BRINTNALL Tavern a/k/a Talbot
House, Afterwards
Candee House, afterwards Hotel Manhattan
Text Source: Memorial History of Syracuse, N.Y.,
Edited by Dwight H. Bruce, D. Mason & Co., Publishers, Syracuse,
1891, pg. 682
Hotel Candee - In 1864 Charles E. Candee opened the eastern half of the present Hotel Candee, formerly known as the Brintnall Hotel. Two years later he sold to Wagner & Sweatland. Mr. Sweatland soon after sold his interest to Horace B. Castle, and Mr. Wagner sold to Jerome Vroman, who in turn sold to Mr. Belden, and he to Mr. Hiscock. The latter disposed of his interest to James H. Burke, and 1869 Mr. Candee repurchased the house and has been its proprietor ever since. In 1887 he leased the upper part of the old Talbot House, extending to the corner of Fayette and Warren streets, thus giving him 150 rooms. Mr. Candee is the oldest continuous hotel-keeper in Syracuse. In 1882 he was elected Alderman of the Sixth ward, and has by successive re-elections held that office ever since.
Text Source: Past and Present of Syracuse and Onondaga County New York, by The Rev. William M. Beauchamp, S.T.D., 1908, pg. 568.
Hotel Candee - In 1864 Charles E. Candee opened the eastern half of the present Hotel Candee, formerly known as the Brintnall Hotel. Two years later he sold to Wagner & Sweatland. Mr. Sweatland soon after sold his interest to Horace B. Castle, and Mr. Wagner sold to Jerome Vroman, who in turn sold to Mr. Belden, and he to Mr. Hiscock. The latter disposed of his interest to James H. Burke, and 1869 Mr. Candee repurchased the house and has been its proprietor ever since. In 1887 he leased the upper part of the old Talbot House, extending to the corner of Fayette and Warren streets, thus giving him 150 rooms. Mr. Candee is the oldest continuous hotel-keeper in Syracuse. In 1882 he was elected Alderman of the Sixth ward, and has by successive re-elections held that office ever since.
Text Source: Past and Present of Syracuse and Onondaga County New York, by The Rev. William M. Beauchamp, S.T.D., 1908, pg. 568.
Two important hotel changes came when Charles E. Candee sold out the Candee House in East Fayette Street in May, 1894, and it afterward became the Manhattan, . . .
Text Source: Syracuse and Its Environs, by Franklin H. Chase, Lewis Historical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL, 1924, pp. 319-320
Starting
Old Brintnall Exchange.
Hiram Brintnall died in August 1853. He was a brother of Josiah Brintnall, and those were names to be reckoned with in Syracuse in the 'forties and later. They believed in Syracuse. In 1832 there was a two-story house built on the northeast corner of South Warren and East Fayette streets. This was occupied as a dwelling for a few years and then sold to become a hotel, which was traded for a hundred-acre farm in Lewis County. The Brintnalls were the purchasers. They made additions and alterations and built and rebuilt, and a part of the old Brintnall Exchange became the Candee House. An interesting note is that in the interior of that square were the stables of the old stage coach line which first brought Jason Woodruff to Syracuse. he was the stage driver who afterward became mayor. To-day there are still stables in the center of that square, although not the original ones. The Brintnalls owned nearly to Montgomery Street on the north side of Fayette.
In 1864 Charles E. Candee opened a part of the eastern section of the Brintnall property as the Candee House. Two years later he sold to Wagner & Sweatland, the latter parting with his interest to Horace B. Castle and Mr. Wagner selling to Mr. Vroman. Then there were other transfers and finally Mr. Candee repurchased in 1869. Upon the Warren Street corner was the old Talbot House, and Mr. Candee leased this in 1887, thus having a hotel of one hundred and fifty rooms. He became the oldest continuous hotel keeper in Syracuse in his time. In the later 'nineties the Candee House became the Hotel Manhattan, with Hahn & Stevenson as proprietors, later by Anthony Hahn and then by the Hahn Company. Changes came frequently in later years. When the fire came which destroyed the old hotel on the night of January 24, 1924, Harry Sweeney was the proprietor.
