Marlton House, or Hotel Marlton is located at 5 West 8th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is notable for having housed many famous artistic figures, especially during the peak of the area's bohemian scene.
History
The Marlton Hotel was built in 1900 and, for much of its existence, served as a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel for mostly transient guests. However, many guests stayed for months or years at a time. Because of its location in the Village's cultural community as well as its relative affordability, the Marlton Hotel became popular amongst struggling actors, poets and artists looking for work in the city.
In 2012, BD Hotels in partnership with Sean McPherson purchased the Marlton House with the intention of restoring the historic property and operating it as a mid-range boutique in the spirit of its original beatnik brand. Richard Born, a principal of BD Hotels says the hotel will have a bar and restaurant component and will not be "terribly pricey".[1] The hotel reopened in September 2013.
Lillian Gish lived in room 408, described by Albert Bigelow Paine in 1932 as a "tiny room" she stayed in to save money, in which she "cooked tinned things and tea using a sterno lamp" in 1913.
Galo Plaza, a South American politician who served as the President of Ecuador, was born at the Marlton Hotel in 1906 to his diplomat parents.
Isabel Dutaud Nagle, wife of sculptor Gaston Lachaise stayed at the Hotel Marlton when she came to visit Lachaise in New York. She was recorded there in 1915, and wrote many poems over the years on Hotel Marlton stationary.
Lenny Bruce, comedian who lived at the hotel during his trial for obscenity in 1964.
^Archives of American Art, Norman Carton collection, page 13 of document AAA_Carton_B1_Correspondence_1957-59. Convalesced here in 1959 while recovering from a 1958 heart attack, per letter from Beatrice Perry, Director of the Gres Gallery
External links
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