Browne's Chop House

Coordinates: 40°45′15″N 73°59′13″W / 40.75417°N 73.98694°W / 40.75417; -73.98694

Browne's Chop House
Industry Restaurant
Founded 1857 (claimed)
Defunct 1925
Headquarters New York City
Key people
 George F. Browne; Farrington family[1]

Browne's Chop House was a New York City restaurant that was popular with the theatrical crowd. It closed in 1925.[2]

The establishment was founded by the actor George F. Browne as early as 1857 and at least by 1861 was an eating place for actors, known as the Green Room.[3] It was originally located on Fourteenth Street near Wallack's Theatre, where Browne was a member of the company. It later moved to 33–35 West Twenty-Eighth Street and then to 31 West Twenty-Seventh Street.[4][5][6] Frank Farrington bought it after Browne's death and owned it for thirty years.[7]

The restaurant moved to 1424 Broadway, near Fortieth Street, around 1898, across the street from the Metropolitan Opera House and next door to the Empire Theatre. It walls were covered with play programs and signed photographs.[8][9][10][11]

The New York Friars Club met regularly at the restaurant when the club was founded in 1904.[12] Women were not permitted to dine there until the upstairs room was opened to them on Sundays starting in 1911.[8]

Browne's closed at the end of June 1925. Its final owner, F.J. Farrington, blamed the growth of speakeasies and cafeterias for the closing, in addition to rising rents and the northward move of the theatrical district.[13][14][15]

After the closing of the restaurant, the furnishings and photographs were sold at a public auction. One collector bought all the memorabilia for $480.[16] The owners of the Schrafft's restaurant chain leased the building for a tea room.[17][18]

Today, the former location of Browne's and the Empire Theatre is occupied by a 22-story office building built for Lowenstein & Sons, completed in 1956.[19]

References

  1. ↑ (17 January 1919). Jonas M. Farrington (death notice), New York Tribune.
  2. ↑ Grimes, William (2009). Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York. p. 74.
  3. ↑ (1 June 1885). "George F. Browne Dead; The Old Actor and Chop House Keeper Gone After a Long Illness". New York Times.
  4. ↑ Appleton's Dictionary of New York (1890). p. 48. Browne's was located on 27th Street in 1890.
  5. ↑ Mower, Henry S. (1912). Reminiscences of a Hotel Man of Forty Year's Service, pp. 117–118. Memories of the Twenty-Seventh Street location.
  6. ↑ (19 November 1891). "They Made No Noise", Daily Yellowstone Journal (reprinted from New York Advertiser, the story of twelve deaf men who dined at Browne's).
  7. ↑ (20 October 1921). Frank E. Farrington (obituary), New York Times.
  8. 1 2 (18 September 1911). "Famous Chop House Opened to Women", New York Times.
  9. ↑ (28 January 1940). Louis C. Pfeifle, "Chef Here Many Years Began His Career at Buckingham Palace", New York Times.
  10. ↑ Where and How to Dine in New York (1903), pp. 34–36.
  11. ↑ Niksah (28 October 1919). "Brown's Chop House", Arizona Republican.
  12. ↑ (12 May 1950). "Friars Club Opens Its New Building", New York Times.
  13. ↑ (30 June 1925). "Another Old Broadway Landmark Will Pass with Closing of Browne's Chop House Tonight", New York Times.
  14. ↑ (30 June 1925). "Browne's Cop House, New York Favorite for 78 Years, to Close", Chicago Tribune.
  15. ↑ Brock, H.L. (12 July 1925) "Browne's Chop House Flees from Soft-Drink Era", New York Times.
  16. ↑ (August 19, 1925). "Browne's Curios Sold", Variety.
  17. ↑ (1 August 1925). "Schrafft's Leases New Tea Room Site; The Frank G. Shattuck Co. Takes Over Browne's Chop House", New York Times.
  18. ↑ (30 June 1925). "Tea Room in Place of Chop House", Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
  19. ↑ (17 April 1953). "New Owners Seen in Empire May 31", New York Times.
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