When Henry Brevoort, Jr. built his free-standing house on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 8th Street in 1834, he and his wife, Laura, were separated from society.  The fashionable residential neighborhood stretched east from Broadway, blocks from the plot his father had given him on which to build.  A descendant later recalled that Henry felt "very much in the woods and quite out of it."

But, greatly because of the Brevoorts' lavish entertaining and social prominence, the unpaved Fifth Avenue quickly saw similar mansions rising all around until the street became the fashionable address.  Upscale hotels, like the Astor House sat within exclusive residential neighborhoods.  And so it is not surprising that in 1845 the Brevoort family erected the Brevoort House hotel at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 8th Street.

Five stories tall, the Italianate style structure engulfed more than half of the blockfront from 8th to 9th Streets.  Tall gas lamps illuminated the stone stoop which led to the columned portico.  The lintels of each window wore fussy tiara-like Victorian decorations, and a triangular pediment perched atop the cornice.   The strict symmetry of the design was upset only by the grouped windows of the café at the first floor corner which afforded patrons a pleasant view of Fifth Avenue.

The Lost Brevoort House - 15 Fifth Avenue