Text Source: The Syracuse Herald, City Edition, Vol. 48, No. 13,575, Syracuse, N.Y., Friday Evening, 25 January 1924, pg. 1
NIGHT FLASHES OF
FIREMEN AT WORK ON OLD MANHATTAN. . ..
. . . MANHATTAN TO BE RAZED
Sweeping Inquiries Into Both Fires Under Way - Merchant Whose Store Was Blown Up Denies Explosives Stored.
Authorities Regard Hotel Fire, Costing One Life, As Accident
. . . MANHATTAN TO BE RAZED
Sweeping Inquiries Into Both Fires Under Way - Merchant Whose Store Was Blown Up Denies Explosives Stored.
Authorities Regard Hotel Fire, Costing One Life, As Accident
Two official investigations were ordered today by James B. Spencer, commissioner of public safety, following an explosion and a fire which wrecked sections of the city.
. . .
Announcing at the same time an investigation of the Manhattan Hotel fire, in which one man was killed and several injured, the commissioner said that W. W. Taber, superintendent of buildings, and Patrick O'Hara, chief inspector of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, had been assigned to that task.
. . .
In the case of the Manhattan, the authorities were inclined to look upon the conflagration as an unpreventable accident. It was expected that following the investigation an order would be issued requiring the razing of the building on grounds of public safety.
. . .
Expressing regret over the Manhattan Hotel fire which resulted in the death of Louis Chatterton, 67, of Auburn, Commissioner Spencer said the regrettable fact was that if Chatterton had not been confused and hysterical he would easily have escaped.
"The fire chiefs report that warning was shouted to Chatterton not to jump," said Mr. Spencer. "In fact he could almost reach a means of escape, but apparently he was so frightened by the noise and flames that he lost all judgment."
ibid, pg. 12
Scores
in Old Manhattan Caught by Midnight Fire Leap Safely Into Nets
Authorities Investigating Today Whether Louis Chatterton, 67, Only Victim, Had Rope in His Third Floor Room.
One person was killed, a score injured, and 50 saved in spectacular rescues when fire of undetermined origin wrecked the old Manhattan Hotel, at Warren and Fayette Streets, early this morning, causing a property loss estimated at more than $150,000.
LOUIS
CHATTERTON LEAPS TO DEATH.
Louis Chatterton, 67, whose permanent home was the hotel, was the only fatality. He was killed when he leaped from a third-floor window into the court which the building surrounds. Guests in rooms on each side of him used rope fire-escapes and slid down safely, but there was none in Chatterton's room this morning.
Whether the room was without the rope equipment, or whether Chatterton had one and jumped with sufficient force to tear it loose from its fastenings probably will be disclosed at an inquest to be held by Coroner S. Ellis Crane, who announced this morning that he had begun an investigation. The testimony of Andrew Barclay, occupant of one of the adjoining rooms, who escaped by means of the steel fire escape into the court, indicates that Chatterton never attempted to use one of the ropes, if one was available.
Harry A. Sweeney, proprietor of the hotel, told a Herald reporter this morning that Chatterton must have had a rope.
"There was a rope in every room in the building," he said. "Chatterton either did not see it or attempted to use it and broke it, or lost his hold."
Store in Block Looted.
Another potential subject for official inquiry - this time by the police - developed this morning in the charge of Mrs. Moses Savasky, 1103 Madison Street, wife of the proprietor of the Raymond Waist Shop, that the shop was looted either during or immediately after the fire.
"About half our stock had been taken," she told a Herald reporter this morning. "I found when I got here early this morning that all the glass had been removed from the front door. it will be impossible to tell exactly how much of the stock was taken until we inventory."
The Raymond Waist Shop occupies one of the stores on the Warren Street side of the building. Reporters on the scene at 7 o'clock this morning found the front door in the condition described by Mrs. Savasky, but police were on guard - at that time - on the sidewalks, and were permitting none but accredited persons to approach the building.
