Scheffel Hall at 190

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

in the

Gramercy Park Gramercy ParkSometimes misspelled as Grammercy () is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park, and the surrounding neighborhood (which is also referred to as Gramercy), in Manhattan in New York City. The approximately park, located ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, was built in 1894–1895, and designed by Henry Adams Weber and Hubert Drosser, at a time when the area south of it was known as ''Kleindeutschland'' ("Little Germany") due to the large number of German immigrants who lived nearby. The building, which served as a beer hall and restaurant, was modeled after an early 17th-century building in

Heidelberg Castle Heidelberg Castle () is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th c ...

, the "Friedrichsbau", and was named after

Joseph Viktor von Scheffel Joseph Victor von Scheffel (16 February 1826 – 9 April 1886) was a German poet and novelist. His novel '' Ekkehard'' (1855) became one of the most popular German novels in the 19th century. Biography He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a reti ...

, a German poet and novelist. It later became known as Allaire's, a name still inscribed on the building. The building's style has been described as "German-American eclectic Renaissance Revival". Later, in the late 1920s, the building was used by the German-American Athletic Club. By 1939 it became the German-American Rathskeller, and then Joe King's Rathskeller.

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Ma ...

used Scheffel Hall as the setting for "The Halberdier of the Little Rheinschloss" and wrote some of his stories there. Beginning in the 1970s, it was the home of

Fat Tuesday's In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple ester ...

, a well-known

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licens ...

, and the restaurant Tuesday's, which lasted until the early 21st century. In subsequent years it was a

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

and

pilates Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". Pilates uses a combination of around 50 repetitive e ...

studio and today is unoccupied. Scheffel Hall was designated a

New York City landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

in 1997.

References

Notes Commercial buildings completed in 1895 German-American culture in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City Third Avenue {{Manhattan-struct-stub

See also

References