Survivor's account]
  
• Fireman's dog rescue account     Joe Shreck;    [Dog rescued, several photos]
  
• Collapse photos    Two photos from newspapers;    [Two photos]
  
• Mercer Arts Center and site history    Site's prior history;    [Site history]
  
• Grand Central Hotel & Lafarge House    Site's prior history;    [Old photos, history and commentary]
  
• Letter from 1901 on hotel stationary    1901 letter;    [1901 letter from hotel guest] NEW 5/05
  
• Old print    Wide jpg;    [Print of hotel] NEW 6/05
  
• Multi views     Photos from postcard 1920's    [Photos of hotel interior] NEW 8/05
  

   

Here on the left is a photo post card of The Broadway Central Hotel, erected in 1868 at 673 Broadway, the hotel subsequently collapsed onto Broadway in 1973 killing four people.
The post card was mailed in 1908, it depicts the beautifully victorian mansard roofed hotel before 1902, but no earlier than 1892, the cable car line clearly seen on Broadway was started in 1892 and was closed down around 1902. On the right is another card dated and mailed in 1914, the original image taken from street level.

Above is a brass Otis elevator push-button plate circa 1900, this came from the basement of the hotel.

13 year old me explored the building section that was left and the front rubble where the collapsed occurred and the demolition began. I found the elevator plate attached to the wall by the elevator in the basement.

A rather unfortunate history of the hotel which was home to a few shady criminals like gangster Arnold Rothstein who is featured in the crime library web site; http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters2/rothstein/3.htm
as well as the scene of the fatal shooting of Jubilee Jim Fisk (1834-1872) at the hands of socially prominent Ned Stokes on the grand staircase of the Hotel on January 6, 1872. The cause was Josie Mansfield, a music hall figure of mediocre talents, and supposed mistress of Mr. Stokes, Fisk died the next day.

In 1898 there was a horse related accident in front of the hotel;

Broadway was crammed with more than the parade; there were impatiently clanging cablecars full of passengers along its eastern side that were backed up for blocks. All went well, however, until the lead sections reached the Broadway Central Hotel, near Bleecker Street, where there was a bottleneck. Horses already nervous from noise and excitement became difficult to control, and a team drawing a carriage full of Chicago politicians swerved in front of a rumbling cablecar, which startled them back toward the waiting ranks of marchers. A sudden explosion of fireworks then stampeded the team through the Seventh Regiment band and up onto the sidewalk, where they panicked, kicking and plunging violently, "throwing men and women in all directions" until Policeman O'Donohue of the West Forty-seventh Street Station caught the bridle of one and steered the team against a lamppost, "where they stuck fast." The injured were carried into the lobby of the hotel, and after some frantic minutes the parade reorganized and continued its march, leaving behind, gleaming on the wet pavement, a tuba and several smaller brasses now in two-dimensional form.

I received a very interesting reply to my query about the hotel collapse from Francis (Frank) Brannigan who was the recipient of Fire Engineering`s first Lifetime Achievement Award, and has devoted more that half of his 56-year career to the safety of firefighters in building fires. Brannigan is an editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering.

Mr Brannigan suggested in his detailed letter, that after an investigation a chase was found to have been cut into one of the brick walls for a drain pipe, weakening the structural integrity of the wall by creating a plane of weakness, and it breaks along that line. The walls were also constructed using the soft sand-lime mortar and leaks from the drain pipe had washed out mortar further weakening the wall. Subway vibrations may also have played a role suggested Mr Brannigan.

In addition to that I found another resource that indicated some illegal structural work was done in the basement shortly before the collapse.

There is a really well written personal account from a retired firefighter who was there searching the rubble for survivors and found a dog trapped in the basement, see the index at the top of this page for the link.

The Hotel's logo design

   

LEFT- Yet another view in a post card of the hotel.
RIGHT- A creamer from the hotel that I also own.

679 Broadway, I believe this was known as the Annex to the hotel and when the hotel was gone there was a large doorway opening which had been boarded over in the side wall of 679. The lower floor windows of 679 very strongly resembled the hotel's windows but 679 was only 5 floors high.
I only managed to get a photo of the lower floors, I suppose I either didn't take one of the upper floors or the cheezy instamatic camera had failed to work properly.

Below is an 1868 view of the hotel from the North looking South, 679 is clearly shown and the lower floors identical to the hotel's then oddly they start to vary. The hotel was brand new when this drawing was made.

Below is another china creamer from the hotel that I found and added to my collection recently.