Constructed between 1901 and 1903 as one of several apartment hotels along Broadway on the Upper West Side, the Belleclaire was one of the first large buildings designed by architect Emery Roth.

The hotel's exterior includes a curved corner facing both Broadway and 77th Street, as well as a two-story mansard roof with arches.

The hotel originally contained several ground-floor amenity areas for guests, each designed in a different style, although most of these spaces were demolished in the mid-20th century.

The hotel was developed by Albert Saxe, who had previously hired Roth to design another building on the Upper West Side.

Following a series of modifications in the mid-20th century, the building started to physically deteriorate due to a lack of maintenance, and the Belleclaire became a single room occupancy hotel.

The Belleclaire is located at 2175 Broadway, at the southwest corner with 77th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.

[1] Before European colonization of modern-day New York City, the site was part of the hunting grounds of the Wecquaesgeek Native American tribe.

After the British established the Province of New York, the area became part of the "Thousand Acre Tract", owned by several English and Dutch settlers, in 1667.

[13][20] This contrasted with later buildings by Roth's firm (including the San Remo), which generally contained buff-brick and limestone facades.

On Broadway, the original windows at ground level are recessed within elliptical arches and are designed in the Art Nouveau style, with curved mullions and muntins.

[18][a] The Belleclaire was intended as a "fireproof" structure;[26] as such, a steel wall rose the entire height of the building, adjoining an enclosed emergency stairwell.

[27] The hotel contained a refrigeration plant with ice boxes on each floor, as well as three 100 hp (75 kW) power generators.

[11][26][30] The palm room had marble walls and a large glass dome,[26][27] while the library contained a collection of literature curated by two local publishing houses.

[23] In addition, the lobby contains a glass skylight measuring 40 ft (12 m) high,[23] which once illuminated the palm room before being covered by a black dropped ceiling.

[27][30] Some of the suites had unconventionally-shaped spaces such as circular parlors and octagonal bedrooms, a result of the hotel's irregular plan.

[27] Among the hotel's early guests were writers Maxim Gorky and Mark Twain,[9][51] as well as opera singer Bessie Abott.

For instance, an entrance was installed on 77th Street, a basement bowling alley was removed to make way for storerooms, and the kitchens were rearranged.

[62][63] The next month, the New York Supreme Court appointed a receiver for the hotel after Woodbury was unable to make payments on the mortgage.

[69] After Guzzardi leased an adjacent site on 77th Street in 1922, he announced plans for a 10-story annex with 100 rooms and a roof garden,[70] but this was never built.

[55] Du Puy sold the Hotel Belleclaire, along with the nearby Lansing Building, in January 1923 to Samuel Brewer for $3 million.

[72] Guzzardi renewed his lease in April 1925, intending to renovate the hotel extensively by adding storefronts and redesigning the roof garden.

[74] The architect Louis Abramson designed a renovation of the ground level, which involved converting the dining room on Broadway into storefronts and relocating the main entrance to 77th Street.

[84][85] Lebis hired Charles N. and Selig Whinston to design a $25,000 renovation of the hotel, which included adding kitchenettes and splitting up some three-room apartments into single-room units.

During that decade, most tenants were full-time residents who generally occupied multi-room apartments, although the Belleclaire also accepted transient guests.

[100] After a piece of masonry fell off the facade during a storm in December 1997,[101][102] the New York City Council passed a law mandating more frequent building inspections citywide.

[104] Amid an increase in tourism in New York City, Shimmie Horn began operating the hotel in 1999 and renovated it, adding amenities to attract guests.

[106] Horn subsequently raised the rent for the ground-level storefronts, prompting a longtime tenant, burger shop Big Nick's, to move out.

[27] The Atlanta Constitution wrote in 1904: "Yet, with all of its admirable features, elegant furnishings, superb accommodations, fine menu, perfect service, conveniences and most desirable location, the rates charged at this hotel are within the easy reach of any traveler.

[15] After the storefronts were refurbished in the early 2010s, Christopher Gray wrote: "The series of standard green awnings are certainly an improvement but hardly equal to the architecture above them.

"[9] After the hotel's renovation, a writer for The Washington Post said in 2007 that the Belleclaire "is super chic, with modern dark-wood furniture and stylish bedding".