In a place where wealth exchanged hands nightly, it was reflected in the imported banisters and marble bathrooms. Luxury greeted those who were fortunate to peer behind that door, imported old school finery, from vases to oil paintings on rich wallpapered walls, along hallways in red velvet carpeting, leading to game rooms with European oak tables hosting games of roulette, poker and baccarat. Its glorious, defining feature - and where it gets its name - was a $20,000 Italianate Renaissance, 15th century bronze door which gave the building the feel of a classic structure, or perhaps a bank vault. The fine townhouse at 33 West Thirty-third Street sat right around the corner from the Waldorf-Astoria, so close to respectable Fifth Avenue that people certainly strolled by it with no clue of the entertainments within.

The rich had their own houses of vice.Īnd one, the House with the Bronze Door, which opened in 1891, would have rivaled the great casinos of the day in terms of its lush presentation. “The poolroom keeper, like the proverbial worm,” remarked one New York Times article from 1900.īut New York’s wealthy elite liked to gamble as well, and there was no need for them to step into such filthy, disreputable places. Naturally, the pastime was not looked upon lightly by proper society. There were also hundreds of illicit gambling rackets, called ‘poolrooms’, throughout the city in the late 19th century, usually alongside the seediest of taverns, brothels and poolrooms. A tantalizing stretch of New York nightlife history lies in the shadows, illegally operated, often fueled by police bribes - the opium dens of Chinatown and the speakeasies of the Village and midtown.

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