Art & Artifacts Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Lampshade |
Collection |
Hotel St. George collection |
Object ID |
M1989.45.2 |
Year Range from |
1924 |
Year Range to |
1934 |
Dimension Details |
4" H x 2 3/4" W x 2 3/4" D |
Description |
Dome-shaped, red-tinted glass lampshade from the Hotel St. George's ballroom. HISTORICAL NOTE The Hotel St. George in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn was once the largest hotel in New York City. Its constituent buildings were built between 1885 and 1929 on the block bounded by Clark, Pineapple, Hicks, and Henry Streets. Its primary building, the St. George Tower, once attracted celebrities, professional athletes, and presidential candidates, and boasted the Colorama Ballroom (at one time known as the largest banquet room in the world), as well as the largest salt water swimming pool in the United States. The last remaining portion of the Hotel St. George that operated as a hotel was burnt down in 1995. |
Place Names |
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.) |
Subject Headings |
Hotels Lighting |
Personal and Corporate Names |
Hotel St. George (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) Reynolds Electric Co. |
Collection Finding Aid |
Hotel St. George collection (ARC.100) |
Curatorial Notes |
Beginning in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Brooklyn's growing population and economic diversification fueled rapid urbanization and development. Throughout Kings County, developers transformed centuries old agricultural lands for commercial and residential use. As new buildings, roads, tunnels, and bridges appeared throughout Brooklyn, the subsequent loss of historic structures became an increasingly serious concern for many Brooklynites, prompting artifact donations to LIHS to preserve and commemorate those disappearing pieces of "Old Brooklyn." Unlike other historic buildings across Brooklyn, the memory of the St. George Hotel is still alive on the streets of Brooklyn Heights, even if the majority of the original structure is now lost. With its thirty-story tower and 2,623 room building, the St. George was once one of the largest hotels in the country. By the 1960s however, the hotel had declined in popularity and fallen into disrepair. In 1984, its 1930s-era tower was converted into co-op apartments and a fire in 1995 destroyed much of the original structure. Nevertheless, locals and tourists can still imagine the hotel's grandeur, as its original entrance awnings survive and now frame the entrance to Brooklyn's Clark Street subway station. |