History Of New York's Fraunces Tavern

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Fraunces Tavern is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Manhattan and one of the most important landmarks in American history. Built in the early eighteenth century, the historic tavern played a pivotal role during the American Revolution, serving as a gathering place for patriots, the site of George Washington’s emotional farewell to his officers, and later as offices for the young United States government. Today, Fraunces Tavern continues to welcome visitors while preserving more than three centuries of New York City history, making it one of the city’s most remarkable living landmarks.

When writing the history of New York City, there are not many places of business that are still in daily operation as old as the Fraunces Tavern. In fact, there are not many buildings as old as Fraunces Tavern in New York City. Some argue that it stands as the oldest building in Manhattan. This amazing historical site, located in the financial district of New York City in the borough of Manhattan, was built in 1719. However, the building’s history goes back further than that date. Its significance in the history of New York, the American Revolution, and the birth of a nation is undeniable. At the time it was built, the building stood at the corner of Queen Street and Canal Street. While it still stands at its original location, the street names have been changed. Queen Street was renamed Pearl Street. Canal Street is currently named Broad Street. Fraunces Tavern’s address is now labeled as 54 Pearl Street, New York.

History Of New York’s Fraunces Tavern: Origins

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The origins of Fraunces Tavern date back to the late 1600s, when the land the building now stands on was simply a body of water. As the flourishing city area became increasingly vital in trade and commerce during colonial times, the city’s southeastern tip was extended by adding landfill. The new land-filled lots were then sold by the city to private ownership. Stephanus Van Cortlandt purchased the land where the Fraunces Tavern now stands in 1686. A man named Stephen De Lancey married Van Cortlandt’s daughter in 1700 and purchased the land from Van Cortlandt the same year. Stephen De Lancey had fled his native home of France in the 1680s. He would become one of the most successful merchants in New York. It would be almost twenty years before De Lancey would construct a building on the landfill site he purchased from Van Cortland. Around 1720, a large brick house was constructed on the site.

From the time the building was constructed around 1720 until 1762, the De Lancey building was used for various purposes. For a time in the late 1730s, the building was rented to a man named Henry Holt, who taught dance lessons in the traditional European fashion. These were colonial times. European culture was the dominating force in the colonies. However, buildings such as the De Lancey building would soon provide a forum that would stand in stark contrast to the celebration of European culture, specifically British culture and rule.

1762 is a very significant year in the history of New York’s Fraunces Tavern. It is the year in which a man named Samuel Fraunces purchased the De Lancey building from the heirs of Stephen De Lancey. Samuel Fraunces converted the building into a tavern he named after England’s Queen Charlotte. The Queen of England had married King George III when she was only seventeen years old. The King was twenty-two at the time.

Benjamin West / Public domain

History Of New York’s Fraunces Tavern: Revolution

Samuel Fraunces’s Tavern would become a hot spot for political discussion and a gathering place for civic club formation. See our article on How The Taverns of New York City Stirred The American Revolution for a far deeper discussion on these groups and their formations and uses of these taverns. The political history behind New York’s Fraunces Tavern is quite interesting: while groups like the Sons of Liberty would hold meetings at the Tavern, Samuel Fraunces had handed it over to his loyalist son-in-law, Charles Campbell, to run. The Tavern would host a whirlwind of political activity from both sides of the American Revolution.

At the end of the Revolutionary War, New York City was the last city to be occupied by the British. November 25, 1783, would be declared Evacuation Day by New York’s Governor George Clinton. The celebration of the British departure from New York City took place at Fraunces Tavern. About a week and a half later, on December 4, 1783, George Washington and his officers of the Continental Army met at Fraunces Tavern for Washington’s farewell. His work as General was complete, and he left the city as a victorious General who had led the revolutionaries to victory at the dawn of a brand-new nation.

Washington’s Farewell by Alonzo Chappel

Photo: Alonzo Chappel / Public domain

During the post-American Revolution years, Fraunces Tavern was sold to George Powers, a butcher by trade. Powers would rent part of the building to the United States as office space for various government agencies. The Department of the Treasury, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and what was also known as the War Department. New York City had become the capital of the new Nation. That would change in 1789 when George Washington became the country’s first President. In 1790, the governmental agencies moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as did the Nation’s Capitol. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would serve as a ten-year placeholder for the Nation’s Capitol while Washington, D.C. was being built to serve as the Country’s new permanent home.

History of Fraunces Tavern: Post-Revolution Years

For the next 100 years, the building that had already played such important roles during colonial times, the American Revolution, and the founding of a new country would be sold and used as a boarding house. In the late 1800s, the building at 54 Pearl Place faced demise for various reasons. The building Stephen De Lancey constructed in 1720 had been ravaged by fires in the 1800s and was in poor condition. In 1904, the Sons of the Revolution rescued the building from demolition. The group restored the building and reopened it in 1907 as a restaurant and the Fraunces Tavern Museum.

In 1975, tragedy struck the Tavern when a bomb exploded inside the Tavern. A terrorist organization that identified itself as FLAN (Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation) took responsibility for the bombing. Four people were killed, and the building suffered great damage. Currently, there is a plaque hanging in the Tavern’s dining room with a listing of the names of the people who died in the bombing,

Photo: George Clinton Room at Fraunces Tavern. Billy Hathorn at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

A National Landmark

In 1965, the Fraunces Tavern was declared a New York City Landmark. Twelve years later, the entire block was designated as an Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2020, Fraunces Tavern continues to function as it did in the late 1700s as a tavern and a restaurant. It’s pretty amazing that in the current political world of unrest, one can still enter Fraunces Tavern and argue politics over an ale just like they did over two hundred years ago.

Updated June 30, 2026

If you enjoy exploring New York City’s colonial history, continue reading our features on How the Taverns of New York City Stirred the American Revolution, and discover more stories from Revolutionary-era New York throughout ClassicNewYorkHistory.com.

Sources:

Breen T.H. American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People. New York: Hill and Wang, 2010.

Carp L. Benjamin. Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007

Jackson, K. T. (2011). The encyclopedia of New York City (Second ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.