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New York, 1905. "Hotel Netherland, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
"There's a Small Hotel" was from 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical "On Your Toes" -- which us lucky readers have to be to catch Dave's classic wordplay.
A fine version by Count Basie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90wyOs2cboI
That doesn't look particularly safe!
There is a description of the yet completed Hotel Netherland in the May 1891 edition of Building Age magazine, along with floor plans for the cellar and basement, first and second floors (note the nurses dining room in the top left-hand corner of the first floor), and third and seventeenth (laundry) floors. The Hotel Netherland was designed by William H. Hume and built for W. W. Astor. It's brief, 35-year history and some interior photos can be seen here.
Built in 1892-93 as the New Netherland, a name making more sense historically, and touted as the world's tallest hotel. The 'New' was dropped in 1908. Demolished in 1927 and promptly rebuilt on the same footprint, 21 stories taller but eclipsed in height by the Woolworth Building. Opened as the Sherry Netherland: Louis Sherry, whose fashionable restaurant had been in the Netherland since 1919, now owned the whole place. Still there with his name but not the restaurant (or a wishing well).
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