Lafarge House

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Even more of a mystery is contained in the print (above) from a publication titled; Places of Amusement Page 145 depicting the Lafarge Hall.

The drawing would have been done before the fire on January 8, 1854, Metropolitan Hall and the adjoining La Farge House were destroyed by the fire; but the hall was rebuilt and opened in the following September, under the name of the New York Theatre and Metropolitan Opera House.
Towards the close of the same year the house was remodelled and called Laura Keene's Varieties; and in the following year, it became Burton's Theatre. In 1859 it became the Winter Garden and Conservatory of the Arts, the first part of the title being that by which it is best known and which it retained until its total destruction by fire, March 23, 1867.

Then the Grand Central Hotel (photo below) was built, but I can't help but notice the lower 5 floors of the Lafarge hall and the lower 5 floors of the Grand Central Hotel (later named Broadway Central Hotel) are identical as far as I can tell from these images!

The 6th floor (top) of the Lafarge Hall was capped by a cornice, the 6th floor of the Grand Central Hotel has a larger cornice and the windows on that floor are arch topped and taller.
Note the alternating pointed and rounded pedimented windows, and the fancier window treatment in the center area (the main entrance) are identical on both buildings. Concluding therefore that it appears to me that what they did was re-used the lower 5 floors of the Lafarge's facade and simply added on 3 more floors and a mansard roof!
I suppose that is of no surprise, as it would have been a cost cutting measure- especially if the brick and stone facade (which was fairly new, having been erected just 13 years prior) was in good condition and stable. Barring some minor heat damage maybe around some of the windows which could have been repaired, the facade likely would have been completely usable. The interesting thing now is, according to the newspaper accounts of the 1973 collapse, is that there was a report a few months earlier of the facade having bowed out from the back brickwork in the area of the subsequent collapse, and was ordered repaired after citations for facade defect violation. Citations which were ignored and repairs not made...

Wow, the mysteries of this hotel and site grow, and are solved slowly but surely one by one!

Grand Central Hotel

Large scan of old stereoview card, circa 1870s

Now this is a new development, the building that was considered the hotel's Annex at 679 Broadway, was in this view made pre 1869 called The Southern Hotel I can see that hotel was built before the Grand Central Hotel the elements of the facade of Grand Central were very similar to the Southern but then differs a little above the 3rd floor.

Below: Circa 1860 stereoview of the Lafarge House

I happened to locate a scan (above) of a circa 1860 stereoview of the Lafarge House which was a hotel and theater on the site which burned down in 1867 which the Grand Central Hotel (Broadway Central Hotel) replaced in 1869.
The view is from the East side of Broadway looking South and the sign on the wall can be seen where it says;
LAFA
HOU

In this pre 1869 view that very same painted sign can be seen painted over and changed to 'The Southern Hotel- on the european plan' in the later view. That of course means that 679 Broadway predated the Grand Central.

Guess I'll have to see if I can locate and buy one of these old stereoview cards! When I do, I will replace the poor scan here with a much better high resolution scan.
Some text regarding the Lafarge House and the Grand Central Hotel;

Tripler's Hall

Tripler's Hall was opened at 677 Broadway near Bond Street in 1850. Jenny Lind was to have opened the house, but it was not ready upon her arrival early in September of that year and so she appeared under the management of Barnum at Castle Garden; she sang at Tripler's in October. On the twenty-seventh of September, the hall, which was known both as Tripler's and as the Metropolitan, was opened by Henrietta Sontag in concert, repeating here her European successes. On the twenty-fourth of February, 1852, a memorial service, presided over by Daniel Webster and addressed by Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, was held in honor of the novelist Cooper, who had died in the preceding September. On September 22, 1853, Adelina Patti, then a child ten years old, appeared in concert, and gave promise of the wonderful voice which was later to enthrall the world.
On January 8, 1854, Metropolitan Hall and the adjoining La Farge House were destroyed by fire; but the hall was rebuilt and opened in the following September, under the name of the New York Theatre and Metropolitan Opera House. The great French actress Rachel appeared here in 1855 and during her engagement contracted a severe cold which resulted in her death. Towards the close of the same year the house was remodelled and called Laura Keene's Varieties; and in the following year, it became Burton's Theatre. In 1859 it became the Winter Garden and Conservatory of the Arts, the first part of the title being that by which it is best known and which it retained until its total destruction by fire, March 23, 1867.

