Hotel Bartholdi, 956 Broadway at 23rd Street, Madison Square

The Hotel Bartholdi at 956 Broadway, on the southeast corner of East 23rd Street, seen from the junction of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, about the 1890s. Madison Square Park is to the left, outside this photo from the George P. Hall & Son photograph collection, New-York Historical Society. More: Madison Square in the 19th century ►

The seven-story Hotel Bartholdi, 956 Broadway at 23rd Street, is on the right. It was named after French artist Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, dedicated on October 28, 1886. The arm with Lady Liberty's torch was on display in Madison Square Park to raise funds for her completion. The Hotel Bartholdi was erected by Samuel M. Pike (1822–1872), a Cincinnati whiskey dealer, who erected the Pike Opera House in that city, the Grand Opera House, at 23rd street and 8th avenue, in New York.

The hotel opened in 1885. By 1895, Sergeant Park J. White was the proprietor. Later, the proprietor was Milton Roblee, a former actor and hotel clerk. In 1899, Roblee filed for bankruptcy and was allowed to continue running the hotel with a reduction in rent. The hotel closed in 1912. The building was demolished after a fire in 1966. Today, the site is occupied by the 31-story Madison Green, a residential condominium built in 1982.

The art gallery of William Kurtz (1833-1904), at 6 East Twenty-third Street, adjoining the hotel, was erected in 1873.