Past and Present: Park Slope’s Plaza Hotel

A look at Brooklyn, then and now.

Manhattan’s famous Plaza Hotel got its name because that city’s Grand Army Plaza was right across the street, at the main entrance to the park. Brooklyn also had its own Grand Army Plaza, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that we also had our own Plaza Hotel, also just across the street from the main entrance to the park. Ours was here first, of course, built at least ten years before the first Manhattan Plaza Hotel, and more than 25 years before the famous 1907 building that replaced it.

This incarnation of Brooklyn’s Plaza hotel was built sometime around 1877, as Park Slope was rapidly developing as a popular new upscale neighborhood. Prospect Park was Brooklyn’s most popular destination, and although the entrance to the park was not as ornate as it is now, it was still quite the place to be to begin one’s stroll into nature’s realm. Placing a hotel on the edge of the park, just across the street from the main entrance was commercial genius.

As you can see from the postcard, the hotel wasn’t especially large, but it was striking and ornate, with a mansard roof, an attractive façade, and some ornate ornamentation that looks like it was probably added later. Unlike Manhattan’s second Plaza Hotel, this establishment was not about accommodations, although they may have had a couple of rooms, but its dining room and saloon were much more in demand. The hotel sat right at the end of Union Street, where it meets Prospect Park West, then called Ninth Avenue. It faced Prospect Park and its address was 2 Ninth Avenue.

When this building opened in 1877, it was owned by two partners named Charles Bedell and William Snyder. The fact that the Park Slope Plaza never became the Manhattan Plaza was probably because of the two of them. They may have had some business savvy, but they were not particularly classy guys.

On May 25, 1878 shots rang out in front of the Plaza. There, out in front of the building, two men were rolling around on the ground, fighting. They were the owners. Sometime during the fight, Snyder had drawn a revolver and fired off at least two shots, both of which went wild and hit nothing, and fortunately, no one, except Snyder, who shot himself in the finger. Snyder must have been really angry, because he shook off the injury and continued to fight with Bedell, and finally threw the other man to the ground, and in the process broke Bedell’s left leg.

That stopped the fight, as Bedell had to be taken home, and the doctor was called. He lived around the corner on Carroll Street. The next morning, someone told the police about the fight, and Snyder was arrested for assault. The charges were made on Bedell’s behalf by the bartender at the Hotel. Snyder was arraigned and made bail. Now is that any way to treat one’s brother-in-law? Classy!

It turned out that the Plaza had been founded by a man named Dugan, who had established a restaurant and saloon in a wood-framed building on this location when Prospect Park had first opened. Mr. Dugan had run a fine restaurant and saloon, but he never paid much attention to the rest of the establishment, and lost it. It passed on to someone else, who sold it to Bedell and Snyder. They realized the potential of the site and tore down the wooden building and built the building in the postcard on the original lot, and built an extension that covered the lot next door. The new establishment opened in 1877.

William Snyder’s sister was married to Charles Bedell. She owned the land that the new extension was built on. Apparently, she had a problem with some aspect of the business, and went to discuss it with her brother over in the main building. They got into a big fight. When Snyder checked on them, he saw Bedell verbally abusing his wife, and he stepped in. Bedell said some nasty things, hats were knocked off, and before long, they were rolling on the ground. After Snyder broke Bedell’s leg, the fight stopped. The police were later told that Bedell was not going to press charges.

Charles Bedell’s problems persisted. A year later, he was sued by the wife of a Prospect Park policeman. Mrs. Bridget Rowan was passing the Plaza Hotel on her way to the park, carrying her husband’s dinner to him. As she passed the park, she alleged that Charles Bedell loosed his dog on her. When the case came before the judge, the dog turned out to be a puppy, and from the description, it must have been a Chihuahua, as the puppy was only six inches long and three inches high. A Chihuahua that had been born earlier that day to be that small. Really?

Anyway, Mrs. Rowan freaked as the vicious beast came after her. An employee of the hotel was hosing down the sidewalk at the time, and Mrs. Rowan alleged that Bedell ordered the man to turn his hose on her, which he did, soaking her with water. She was so distraught from the entire experience that she had to be taken home, and she didn’t leave the house for weeks. She wanted $5,000 in damages.

Before the case came to trial, Bedell’s lawyer wrote a letter to the Brooklyn Eagle, explaining what had really happened, according to his client. He said that the puppy, which was only a couple of months old, had gone up to her in a friendly puppy manner, and she had kicked him and then cursed Bedell and the puppy out, and threatened to “get” him and “make him pay.”

He also said that she had walked into the water stream that the hotel employee had aimed into the street at that time, and if she had gotten wet, it was her own fault. The lawyer went on to say that Mr. Bedell had no reason to have the dog attack her, or to turn the hose on her, and there were witnesses to the incident who would back him up.

The case went to trial in December of 1879. The jury deliberated for four hours and couldn’t come to a verdict. They threw their hands up, and were deadlocked. They finally found for the plaintiff, Mrs. Rowan, and ordered Bedell to pay her $50. No doubt, Mr. Bedell’s prior reputation for brawling in the street didn’t help him here.

The Bedell-Snyder family must have lost the hotel, as there was a sheriff’s liquidation sale of the contents in 1879, as well as an advertisement offering the building for rent. It was touted as a fine place for a restaurant and ice cream saloon. There was no mention of the other, more lucrative kind of saloon. During the 1880s, the hotel was a popular dining spot and its saloon was a popular classy watering hole.

It soon became very popular as a place for the sporting gentlemen of the neighborhood to come and engage in some discreet card games and gambling. The nearby block of Eighth Avenue, between St. Johns and Lincoln Places was known as “Sportsman’s Row,” because many of the houses on that block were owned by wealthy thoroughbred racing horse owners or their very successful jockeys.

The hotel soldiered on throughout the rest of the 19th century, keeping an amazingly low profile They must have been just an eating and recreational enterprise, because whenever you have paying guests in a hotel, eventually your hotel’s name is in the paper. I could find no mention of the new or old owners other than what I’ve already mentioned.

Ads for waiters and other employees are peppered in the paper between the 1880s and 1908. At various times, they advertised for waiters “who know their business,” as well as German and “Colored” waiters. After 1908, I couldn’t find any more ads, and there were no mentions of the establishment for any other reason.

The building was torn down sometime before 1925. That was the year ground was broken on the site for the huge new Knights of Columbus clubhouse and headquarters, officially at 1 Prospect Park West. The history of that club appears in a Building of the Day entry here. That building eventually became a senior citizen’s residence, and recently was in the news because the present owners are evicting the seniors to make the building into luxury condominiums. Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel is now condominiums, but in an entirely different, and less odious manner. Brooklyn’s Plaza Hotel has been long forgotten.

GMAP