The Lafarge House

The LaFarge House was destroyed at the same time, but was rebuilt with a mansard roof and called the Grand Central Hotel. As the Winter Garden, the theatre was the scene of many notable performances; among others, those of Edwin Booth.

When the fire occurred in the LaFarge House, G.P. Putnam was located at 661, adjoining the Winter Garden Theatre. The fire threatened 661, and the books and stationery of Putnam were carried across the way into Charles Scribner's store. The present firm of Charles Scribner's Sons is the direct descendant of Baker & Scribner, established in 1846. The publishers and booksellers could afford to locate on Broadway.
With the exception of Cooper, who was a rich man and independent of literature, I can find no other literary man who had a house on Broadway, as given elsewhere, there were several who boarded or lodged on the street. Probably in those days, as in these, the charge was made that it was the publisher who became rich.

From; The Greatest Street in the World (The story of Broadway, old and New, from the Bowling Green to Albany) Author; Stephen Jenkins Published by; G.P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press, 1911

Below: two more views from a circa 1875 E. & H.T. Anthony stereoview card.
I found this really nice view which was taken from a perspective I hadn't seen around before, the post cards and photos I have found thus far have been taken from the street or the second or third floor of a building across the street and down a few doors.
This one was taken from the roof of a building across the street from the hotel and was made by E. and H.T. Anthony. The GEC museum has one on their web site and they dated it to circa 1875.

As the reverse of the card calls the hotel the "Grand Central" and lists the proprieter as someone other than Tilly Haynes who came in as manager in 1892 and by then the hotel's name changed to "Broadway Central Hotel" and the hotel was built in 1869, the circa 1875 is just about on the money.
Although in the larger scan below this one, I note that the roof of the shorter building tothe left of the hotel seems to have what appears to be some white material that looks like it was "spilled", to me it almost looks like concrete or mortar dust, Also, from the way the tops of the windows are all open on the upper floors it's almost saying to me that this view very well might be even older and that the hotel was still under finishing interior construction- at least on the upper floors.

That would date the view to circa 1871 The photo was probably taken in the early morning such as around 9:00 10:00 due to the angles of the shadows on poles and other objects on the sidewalk. The absense of "traffic" or pedestrians along what was otherwise a very busy Broadway indicates to me this may have been a Sunday morning. Maybe the photographer wanted to get as "clean" a view as possible of the focus for the picture- the hotel, without the "clutter" of traffic on the street and pedestrians.

The buildings to the left are long gone as well- replaced around 1920 with an office building, I think the only building that stillstands is the one on the extreme right corner 2 doors down from the hotel. The building further North of that corner were also long ago replaced in the teens and 20's by taller commercial buildings.

In the background on the right a Church steeple can be seen in the distance, I believe that was a church I have seen a photo of that as I remember was on University Place around 10th street, the general location is about right. That too is long gone.

Closer view, I noticed an oddity, right a little below dead center is what we would probably call grafitti today, but it appears to be part of a sign but the rest is unreadable. I see the letters JSE on the side wall near the corner of the Broadway facade, additional text can be seen above it but is not readable.
As a number of windows are open I will assume this was taken in the summer of 1875, the photo is somewhat faded but otherwise in excellent condition considering it is almost 130 years old!

This stereoview card probably dates to around 1910-1920, notice trees in this view not present in the older view. Obviously the building across the street which is having it's foundations excavated here in the foreground was under construction at the time the photo was taken, affording a very rare view of the hotel from this vantage point.