Pinehurst, aka Koch’s New Mount St. Vincent’s Hotel

Occasionally one comes across mention of “Koch’s New Mount St. Vincent’s Hotel,” a quasi-rural roadhouse that opened in the vicinity of Hamilton Heights around 1883 or 1884, after the old Mount St. Vincent’s Hotel in Central Park burned down (in 1881) and before the new one opened (in 1884). This operated at least until the 1890s.

This had no connection whatsoever to the refreshment house in Central Park. The title was one of convenience. It’s as though “Mount St. Vincent’s Hotel” had become a kind of generic term for grand saloon in upper Manhattan (the same way “Vauxhall” became the generic name for railway station in 19th century Moscow).The site has its own fascinating history. There is a 2001 New York City report on a proposed Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District (link here) that gives some background on this establishment. Apparently this was formerly the estate of Dr. Samuel and Mary Bradhurst, who in 1799 sold part of their estate to Alexander Hamilton, whose house stood nearby. Many years later the Bradhurst descendants moved to England and sold off the family mansion, “Pinehurst.” As explained in a footnote in the 2001 NYC report:

After 1875 “Pinehurst” became the Mt. St. Vincent Hotel. A photograph in the collection of The New-York Historical Society dating from the late 1880s shows a sign for “Koch’s New Mount St. Vincent Hotel” as well as the building and the approach from St. Nicholas Avenue. At the time the property was surrounded by a low picket fence, much of which was covered with advertisements. The house stood in the “middle of the juncture of Convent Avenue and 148th Street” and was demolished as part of the extension of Convent Avenue north to 152nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.