Fifth Avenue Hotel

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The Fifth Avenue Hotel was a luxury hotel in Manhattan, New York City, that operated from 1859 to 1908. It stood on the southwest corner of Madison Square between 23rd and 24th Streets. Built by Amos Richards Eno for about $2 million, construction began in 1856 and the hotel opened on August 23, 1859. It was designed by Griffith Thomas with William Washburn. Early in its life it was nicknamed “Eno’s Folly” because of its out-of-town location, but it soon became the city’s social, cultural, and political hub and helped spur further hotel development to the north and west, in what later became the NoMad district.

The building was five stories tall with brick and white marble, and it featured a grand but simple Italianate exterior with a projecting tin cornice and richly appointed public rooms inside. One of its most notable innovations was the first passenger elevator installed in a U.S. hotel: Otis Tufts’ vertical screw railway, powered by a stationary steam engine, carried guests to the upper floors.

Inside, guests found luxurious surroundings—gilt wood, heavy curtains, rosewood and brocatelle furniture, and fine carpets. The hotel advertised features unusual for the time, including private bathrooms and a fireplace in every room. About 400 staff supported the operation.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel attracted many famous visitors and played a key role in New York society. It hosted presidents and dignitaries, royalty, and influential businessmen, and it became a gathering place for leaders and movers of the era. It was also a venue for important events: in 1873 Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met there to codify the first set of college football rules, and in 1881 the United States Tennis Association was founded at the hotel. It also served as a political center for the Republican Party and hosted busy after-hours stock trading.

The hotel closed on April 4, 1908, and was demolished shortly afterward. The site was rebuilt as the Fifth Avenue Building, later known as the Toy Center, designed by Robert Maynicke and Julius Franke for Eno’s grandson Henry Lane Eno. The Toy Center remained on the site for many years, housing the International Toy Center until 2007, and a plaque there marks the hotel’s former location. The name lived on in a later Fifth Avenue Hotel at 24 Fifth Avenue, designed by Emery Roth and later converted to apartments.