Bretton Hall (Manhattan)

The Bretton Hall Hotel was a twelve story establishment on the east side of Broadway (Manhattan) from 85th Street to 86th Street in New York City. It was completed in 1903. The basement and deckhouse apartment hotel was fireproof and was equipped with an electric plant and six elevators. The structure contained 187 suites, 506 rooms, 231 baths, and 385 toilet rooms. It fronted Broadway for 205 feet and 85th Street for 100.11 feet. Its rear measurement was 204.4 feet. Plans for Bretton Hall were filed on June 7, 1902 and estimated the cost of construction to be $1,550,000. The architect was H.B. Milliken.

The 86th Street Company received the unimproved property from Le Grand K. Petit with a mortgage of $90,000 on it. A building loan of $1,250,000 at 6% was secured from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company on March 10, 1902. Afterward the 86th Street Company mortgaged the property for $1,365,000 at 6%, due October 1, 1903, to the General Building and Construction Company. John R. & Oscar L. Foley leased Bretton Hall to Anderson & Price for twenty-one years for a price of $2,394,000, for Irons & Todd, who comprised the Seaboard Realty and 86th Street Companies.^[1]

The New York Produce Exchange Bank opened a branch at the Bretton Hall Hotel in November 1903. They leased offices in the edifice for a period of ten years for an annual rental between $2,500 to $3,500.^[2]