The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-27

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nm ivepUe liotel 30 h q New YORKER.
a. = mnfveilp,piy ssil ptcs~fvei ~ has.
esiei ire utheV day "reminiscences ~ his
vH,iih and Incidentally rrfefred ~ the enDrs
1o,p incfs,ae In New YORK real easate.
sna lurfr sNlt Mr. ifvine. sOn tho sits
~ mo stfer, that runs tetWeen tho new
l,tIl ~ Recnftla and ihe American News
t]linpany office. Joining Chambers and
llerdr streets, which street vas paid Tor by
'ne city " Na- my arandfather'a prop
rftv, my noth"r's fathers property, ~
rlrtmhHra = fert
'Hc was Gatnel Firman. and he paid
about isOS ~ 500 for u.
Ih"n there VIVA u farm In is2d street,
nvnei Ivy my grandfather aleD. II oon-
famed frrm forty 90 Atty acres and IL nov
fI'rl m along 10 the Harlem River. and lay
bctwcen Fourth and SiSth venue IL
vas sold for $1,000 In ls7i, and u II worth
now several millions.
remember ~ q boy going To Theatre
alloy. running between Beekman and Ann
-traei-. TO SEQ Fannie F1lsler come out Of
the theatre. | was pretty well grown
then, being In college at that time.
went to old Columbia College nj College
place and Park place. where IL was In those
lays. We used TO 60 10 the present SUN
Building, which was then Tammany Hall,
and dance with the girls there on ball
nights,
THE first hotel in New York that I re-
member was the old City Hotel, which
stood where tho Boreel Building was later.
on Broadway right opposite tho Equitable
building. and there Is where they had the
old assembly rooms for the fashionable
folks. That was pulled down in ls40. 1t
belonged TO John Jacob Aston, and he left
it to one of his daughters, Mrs. Boreel, and
she afterward pulled it down and put up
the building and stores there, just above
Trinity Church.
AT that time we could nave bought the
site Of the Fifth Avenue Hotel for $25, 600,
but 1t was too far uptown and the ground
was swampy-wet ground away down to
Sixth venue. We didn't think the property
was worth that much, and thought other
property more desirable.
A house and lot on the present site Of
the Holland House adjoining the church
was offered during the War Of the Rebel
lion for Sic, 900, now forming the southern
portion Of the Holland House site. sup
pose now 1t would be worth $500 900.
Property at Thirty-third and Thirty
fourth streets and broadway, now occupied
by the Saks store, belonged to Thomas
Lawrence. Ae paid $1,000 q lot for IL;
eight lots, 5000. Hugh J.. Grant formed
a syndicateand bought 1t Of La heirs
years 6 for 81 500 900 and sold
for s2,2SO, 900, I think; I don't remember
the exact figure.
my father, John T. Irving, was the first
Judge Of the Court of Common Pleas in
New York. The courtroom was upstairs
In the City Hall, and his private chambers
were the room now used by the reporters in
the City Hall. He died In 1888 in the Cham
bers street house.
In 1911 my father was in Tammany
Hall, and was the secretary when the or
g~anization was first formed.
When the builder first put up Colonnade
Row on Lafayette place everybody thought
the builder would fail, but he didn't. As
college boy, I kept a boat down at the
and used to row on the river
Saturday afternoons. My boat was kept
under the bridge that then connected
Garden, now the Aquarium, with the
Park.
remember my uncle, Washington Irving, |
very well, and had many pleasant times
with him. He used to come down and
stay with us when we lived In Chambers
street. When he went as Minister to Spain
ne started from our house, as he wa stop
ping with us at hat time.
Washington Irving sailed in one Of
Grinneli d Minturn's packet ships, and I
went down the Bay as far as Sandy Hook
the packet.
in 1888 Irving place was named after
Washington Irving. Irving place was opened
1t the request Of Samuel B. Ruggles, !
no owned all the property between Third
and Fourth avenues and between Four
zenith street and Thirty-irst street, and he
out Gramercy Park. I recall that the
Board Of Aldermen n selecting a site for
a park first selected Jones Woods on
he East River. That action was rescfhded
afterward and Central Park was taken ]
oecauss Of its more central location. WASH
ngton Irving and William Cullen Bryant
'Iu OIueTS WeTo IdIleu db an dQVlbOTy |
rommittee. and they selected Washington
irving as chairman Of the committee.
When the Aston House was built people
that it was 30 fer uptown that it
never succeed; 1t was on the block
hove st. Paul's Church. The people be-
gan to move up to Bond street about 1910.
recall Broadway when there was nothing
nut houses on 1t and no stores, except Stew
Irt's, right opposite City Hall Park, and
he city Bridewell, which was in the park.
That was before ne bought the Cham
street property, and when Washington
Hall stood at the corner Of Broadway and |,
teade street, INC covered half the block to
HAMPERS street on Broadway. There were
'ther buildings on the rest Of the block.
The great leader Of society In the
lays OF my youth was Mrs. Mary Mason
Iones. She lived in Chambers street west
4 Broadway. Afterward she and her
sisters built three houses in Broadway
Waverley place, where she enter
aimed Charles Dickens.
Her father was John Mason, and her
was called the Mason-Jones to dis
them from any other Jones family.
Ter farm was opposite the lower end OF
'e1tral Park.
The old time merchants and lawyers
lad some clubs in the old City Hotel, ! be-
ieve, where they congregated, but / don't
now much about that. Clubs were not