Thursday, December 13, 2007

Newsboy Lodging House: Where One Police Plaza Now Stands

From nine duane, an excellent resource on lodging houses. The Duane Street Lodging House stood on the east side of William Street, between Duane and New Chambers Streets. It was the closest of the Lodging Houses to Newspaper Row. The official address was 9 Duane Street, Manhattan, New York.
Because it stood at the intersection of 3 streets, the address was also given (mostly in later years) as 14 New Chambers St. and (even later) 244 Williams St.
The intersection no longer exists today, as the streets themselves have been changed. It is roughly where the present-day New York City Police Department HQ stands. When did it open its doors? March 26, 1874. It replaced the earlier (smaller) LH at 49 and 51 Park Place. Who ran it? The lodging houses were run by the Children's Aid Society, a benevolent organization founded by Rev. Charles L. Brace in 1853. Sometime between Feb. 13, 1891 and Jan. 7, 1892, the DSLH was renamed "Brace Memorial Lodging House" in his honor, though it was still often referred to by its earlier names. When the Coast Guard took over the building, they called it "Brace Barracks." In addition to the lodging houses, the CAS also ran numerous other places for children in need, including the Health Home, Italian School, and the Farm School at Kensico.

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