Senton Hotel, 39 W. 27th St. (2006)

A prior version of the Senton Hotel was located at 35 E. 27th St. from 1916 to 1958. In 1958/59 New York Life Insurance Co. built a new office building on Madison Ave. on land that included that location. The hotel then re-opened in 1966 as Hotel Senton West at its present address, 39-41 W. 27th St. Listings continued to use the designation Senton West until the late 1980s. In 2007 the website www.sentonhotel.com says, "The Senton Hotel has been one of New York City's finest hotels since 1978." Perhaps ownership changed at that time.

The New York Telephone Directory in 1891 lists The Beverwyck Bachelors' Apartments at 41 West 27th Street (the telephone number was 18th Street 994). This ad for The Beverwyck appeared in the New York Sun, 11 Oct 1903. This would appear to be the same structure as the current hotel. It was known as the Beverwyck Apartments or Beverwyck Hotel until the mid-1920s. The Beverwyck was sold at public auction in 1921. At that time it was described as a 7-story elevator apartment building consisting of 81 rooms with a bath in each apartment. The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery contains a photo of the Beverwyck in 1922 (click for image). The verso of this photo is labeled "Hotel Beverwyck, 27th Street, north side, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. 1922." In 1926 the name changed to the Hilmont Apts. It must have been the Hilmont Hotel when I lived here for several weeks when I first moved to New York in 1957.

In the late 1910s the same Harry Doremus who was proprietor of the Hotel St. Louis, was either manager or owner of the Senton Hotel when it was located at 35 E. 27th St. Harry Ward Doremus (b. 16 Sep. 1876, New Jersey) had been a manager and perhaps editor at a publication called the Hotel Gazette from around 1905 to 1912. Subsequently he became the owner of several small hotels in New York. In Feb. 1913 the New York Times reported that "The John H. Fife Company has sold for A. C. McClellen the furniture and lease of the Hotel St. Louis at 34 and 36 East Thirty-second Street to C. M. Bellak, proprietor of the Hotel Ganoga, 35 and 37 East Twenty-seventh Street and H. W. Doremus." Doremus registered for the World War I draft in 1918 as "Proprietor and Manager Hotel 34 E. 32d St." This was the Hotel St. Louis. He appears in the 1920 U. S. Census as Harry Doremus, age 43, Hotel Proprietor, living at the Hatfield House, 103 E. 29th St. He appears in the U. S. Census for 1930 as Harry W. Doremus, age 51, Manager, Hotel, living in the Hotel Madison, 21 E. 27th St.

Prior to 1916 the Senton at 35-37 E. 27th was called the Hotel Ganoga (from 1899 until 1920 (both names are used in the period 1916 to 1920)). This ad for the Ganoga appeared in the New York Times, 30 Aug 1903. In May 1911 the New York Times reported that "The lease and business, together with the furniture, of the Hotel Ganoga, at Madison Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, have been sold by Matt J. Ward & Co., hotel brokers, to C. M. Bellak." C. M. Bellak was Charles Morton Bellak. More about Bellak can be found under Hotel St. Louis. In the period 1914 to 1922 Bellak and Doremus formed the Beldor Hotel Corp. for the ownership and operation of hotels such as the Ganoga/Senton, Madison, St. Louis, and Rutledge. They were also partners in Nobleton Hotel, Inc.. The Nobleton is a 13-story apartment hotel erected in 1914 at 126 W. 73rd St. This ad for the Nobleton appeared in the New York Times in 1926. The Nobleton carries the letters EWB on its terra cotta facade (click for image). These are the initials of Edward W. Browning, original owner of the building. Browning also built 110 W. 40th St. More about him can be found at the G. George page.

In June 1922 what was now called the Bellak System of Hotels (apparently no longer a partnership with Doremus) purchased the "high-class modern apartment hotel, known as Fourteen East Sixtieth Street" (New York Times, 13 June 1922, p. 38). C. Morton Bellak is noted as "operating at present the Hotel Colonial, Columbus Avenue and Eighty-first Street; Hotel Nobleton, on Seventy-third Street, east of Broadway; the Hotel Ashton, Madison Avenue and Ninety-third Street, and the Hotel Rutledge, Lexington Avenue and Thirtieth Street."

The Hatfield House was a hotel on E. 29th St. from 1903 to 1963. In 1964 its name was changed to the Deauville Hotel. As of August 2007 the Deauville was still in business at this location (click for image). The Deauville has been home to several distinguished jazz musicians. Visit their website for more.

The sign for the Hotel Senton was somewhat less florid when this photo was taken in 1982. It had changed to its 2006 form when this photo was taken in 1998.

This ad for the Senton West appeared in the New York Times 29 Aug. 1965.

A sign reading Hotel Senton opposite Madison Square Garden appears in a Wurts Brothers photograph in the NYPL Digital Gallery. The view is west along 27th Street between Fourth Ave. and Madison Ave. in 1925. This would have been the Senton at 35 E. 27th St.

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