A hostel on 103rd Street and Amsterdam may host visitors from around the globe today, but over a century ago, it was home to a very different crowd.
This was the topic of discussion at a talk Thursday night led by Pam Tice, former executive director of Hostelling International New York, who presented the 103rd Street hostel’s transition from its humble beginnings as a home for aged women to a widely used hostel for youth today.
“I think knowing local history to me is just so important. So many people pass by this building every day and must wonder what a large Gothic Victorian building is doing on Amsterdam,” Tice said in an interview on Thursday night at the hostel.
Today, the Upper West Side landmarked hostel is the largest in North America, has a capacity of over 600 guests, and still maintains its Victorian style.
Outlining the hostel’s history at an event titled “Creating A Westside Landmark,” Tice said, “Having worked here, I really wanted to do more research myself on what it was like to be a part of the home, and how did it work and when did they get started.”
The hostel was originally founded by four young women—Rachel Dunlap, Rachel Maynard, Mary Bingham, and Anne Church—as a home to help aged women avoid degrading “poorhouses,” which were government-run housing complexes for needy residents, known for their poor conditions.
“It was a group of women in the 1880s, when married women couldn’t own property. In the midst of this time, women banded together to form an association like this. It was the women who were visiting patients themselves and doing the work,” Tice said.
Tice compared it to the abolitionist prohibition movements. “Women at this point were supposed to demonstrate that they were pious, that they were submissive. This charity work taught women how to cooperate with each other, how to take leadership positions, how to organize.”
Patrick Bennett, a Morningside resident attending the event, said the history of the hostel still has relevance today. “Building the elderly women’s home definitely helped the women themselves get ahead,” Bennett said. “I wouldn’t want to tell a corporate woman today, ‘You can’t do things that you want to do,’” he joked.
In the 1960s, the home was going to be torn down, but Columbia architecture student Fred Chapman got an assignment in a preservation class to find a structure to put on the national list of places to be preserved—right in time to stop the city from tearing it down.
Peter Arndtsen, district manager of the Columbus/Amsterdam Business Improvement District, highlighted the importance of student activism in saving the hostel. “I think it’s truly remarkable that the students were able to step in at a critical point and save the building. The impact of just three students was huge,” Arndtsen said.
For some attendees, preserving the neighborhood’s history is a priority.
“I like to see the old buildings of New York preserved,” Bennett said. “We can learn a lot from these old buildings. It’s a reminder of our history and helps us develop our future.”
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