Bradford Hotel (New York City)

The Bradford Hotel is a New York City establishment which opened on October 18, 1924, at 206 - 22 West 70th Street in Manhattan. It cost $2 million to build and was designed by George F. Pelham. It was owned by the Lapidus Engineering Company, the same firm that controlled the Hotel Oxford, which opened in 1923.[1] The apartment hotel[2] is sixteen stories and occupied a plot 150 by 100 between Broadway (Manhattan) and West End Avenue. It contains four hundred rooms.,[3] each with private bathrooms, kitchenettes, and many with terraces.[4] It was being converted to a project for the elderly by January 1970.[5]

Bradford (right) and Chalmont

Ownership history

In January 1954, the Marson Corporation, headed by Morris and Rubin Marcus, purchased the lease on the Bradford Hotel. The lease ran for sixteen years and was sold through Des Gabor, vice-president of the M. Morgenthau Seixas Company, brokers. The lease mandated a yearly rental of more than $110,000.[6] In March 1959 the lease was bought by the Lincoln Bradford Corporation headed by William Pitchford.[3] The Pitchford group held it until August 1959 when it was purchased by a group headed by Jack Brooks.[4] From the Brooks syndicate the lease was purchased by Jack Tish, Herbert Tenenbaum, and Aaron Rashap.[2] A 1950s Lincoln Square development project left the Bradford and the adjoining Chalfonte Hotel intact.[7]

Noteworthy resident

Isidor Kiefer, a retired machine tools manufacturer from Worms, Germany, was a resident of the Bradford Hotel, when he died in October 1961. He came to the United States as a refugee in 1935. Kiefer was the author of a history of the Worms synagogue, to which he belonged. He assisted in rebuilding the synagogue which had been destroyed by the Nazis.[8]

References
  1. "A Bumper Crop Of New Hotels Erected Throughout Country". The New York Times. January 11, 1925. p. RE1.
  2. "Hotel Leasehold Bought". The New York Times. August 6, 1960. p. 39. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  3. "Hotel Lease Sold". The New York Times. February 13, 1959. p. 46. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  4. "Hotel Lease Acquired". The New York Times. August 21, 1959. p. 35. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  5. "City Is Criticized On Lincoln Center". The New York Times. January 25, 1970. p. 44. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  6. "Lease Purchased On The West Side". The New York Times. January 18, 1954. p. 35. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  7. "Lease Bought on Hotel At Broadway, 70th St". The New York Times. January 23, 1957. p. 31. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  8. "Isidor Kiefer Dies At 90". The New York Times. October 17, 1961. p. 39. Retrieved 2010-04-14.

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