Despite investigation this morning by fire and police officials and inspectors from the Bureau of Buildings, the cause or place of origin of the fire still is uncertain.
Because smoke and flames were first seen directly above the Electric Lunch, it was assumed the blaze started there. There is no evidence, however, to substantiate that theory, beyond the report of the night clerk that it was customary for employees of the lunch room to start new fire about 11 o'clock every night and that the hotel frequently was filled with smoke from that source. That portion of the building above the lunch room was so badly wrecked that it was impossible to trace the origin of the flames.
The Manhattan property is in one of the five downtown blocks, or squares, listed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters as "extra hazardous" because of the character of buildings they contain.
Of all the 50 persons - besides Chatterton - who escaped from the smoke and flame-filled hotel, none was seriously injured. Several of the women who were rescued in thrilling fashion by firemen, policemen and volunteers, are suffering somewhat from shock, but none reported any real injury. The fact that the Manhattan is a three-story structure - four on the Warren Street side - prevented a repetition of the Bastable Block horror of a year ago.
Fireman
Corcoran Hurt.
Fireman James R. Corcoran of Truck 6 was cut by falling glass and was sent to St. Josephs Hospital, but went back to duty after the wound was dressed.
Fireman John P. Sullivan of Engine 2 was knocked out by a loose hose, but returned to work after a physician had attended him.
Miss Ida Farrar, who occupied a room on the third floor, escaped by crawling over the taut body of a fireman from her window to a fire escape, clinging to the "human bridge" while smoke and flames poured out over her head. She is suffering slightly from the shock of the experience, but is not seriously affected.
Alice and Amma Snell, sisters occupying a room on the third floor, slid down ropes to the ground and burned their hands severely.
Eolphis Belair, who jumped from a third floor window into a life net manned by firemen, is in the Hospital of the Good Shepherd with a [unreadable].
Fireman Fred Steingreber of Truck 2 was overcome by smoke and gas while working on the second floor, and is at his home, 601 Highland Street, under the care of the departmental surgeon.
Fred Martin, janitor in the Catholle Building, was carried from his room on the third floor, clad in a night shirt, and is suffering slightly from fright and exposure.
Elmer Evans of Buffalo was slightly bruised when firemen dragged him from his bed and took him to the street in spite of his struggles against what he thought were robbers.
Firemen Work Rapidly.
Lack of a long list of dead and injured is attributable in part to the speed with which the fire department carried on the work of rescue and in the fact that the building is so low as to make rescue comparatively easy. At lease a dozen men and women jumped into life nets but, unlike the record of the Bastable
Ibid, pg. 24
ONE MAN DIES IN
FIRE LEAP AT MANHATTAN
Louis Chatterton, 67, Only Soul of Half Hundred in Perish.
(Continued from Page 12)
Block disaster, none of them was hurt.
The Manhattan Hotel, originally occupying only a small structure on the Fayette Street side, now extends along Warren Street, the old Brintnall Tavern - also known for a time as the Talbot House - having been taken over many years ago.
The property is owned, jointly by former Governor Horace White and the heirs of the late Dr. H. D. Denison, including George H. and Henry D. Denison, Mrs. William [unreadable] Dunning, Mrs. William Forbes-Watkins and Mrs. Denison Hudson. it is valued chiefly because of the site at about $750,000. Rows of stores along Warren and Fayette Streets have a high rental value.
The hotel, with the Pauli[?] and Williamson Livery Stables in the rear, form a square inclosing a wide open court. One row of hotel rooms opens on Fayette and Warren Streets and another on the court. The rows of rooms are separated by a narrow corridor.
Patrolman William L. Sigular, on duty in Fayette Street, discovered the fire shortly after 11 o'clock, when he saw smoke pouring out of the building above the ground floor space occupied by the Electric Lunch. Rushing into the hotel office, he found Lawrence Reckel, night clerk, starting up the stairs with a pot of coffee ordered by the Snell sisters. Leaving Reckel to arouse the guests, Sigular ran to the corner and rang in a fire alarm, after which he returned to help Reckel.
