Hotel Bristol, Fifth Avenue

The old Hotel Bristol on Fifth Avenue, northwest corner of West 42nd Street was built about 1877. It was primarily a family hotel.

The property was transferred to Louisa M. Livingston as a partition deed drawn in 1852. The eight-story above ground Hotel Bristol opened its doors about 1877 (it was in operation in January, 1878), with its façades in white marble. It was then one of the largest hotels in NYC. In 1878, it was under the management of James Henry Corey, formerly of the Hotel Windsor. In 1902, Walter J. Salmon leased the site for 20 years.

In 1903, another Hotel Bristol was completed at 122 and 124 West 49th Street, Manhattan. An extension to it was built in 1918 at 129 West 48th Street.

Around 1915, the Hotel Bristol on 5th Avenue was converted into an office building and also housed stores. In 1920, negotiations were pending to sell the property, then owned by Elbridge T. Gerry estate. The property was transferred to Gerry Estates, Inc. in 1922. In the same year, Salmon signed a long-term lease for the site. Tenants in the building were evicted in November, 1929, and then it was demolished. The site was cleared in January, 1930, to make way for the 60-story Art Deco 500 Fifth Avenue.