Landmark Tavern (New York City, New York)

 Irish pub  Add category

3-story tavern completed in 1868 as James Clare's Saloon. Lodgers rented rooms in the upper floors, accessed by a side door at No. 554 West 46th Street. James Clare also lived here above his saloon. By 1870 John P. Kinney had taken over Clare’s saloon. Like his predecessor, he lived upstairs, and was followed by John McCrystal, who would run the operation at least until 1878. In the years just prior to America’s entrance into World War I Patrick P. Prunty was operating the saloon, after which No. 626 Eleventh Avenue became Carley’s Saloon, owned by Patrick Henry Carley. Although it remained opened for some time as a speakeasy, Prohibition agents eventually closed down Carley’s Saloon and it sat boarded up for years.

In 1989, the bar was thoroughly renovated, with space all on three floors. The Landmark Tavern briefly closed in 2004; but was reopened a year later by Michael Young and Donnchadh O’Sullivan. Despite its inconvenient location, they refurbished the mahogany paneling, the mosaic floors, the tin ceilings and the massive one-piece wooden bar.

The facades are clad in red brick. The east side facing the avenue has a central entrance on the ground floor, with wood-and-glass double-doors. On either side is a large, multi-pane window, and all three bays have green canvas awnings. The ground floor is topped by a sign band and cornice. The upper floors on the east facade have three bays of single-windows with simple white stone sills and lintels.

The ground floor of the north facade along 46th Street has three multi-pane windows of various sizes at the west end, each with an awning. The cornice topping the ground floor wraps around to also cover the western end bay on this facade. To the left is a smaller window, and then a 1-story extension at the east end (mostly capped by another white cornice) with two secondary entrances and two windows with white stone sills and lintels. The upper floors above the west part of the facade have two bays of single-window, but the eastern one has been bricked-in. Both main facades are crowned by a modillioned, white wooden roof cornice.

The rear, east-facing facade of the upper floors has three bays with emergency exits with metal doors in the middle, and windows at the sides of the top floor. A brick chimney rises from the northeast corner.


www.thelandmarktavern.org