After the death of Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey in 1760, the house became a hotel, and was known under many names. It was a favorite place for British officers during the Revolution, and in 1789 was the scene of the first "inauguration ball" in honor of President Washington.
The house was torn down in 1793. In 1806 the City Hotel was erected on its site and became the most fashionable in town. It was removed in 1850 and a line of shops set up. In 1889 the present buildings were erected.
A tablet on the building at 113 Broadway, corner of Cedar Street, marks the site, reading:
THE SITE OF LIEUT. GOVE. DE LANCEY'S HOUSE, LATER THE CITY HOTEL. IT WAS HERE THAT THE NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT, IN OPPOSITION TO THE STAMP ACT, WAS SIGNED, OCT. 15TH, 1766. THE TAVERN HAD MANY PROPRIETORS BY WHOSE NAMES IT WAS SUCCESSIVELY CALLED. IT WAS ALSO KNOWN AS THE PROVINCE ARMS, THE CITY ARMS AND BURNS COFFEE HOUSE OR TAVERN.
Opposite Liberty (then Crown) Street, in the centre of Broadway, there stood in 1789 a detached building 42 x 25 feet. It was the "up-town market," patronized by the wealthy, who did their own marketing in those days, their black slaves carrying the purchases home.
Washington Market, at the foot of Fulton Street, was built in 1833. The water washed the western side of it then, and ships sailed to it to deliver their freight. Since then the water has been crowded back year by year with the growing demand for land. In its early days it was variously called Country Market, Fish Market and Exterior Market.
At the outskirts of the city, in a field that the same year had been sown with wheat, the cornerstone of St. Paul's Chapel was laid on May 14, 1764. The church was opened two years later, and the steeple added in 1794. It fronted the river which came up then as far as to where Greenwich Street is now, and a grassy lawn sloped down to a beach of pebbles. During the days of English occupancy, Major André, Lord Howe and Sir Guy Carleton worshipped there. Another who attended services there was the English midshipman who afterwards became William IV.
[Illustration: Washington Pew St. Paul's Chapel]
[Sidenote: The Washington Pew in St. Paul's]
President Washington, on the day of his inauguration, marched at the head of the representative men of the new nation to attend service in St. Paul's, and thereafter attended regularly. The pew he occupied has been preserved and is still to be seen next the north wall, midway between the chancel and the vestry room. Directly opposite is the pew occupied at the same period by Governor George Clinton.