There’s not much left of the former St. Denis Hotel on Broadway
[Photo by Dave on 7th]Workers have been slowing bringing down the historic St. Denis building, 799 Broadway at 11th Street.The above photo via Dave on 7th shows what’s left. Workers started the demo prep work back in September.Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.On March 14, the city OK’d permits for the 12-story, “loft-style building” taking the place of the St. Denis. According to a news release about the address: “799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies.”And a rendering of the new building…[Binyan Studios]The nearly demolished structure, which was 165 years old, was noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers. However, the building was not landmarked… and it was not in a Historic District.For more history, Jeremiah Moss, who once worked in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled “The Death and Life of a Great American Building” for The New York Review of Books in March 2018.Previously on EV Grieve:Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor PlaceReport: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million[Image via Wikipedia Commons]