Before they had completed their rounds of the upper floors, the corridors were filling with smoke and flame. Startled guests, aroused from sleep, opened their doors, only to be driven back to the windows and fire escapes. Some who sleep sounder than others, were not awakened at all until the firemen and policemen broke into their rooms and ordered them out. Many did not take time to dress.
Miss Farrar was one of those unable to get into the corridor and rush for the stairs. Closing her door to keep out as much of the smoke as possible, she opened a window and screamed. Firemen climbed up a fire escape to within about a yard of the window sill. One of them ordered her to jump into his arms, but she was reluctant to risk it.
The fireman then grasped the railing around the fire escape landing with his hands and swung his body out across the face of the building until his feet rested on the window sill. She clambered out along his body to the fire escape, where other men carried her to the ground.
The Snell girls were awakened when smoke filled their room. They tried the corridor but were unable to get into it. Tossing the rope which hung beside the window out into the court they slid down it in their night clothing. The skin on their hands was burned and torn, and they were taken into the Thorpe drug store at the Fayette-Montgomery corner to have the wounds dressed. Firemen rescued some of their clothing.
Belair first tried to use the rope but it broke. He then dropped into one of the nets, landing on his head and shoulders and wrenching his back. At the hospital it was reported today that he is recovering.
Several guests, including Mr. and Mrs. Henry E. Welch and their son, Lawrence, were taken down fire ladders on the Fayette Street side of the building. Others got out by the same method into the court.
The Robbins-Eckel Theater, the Waldorf Lunch and other nearby business places were opened to the refugees, some of whom had insufficient clothing. Altogether, it is estimated that the property loss of guests in the hotel will amount to more than $10,000.
August Lang left $54 and a new overcoat in his room when he climbed out on the window sill and tried to jump. He failed to wait until a life net could be placed and probably would have been seriously injured - but his trousers caught on a projecting nail and he hung, suspended, until firemen put up a ladder and took him down.
Harry Whitney and Harry Jahnson, members of a party of Western Union linemen, occupying rooms near the Warren Street corner, jumped into one of the life nets and were unhurt.
Under the direction of Chief Charles S. Coombs, who responded to a general alarm, the firemen had more than a two-hour fight with the flames. Damage was confined entirely to the Manhattan Hotel building, on the Fayette and Warren Street sides. The big stable was undamaged, and the wing running back beside the Woerner Hotel toward the Yates Hotel was saved.
Guests in both the Woerner and the Yates were aroused by order of the police, and held in readiness to leave if the fire should spread.
Damage was confined, principally, to six stores and shops on the Warren Street side, ten on the Fayette Street side, and the hotel, itself.
Ibid, pg. 12
Text and Photo Source: The Syracuse Herald, 24 December, pg. 22
Denison Building, 211 E. Fayette Street, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse's newest and one of its most modern downtown office buildings is now practically complete and rapidly being occupied. Swept by fire almost a year ago, the Manhattan Hotel has been supplanted by the Denison Building at South Warren and East Fayette Streets.
What remains of the old hotel structure was torn away and in its place [unreadable] a steel and brick office building of beauty and utmost convenience. Located in the heart of the city, across the street from the Postoffice and within easy reach of financial institutions, all transportation facilities and places of amusement, the Denison building affords one of the most advantageous business structures in the city.
It was in 1864 that Charles Candee first attracted attention to this busy corner by creating the [unreadable] Candee House, a popular stopping place for Central New York shoppers and out-of-town guests from all parts of the country. Later it became the Manhattan Hotel as its popularity grew. Its final razing by fire marked the conclusion of one of the most interesting chapters in the development of the city. The new chapter that now begins will find trade prosperity superseding [unreadable] hospitality.
Melvin King, architect, designed the business block. Dawson Brothers, contractors, did the construction work.
