Gramercy Park was founded in 1831 and this is said to be the oldest house facing it.
Edwin Booth, perhaps the most distinguished American actor, was born in Maryland in 1833. He made his first appearance in 1849 and was ever after devoted to his profession, playing throughout this country and also abroad.
He was crushed by the affair of the assassination of President Lincoln and retired from the stage for a year, but never lost his personal popularity. He opened Booth’s Theater in Twenty-third Street in 1869 and for thirteen years maintained the most popular revivals of Shakespeare’s tragedies ever known in the city. Although forced into bankruptcy in 1873, he retrieved his fortunes by earning two hundred thousand dollars in fifty-six weeks.
In 1882 he went to Europe and was received with the greatest favor. In 1888 he purchased the building here shown (formerly the residence of Valentine G. Hall), remodeled and furnished it and presented it to actors and the friends of the drama as “The Players,” a complete gentleman’s club. Booth made his home at “The Players” from the date of its opening until his death, which took place in this house June 7, 1893.[25]
_Former Residence of the Late Samuel J. Tilden_
Mr. Tilden had a great reputation for skill as a lawyer. He was also a thorough politician, being chairman of the Democratic State Committee of New York for thirteen years. Nominated for President in 1876, he received a majority of the popular vote, but owing to the fact that the votes of several States were disputed, the celebrated Electoral Commission was appointed, consisting of senators, judges, and representatives. The commission divided on party lines and gave the disputed votes to Mr. Hayes. The house is formed by combining two, one formerly having a front similar to that of “The Players,” and the other with a front corresponding to the brick house adjoining on the west. The larger house had belonged to the Belden family. Both the Hall and the Belden houses once had ornamental iron balconies at the main floor with canopies similar to those now seen attached to the fronts of the houses on the west side of the square, and were alike in appearance, excepting that the Belden house had the coat of arms carved in high relief over the door. One of the beautiful Misses Belden married the late Dudley Field, another the late Colonel Talmadge.