Marlton House, or the Hotel Marlton as it was known for most of its existence, is located at 5 West 8th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is notable for having housed many famous artistic figures, especially during the peak of the area's bohemian scene. Since 1987, The New School has leased the building as a dormitory, housing primarily sophomore, junior and senior students enrolled at Parsons The New School for Design, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Mannes College of Music, and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. It is the New School's oldest dormitory in continuous use.
The Marlton Hotel was built in 1900 and, for much of its existence, served as a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel for mostly transient guests. However, many guests stayed for months or years at a time. Because of its location in the Village's cultural community as well as its relative affordability, the Marlton Hotel became popular amongst struggling actors, poets and artists looking for work in the city.
Notable guests of the hotel
Writers
The Marlton Hotel attracted many writers and poets, most notably members of the Beat Generation, attracted to Marlton's location in the vibrant creative community of Greenwich Village.
- Jack Kerouac wrote The Subterraneans and Tristessa while living at the Marlton Hotel.
- Gregory Corso
- Neil Cassady
- Carolyn Cassady
- Delmore Schwartz
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Valerie Solanas, perhaps most famous (or infamous) for shooting Andy Warhol (memorialized many years later in the film I Shot Andy Warhol), lived in room 214 at the time she shot Warhol in 1968.
Actors
- Lillian Gish lived in room 408, described by Albert Bigelow Paine in 1932 as a "tiny room" she stayed in to save money, in which she "cooked tinned things and tea using a sterno lamp" in 1913.
- John Barrymore
- Kay Francis
- Maggie Smith
- John Neville
- Claire Bloom
- Julie Andrews
- Mickey Rourke
- John Lithgow
Others
- Galo Plaza, a revered South American politician who once served as the President of Ecuador, was born at the Marlton Hotel in 1906 to his diplomat parents.
- Isabel Dutaud Nagle, the muse, model and wife of sculptor Gaston Lachaise stayed at the Hotel Marlton when she came to visit Lachaise in New York. She was recorded there in 1915, and wrote many poems over the years on Hotel Marlton stationary.
- Lenny Bruce, the noted and controversial comedian, lived at the Marlton Hotel during his widely publicized six-month trial for obscenity in 1964.
- Carmen McRae, American jazz singer
- Ron Gorchov, American artist
- Miriam Makeba
- Hannah Hooper, vocalist and keyboardist in the rock band Grouplove
Redevelopment
In 2012, BD Hotels in partnership with Sean McPherson purchased the Marlton House with the intention of restoring the historic property and operating it as a mid-range boutique in the spirit of its original beatnik brand. Richard Born, a principal of BD Hotels says the hotel will have a bar and restaurant component and will not be "terribly pricey". The hotel reopened in September 2013.
References
- Notes
External links
- Life and Lillian Gish By Albert Bigelow Paine
- New York Songlines: 8th Street
- PBS: The Inn Crowd/The Two Greenwich Village Bars That Mattered
- Jack Kerouac Chronology