Stores occupy the main street [unreadable] while spacious, well lighted [unreadable] occupy the space above ground. The building is three stories high along Fayette Street and four stories along South Warren.
The Smith & Caffery Company supplied the site that formed the framework for the new office structure and metal ceilings have been installed by Joseph Cashier of 467 Fulton Street. Alexander Grant's [unreadable] part in its construction in supplying all the hardware and glass. Slate and marble, used both to beautify the building, and make it more fireproof, were furnished by Stearns' Son & Dennin of 345 Warner Avenue.
Metal weather strips are provided for the comfort of the occupants, and these were installed by the Chamberlin Metal Weather Strip Company of 297[?] East Jefferson Street. Paint was from the Empire Wall Paper Company and a Grinell[?] Automatic Sprinkler System was installed by the company of that name at 19 Main Street., Rochester. A D. & P. Culm burner is being installed by A. J. Faulder[?], located representative for the Culm Burner Equipment Company. This heating system involves the efficient use of the finest grade of coal and coal sweepings.
Many of the stores in the new building will be used by their former occupants, including the E. W. Frost jewelry store, the McCormack Boot Shop and Everybody's Book Shop. The Morris Plan Company offices will also be moved to the new building the near future.
Louis Chatterton, 67, Only Soul of Half Hundred in Perish.
(Continued from Page 12)
Block disaster, none of them was hurt.
The Manhattan Hotel, originally occupying only a small structure on the Fayette Street side, now extends along Warren Street, the old Brintnall Tavern - also known for a time as the Talbot House - having been taken over many years ago.
The property is owned, jointly by former Governor Horace White and the heirs of the late Dr. H. D. Denison, including George H. and Henry D. Denison, Mrs. William [unreadable] Dunning, Mrs. William Forbes-Watkins and Mrs. Denison Hudson. it is valued chiefly because of the site at about $750,000. Rows of stores along Warren and Fayette Streets have a high rental value.
The hotel, with the Pauli[?] and Williamson Livery Stables in the rear, form a square inclosing a wide open court. One row of hotel rooms opens on Fayette and Warren Streets and another on the court. The rows of rooms are separated by a narrow corridor.
Patrolman William L. Sigular, on duty in Fayette Street, discovered the fire shortly after 11 o'clock, when he saw smoke pouring out of the building above the ground floor space occupied by the Electric Lunch. Rushing into the hotel office, he found Lawrence Reckel, night clerk, starting up the stairs with a pot of coffee ordered by the Snell sisters. Leaving Reckel to arouse the guests, Sigular ran to the corner and rang in a fire alarm, after which he returned to help Reckel.
Before they had completed their rounds of the upper floors, the corridors were filling with smoke and flame. Startled guests, aroused from sleep, opened their doors, only to be driven back to the windows and fire escapes. Some who sleep sounder than others, were not awakened at all until the firemen and policemen broke into their rooms and ordered them out. Many did not take time to dress.
Woman
Trapped in Room.
Miss Farrar was one of those unable to get into the corridor and rush for the stairs. Closing her door to keep out as much of the smoke as possible, she opened a window and screamed. Firemen climbed up a fire escape to within about a yard of the window sill. One of them ordered her to jump into his arms, but she was reluctant to risk it.
The fireman then grasped the railing around the fire escape landing with his hands and swung his body out across the face of the building until his feet rested on the window sill. She clambered out along his body to the fire escape, where other men carried her to the ground.
The Snell girls were awakened when smoke filled their room. They tried the corridor but were unable to get into it. Tossing the rope which hung beside the window out into the court they slid down it in their night clothing. The skin on their hands was burned and torn, and they were taken into the Thorpe drug store at the Fayette-Montgomery corner to have the wounds dressed. Firemen rescued some of their clothing.
Belair first tried to use the rope but it broke. He then dropped into one of the nets, landing on his head and shoulders and wrenching his back. At the hospital it was reported today that he is recovering.
