LAFAYETTE HOTEL
University Place and East 9th Street
FEBRUARY 3, 1937. ABBOTT FILE 201

Known as Hotel Martin from 1863 to 1902, when it was purchased by maitre d' Raymond Orteig, the Lafayette Hotel was patronized by international celebrities drawn to its French food and service. Orteig, who also ran the nearby Brevoort Hotel, christened the hotel the Lafayette and increased its celebrity. When the Brevoort faltered in 1932, Orteig sold it and nurtured the Lafayette through the depression. In 1953 the Lafayette was demolished for a modern apartment building, the six-story Lafayette Apartments.

Abbott entered the third floor of a loft building across University Place to photograph the Lafayette's facade, which was composed of three old houses, combined and renovated.

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