emises were let for general business-office
purposes. This change was due to the competition offered by the
Merchants Exchange, a short distance up Wall Street, which had been
opened soon after the completion of the Tontine coffee house building.

As the city grew, the business-office quarters of the original Tontine
coffee house became inadequate; and about the year 1850 a new five-story
building, costing some $60,000, succeeded it. By this time the building
had lost its old coffee-house characteristics. This new Tontine
structure is said to have been the first real office building in New
York City. Today the site is occupied by a large modern office building,
which still retains the name of Tontine. It was owned by John B. and
Charles A. O'Donohue, well known New York coffee merchants, until 1920,
when it was sold for $1,000,000 to the Federal Sugar Refining Company.

The Tontine coffee house did not figure so prominently in the historic
events of the nation and city as did its neighbor, the Merchants coffee
house. However, it became the Mecca for visitors from all parts of the
country, who did not consider their sojourn in the city complete until
they had at least inspected what was then one of the most pretentious
buildings in New York. Chroniclers of the Tontine coffee house always
say that most of the leaders of the nation, together with distinguished
visitors from abroad, had foregathered in the large room of the old
coffee house at some time during their careers.

It was on the walls of the Tontine coffee house that bulletins were
posted on Hamilton's struggle for life after the fatal duel forced on
him by Aaron Burr.

The changing of the Tontine coffee house into a purely mercantile
building marked the end of the coffee-house era in New York. Exchanges
and office buildings had come into existence to take the place of the
business features of the coffee houses; clubs were organized to take
care of the social functions; and restaurants and hotels had sprung up
to cater to the needs for beverages and food.

_New York's Pleasure Gardens_

There was a fairly successful attempt made to introduce the London
pleasure-garden idea into New York. First, tea gardens were added to
several of the taverns already provided with ball rooms. Then, on the
outskirts of the city, were opened the Vauxhall and the Ranelagh
gardens, so named after their famous London prototypes. The first
Vauxhall garden (there were three of t