The Bowery House

The Bowery House is an historic hotel on the Bowery in Manhattan, New York City, that mimics its former incarnation as a flophouse.[1]

The Bowery House
The Bowery House entrance staircase.
General information
Location218-220 Bowery, New York City, New York 10012
Coordinates40°43′19″N 73°59′37.5″W
Opened2011
OwnerAlessandro Zampedri
Sanford Kunkel
ManagementZ/K Hospitality
Technical details
Floor count4
Floor area1,600 m2 (17,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
DeveloperZ/K Hospitality
Other information
Number of rooms104
Number of restaurantsThe Bowery Kitchen
Website
http://www.theboweryhouse.com/

History

220 Bowery was designed by architect Jacob Fisher and built in 1924 in the Colonial Revival style after the property purchased by L Cohen & Sons that same year as a 4-story brick with stores on the ground floor and hotel. The property formerly housed a three-story building.[2][3][4][5] The hotel first opened its doors as The Prince Hotel and accommodated 200 people. By the 1940s, in an era when the Bowery was known as New York City's "Skid Row," the hotel had been transformed to accommodate returning soldiers from World War II, down-and-outs and the down-on-their-luck as a flophouse. All of the floors were rebuilt with single room cabins, bunk rooms, and communal bathrooms to maximize occupancy. While these rooms were meant to be temporary lodging, guests of The Prince Hotel could indulge in all of the vices that the neighborhood provided and many of its occupants stayed on for extended periods of time.[6][7]

The Bowery began gentrifying in the 1990s with new high-rise condominiums and upscale businesses. In 2000, Click modeling agency co-owner Joey Grill, purchased the building under AHJ Corporation for $2.2 million to create luxury lofts. New tenants were no longer taken and the upper floors were leased to Common Ground (now known as Breaking Ground), a nonprofit offering homeless services.[8][7][9]

Hotel
The Bowery House third floor lobby.

In 2011, The Bowery House opened its doors after its redevelopment by Italian race car driver Alessandro Zampedri and American real estate entrepreneur Sanford Kunkel. On the second floors long-term residents rent the tiny stalls, six feet long by five feet wide. On the third and fourth floors house tourists.[1][7]

Controversy

There is concern that the tenants who remained on after the flophouse days, are being used as an attraction to artificially manufacture a nostalgia of the area in a more attractive way for high-end tourists.[10]

References
  1. Burmon, Andrew (12 January 2012). "Race Car Driver Alessandro Zampedri Goes From Crash To Crash Pads". The Huffington Post.
  2. "THE BRONX MARKET.; Three Five-Story Buildings on Block Front Sold". Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  3. "Manhattan NB results". www.metrohistory.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  4. "Manhattan. South of 59th Street" (PDF). The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. 104 (7): 210. August 16, 1919 – via columbia.edu.
  5. "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). 1990. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  6. "First Look: For the Aspiring Bowery Bum". New York Magazine.
  7. Prentice, Claire (2011-10-28). "Shabby or chic? New York's Bowery House hotel". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  8. Barry, Dan (12 October 2011). "On Bowery, Cultures Clash as the Shabby Meet the Shabby Chic". The New York Times.
  9. Hevesi, Dennis. "On the New Bowery, Down and Out Mix With Up and Coming". Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  10. Helmreich, William B. (2013-10-20). The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400848317.
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