Monday, October 16, 2006

Demolition Reveals Old Ad

Today we're going all Forgotten New York and uncovering Yorkville's past. The recent demolition of the buildings on the corner of 86th and 3rd (no, not the Papaya King corner, exhale and relax) has revealed an ancient advertisement. In this picture I overexpose the truth:
The former beauty on the corner with the mansard roof, soon to be dismantled, reveals a rich past.
Built in the 1860's and enlarged to it's present (for now) form in 1874, it was a hotel and billiard saloon called the Hotel Astoria. I can't find much information about Hotel Astoria at all- anyone? Here is the structure in the 1930's I believe:
In it's later years the building was home to such stores as T-Mobile and 86th St Photo. For some reason the contractor demo'ed the middle 2 of the 4 buildings to be pulverized first. Lucky for us, the old ad has been revealed. Additionally the outline of the peaked roof of a tiny ghost building has been revealed too- much smaller than the 5 story building that was taken down.
It clearly says "lodge rooms" but I can't quite make out the top line.. oversized?

Catch this forgotten piece of Yorkville's history now before it turns into this- 20 story tower with retail, retail, retail on the bottom. At this rate, the ad will literally be gone in a few days.