Martha Washington Hotel

History and architecture

The Renaissance Revival style Martha Washington Hotel was the first hotel built in New York to provide housing for professional women. Although increasing numbers of women were joining the work force, residential options for single, working women at that time were extremely limited. The developer, the Women’s Hotel Company, was incorporated in 1900 specifically to create such facilities. The project was conceived as a business rather than a charity and promised 5% return on the subscriptions of its investors. The 12-story building opened in 1903, serving permanent residents as well as transient guests, and was immediately full. Its purpose differed from existing rooming houses and chaperoned institutions in that it provided a comfortable, independent living situation for single, working women.

Although most women at this time were still expected to marry and keep house for their husbands and families, many women were beginning to venture away from this traditional role and become professional workers in business and as teachers, artists, doctors, or nurses. Living quarters for these pioneers were not always easy to find and many types of established housing were not available to single women. This building was designed by prominent architect Robert Gibson, known for his ecclesiastical and commercial designs in Manhattan and upstate New York.

Gibson won this commission through a design competition and later served on the board of the Women’s Hotel Company. This classically-inspired brick and limestone building has facades on both 29th and 30th Streets that feature prominent quoins, Palladian windows, splayed lintels with keystones and balconettes with iron railings. The building is located in a section of Manhattan between Fifth and Sixth Avenues that was filling with hotels during this period.

Centrally located and close to shopping, entertainment and various types of transportation, the hotel was convenient for permanent residents and visitors alike. The Martha Washington continued to serve women only until 1998. Today it remains in use as a hotel.