George Washington Hotel (New York City)

The Freehand New York Hotel is located at 23 Lexington Avenue (between 23rd Street and 24th Street) in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. Located adjacent to the Baruch College and School of Visual Arts campuses, the hotel was opened in 1928 as the George Washington Hotel. At different times it has been used both as a brothel and as a boot-legging house during Prohibition.

George Washington Hotel
West elevation and south profile, 2005
Location in New York City
LocationRose Hill, Manhattan, New York, NY
Coordinates40.739627°N 73.984647°W / 40.739627; -73.984647
Built1930
ArchitectFrank Mills Andrews, John Peterkin
Architectural styleFrench Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No.100003931
Added to NRHPMay 20, 2019

In the 1980s, the hotel was raided by the police.[1] For a period of time the building was in receivership; its demolition was prevented by support from a local historical society. The hotel was later purchased at auction, and space was leased to not-for-profit Educational Housing Services in the mid-1990s. Much of the space was under sublease to the School of Visual Arts except for apartments still occupied by original (non-student) tenants who pay stabilized rent, and who are still protected under NYC rent laws. SVA broke sublease and built a new dorm on 24th Street in mid 2016. The ground lease for the property was bought by investment firm Alliance Bernstein in 2016. The company developed the property into a hotel[2] which is now known as the Freehand/New York.[3][4]

In 2019 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]

Notable people

The building was occupied by many famous writers, musicians, and poets. These include W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, who lived there in the 1930s; Auden even dedicated a poem to the hotel.[6] Another was Keith Haring, who lived in the building as a student at SVA.

In the late 1960s, Minoru Yamasaki and a team of architects drafted the early plans for the World Trade Center in a suite at the George Washington. From 1975 until his death in 1979 Al Hodge, who played Captain Video in the popular children's 1950s TV series, lived in an inexpensive rental unit in the hotel. In the 1990s Dee Dee Ramone occupied a room there, as did playwright Jeffrey Stanley and comedian Judah Friedlander.

See also

References
  1. "7 Seized in Drug Raid At Hotel on East Side" New York Times Published: March 29, 1983 Retrieved 7 July 2010
  2. E.B. Solomont, E.B. (July 18, 2016). "AllianceBernstein pays $100.4M for George Washington Hotel's ground lease". The Real Deal. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  3. "Freehand/New York". Freehand Hotels. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  4. Marsh, Julia; Rosner, Elizabeth (March 27, 2018). "Owners of famed Manhattan hotel want rent-stabilized 'hoarders' out". New York Post. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  5. "Weekly List 20190531". U.S. National Park Service. May 31, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  6. "Ode". New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
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