Litchfield enquirer., 1852-09-16
The Father of Ghc Great New York
 Hotels is Dead.

The Father Of Ghc Great New York
 Hotels is Dead.
 The papers teli us that Stephen Holt, Esq, departed this life On Saturday, eye, |. nirg last, iu this city. at the full age Of three score years and ten. And in these nigh pressure times, when years Of former quIel life are crowded into single day |. this is ali the papers iud time or room to say. But, surely, the father Of' the New York lilnlnmUth hotels should not be suffer ed to go down to the grave without single obituary iane to record hts memory. Nlth sOme xconiriciiies of charactoT, le was man of moro ihan ordinary energy aud enterprise. He possessed mufeOvbr, nn orig iual cast of mlnd which led him tO tor sake the beaten track and strike out new paths for himself He was not only the father of the great hotels, hut the great pioneer of the Fimmeiise system of eating houses iD tii5s gOrmandisirg Gotham. lie was not maclf ab6ve the medium height, but his weight was probably mol less lhan three hundred pOnnds. '.
 We have heard Mr. Holt say, and we suppose with truth. shat ''he was the first .nan aai who ever sold shilling plate in New York; He may tIiefefOre ,jdstly be GdlIed the pioneer of that numerous class of eat ing saloons in :he city which furnish re> ftssi,ments at fixed prize ger P!ate. He eommapcSd poor and ina small way, but the busiiness he undertook was popnlar-s i, was In the eating line, and he was suc- cessfll. He made moGey, and after a white, like Ieshurun, :he wsxed fat and k icfea. '"He ssaa:d New Yore needed 8 hotsl." The old City Hotel on Broadway, and Old TammanY Hall were well enough tn their day anf generation, but they were no. pR with the times. and he resolved to go to work aud build hotel as ts a hotel. The, result of his p6ilanthropic resolve may be seen su that .iafbls pile on Fulton street. Between Pearl and Water streets. now Known as the United States Hotel, and t6iTimeiIy as Holt>s Hotel Well do we reeollect tl,s glowing accounts of this mag. ni6ceat enterprise that circulated in the papsrs throughout the country. (for we were not New Yorker tlien) accounts of the tseSeip' and broad fSuhdatio6, of the vas, expensJ. of the; stately structure with its marble walls rising six stories in height with 6uffalo on top,' and how the bag- gage of travellers yass hloistea4 l,ist4 by ss!eam | ttOtn CD0 IOWCI AtOos eV h0 kVp gaOEys Huu travellers with tiff they liked; and 'inaIly how the weary traye!er;w wi!!hoHt the trouble of taking of hls boo.s, SSS9plt have them brushed and polished by steam us nice us a cat could lick ier ear!' No hotel in the country at that day had ever made such .
 mark. Its fame rang through the land. It was the pianeey 9f the mammoth hotels. It was the father of ,i.- AZ'" f1Opse Ous posterIty iG' the city might furnish a most magnificent palace for almost every sOvereigd in EprOPA. "
 In bailding tho United States Hotel, whiGh cost some hundred and fifty or two hundred thoHsand dollars, MT. Hol, wen, beyond his lneans. Inorigaged the hotel. and finally failed and lost it. The day of small things, again returned to him. Five or six years ago he opened a liule refresh. ment estabiish6ient oil the corner of Nassau u and BeekmaH streets. But the times had gone ahead of him, and the fat old ma ], leaning on his staff, could not keep ap with them. His restaprant was closed, and again he walked heavily aboHt the slreets. And then he learned that he was the prrin> cipal heir to an immense estate in England, and of he went to see ahopt it. II we are n6t mistaken he went ,yice to England Gh tke same Srrand. We heard Him tell his Story some two years ago. He had Aten sad lerre.ed oH.ths whole thing. It ansient Sir John Holt or other. and had ] besn in the hShds of the Governmept for half csptory Os more. I,s present value. # we rscollect right. was some tkifiY or forty miIlions of doIlafs.. {eoo importan. an aem for tls irSaS hand oE govsrn.neqt 'o yis!d lIsAtlS. Dai ihe aSsrgstic' pld man. according to lis oVn accpunI. had beaded the lords of ,he Treasury so ,hor> snshly iA 'hs,E asn, that he said ,tssy had tain accumulated profits on the estate. amounting to some three or four millions of dollars. And this he firmly believed he should obtain poasession of when he should next visit Eng land. which he intended then shortly to "o. But whether he went Ont or not. aDd whether he was ever able to lay bis hand on any portion of the vas,