Several guests, including Mr. and Mrs. Henry E. Welch and their son, Lawrence, were taken down fire ladders on the Fayette Street side of the building. Others got out by the same method into the court.
The Robbins-Eckel Theater, the Waldorf Lunch and other nearby business places were opened to the refugees, some of whom had insufficient clothing. Altogether, it is estimated that the property loss of guests in the hotel will amount to more than $10,000.
Hangs
on Projecting Nail.
August Lang left $54 and a new overcoat in his room when he climbed out on the window sill and tried to jump. He failed to wait until a life net could be placed and probably would have been seriously injured - but his trousers caught on a projecting nail and he hung, suspended, until firemen put up a ladder and took him down.
Harry Whitney and Harry Jahnson, members of a party of Western Union linemen, occupying rooms near the Warren Street corner, jumped into one of the life nets and were unhurt.
Under the direction of Chief Charles S. Coombs, who responded to a general alarm, the firemen had more than a two-hour fight with the flames. Damage was confined entirely to the Manhattan Hotel building, on the Fayette and Warren Street sides. The big stable was undamaged, and the wing running back beside the Woerner Hotel toward the Yates Hotel was saved.
Guests in both the Woerner and the Yates were aroused by order of the police, and held in readiness to leave if the fire should spread.
Damage was confined, principally, to six stores and shops on the Warren Street side, ten on the Fayette Street side, and the hotel, itself.
Ibid, pg. 12
Photograph
of ruins of Manhattan Hotel
Text and Photo Source: The Syracuse Herald, 24 December, pg. 22
Modern
Office Building Almost Completed on Site of Manhattan Hotel
Denison Building, 211 E. Fayette Street, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse's newest and one of its most modern downtown office buildings is now practically complete and rapidly being occupied. Swept by fire almost a year ago, the Manhattan Hotel has been supplanted by the Denison Building at South Warren and East Fayette Streets.
What remains of the old hotel structure was torn away and in its place [unreadable] a steel and brick office building of beauty and utmost convenience. Located in the heart of the city, across the street from the Postoffice and within easy reach of financial institutions, all transportation facilities and places of amusement, the Denison building affords one of the most advantageous business structures in the city.
It was in 1864 that Charles Candee first attracted attention to this busy corner by creating the [unreadable] Candee House, a popular stopping place for Central New York shoppers and out-of-town guests from all parts of the country. Later it became the Manhattan Hotel as its popularity grew. Its final razing by fire marked the conclusion of one of the most interesting chapters in the development of the city. The new chapter that now begins will find trade prosperity superseding [unreadable] hospitality.
Melvin King, architect, designed the business block. Dawson Brothers, contractors, did the construction work.
Stores occupy the main street [unreadable] while spacious, well lighted [unreadable] occupy the space above ground. The building is three stories high along Fayette Street and four stories along South Warren.
The Smith & Caffery Company supplied the site that formed the framework for the new office structure and metal ceilings have been installed by Joseph Cashier of 467 Fulton Street. Alexander Grant's [unreadable] part in its construction in supplying all the hardware and glass. Slate and marble, used both to beautify the building, and make it more fireproof, were furnished by Stearns' Son & Dennin of 345 Warner Avenue.
Metal weather strips are provided for the comfort of the occupants, and these were installed by the Chamberlin Metal Weather Strip Company of 297[?] East Jefferson Street. Paint was from the Empire Wall Paper Company and a Grinell[?] Automatic Sprinkler System was installed by the company of that name at 19 Main Street., Rochester. A D. & P. Culm burner is being installed by A. J. Faulder[?], located representative for the Culm Burner Equipment Company. This heating system involves the efficient use of the finest grade of coal and coal sweepings.
Many of the stores in the new building will be used by their former occupants, including the E. W. Frost jewelry store, the McCormack Boot Shop and Everybody's Book Shop. The Morris Plan Company offices will also be moved to the new building the near future.
Submitted 12 March 2006 by Pamela Priest
Updated 4 April 2006 by Pamela Priest