Heights History: A Room At The Hotel St. George, $10 A Week… In 1880

July 10, 2012

After going back in time to 1902 last month, we’ve given the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives another spin into the past. This time we transport back to July 10, 1880, 132 years ago today…

What a deal! The Hotel St. George is offering special summer rates, for $10 a week. Your offer includes a bedroom, parlor and private bath, plus the option for a four-course breakfast (40 cents), four-course lunch (35 cents) and five-course dinner (50 cents).

Perhaps you’re looking for accommodations that are a bit more permanent. Sure enough, bargains abound. How about a nicely furnished room at 98 Henry Street, with running water, heat and gas: $5-$6 a week. Only five minutes to the Brooklyn Bridge and ferries to Manhattan.

Interested in first-class accommodations for gentlemen and families “at very moderate rates”? There’s the Pierrepont House on Montague Street [which today is the Bossert Hotel at 98], with your option of American or Europeans meal plans. There’s also a large front room with running water at 73 Henry Street, at the corner of Orange Street: $10 for two. A smaller room is also available that’s suitable for two ladies (as long as they’re employed during the day).

Here’s one that’s hard to resist: Alcove, square and single rooms to let with or without board, at 62 Columbia Heights. Includes hot & cold water, ample closets and furnishings—connected to a private park with an “extensive view” of the harbor. Or perhaps you’d prefer a nicely furnished room on the second or third floor of 99 Hicks Street, perfect for a “gentleman & wife” or single gent. And at 151 Pierrepont Street, you have a choice of one or two “handsomely furnished” rooms on the second floors of a private home. Sorry, gentlemen only and no meals.

And finally, a curiosity that’s not in Brooklyn Heights, but was so packed with prejudice, we’re including it as a sign of the times in 1880. Two floors are available to families, four rooms per floor in a three-story house, for $8 a month. The address is 37 Bartlett Street [in Williamsburg]: with a provision that the space is available only to “English, Irish or French; no Dutch or Afghanistans.” Is it ironic that in 2012, that address is an empty lot?