Editing Hotel Chelsea (section)

=== Development ===
After constructing several more Home Clubs in the 1880s, Hubert decided to construct a structure in Chelsea. In contrast to previous clubs, where residents were selected according to their beliefs and socioeconomic status, Hubert wanted the new building to house as diverse a group of residents as possible.{{sfn|Tippins|2013|p=23}} Hubert planned a structure as a self-contained, purpose-built artists' community, based on a concept by the philosopher [[Charles Fourier]].<ref name="Rich 2013" /><ref name="Harrington 2014">{{cite web |last=Harrington |first=Suzanne |date=March 2, 2014 |title=A palace of dreams... and nightmares |url=https://www.independent.ie/life/a-palace-of-dreams-and-nightmares/30044817.html |access-date=October 14, 2023 |website=Irish Independent |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021220348/https://www.independent.ie/life/a-palace-of-dreams-and-nightmares/30044817.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The structure, later known as the Chelsea Hotel, was originally known as the Chelsea Association Building and was to be developed by the Chelsea Association.<ref name="Tippins p. 4" /><ref name="Cheshes 2022">{{Cite news |last=Cheshes |first=Jay |date=April 26, 2022 |title=How the Historic Hotel Chelsea Has Kept Its New York Cool|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hotel-chelsea-new-york-11650976217 |access-date=October 13, 2023}}{{Cbignore}}</ref> It is unknown who specifically devised the idea for the building.<ref name="Gray 1998" /> A construction materials dealer named George M. Smith applied for the hotel's [[building permit]];<ref name="Gray 1998" /><ref name="Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 1883" /> he was one of several members of the Chelsea Association's building committee.<ref name="Tippins p. 27" /> By contrast, a contemporary ''[[New-York Tribune]]'' article described "some 50 people of means" as having been responsible for development.<ref name="New-York Tribune 1884" /><ref name="Gray 1998" />

Hubert identified a vacant site on 23rd Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues, which had been occupied by James Ingersoll's furniture store, as well as an adjoining townhouse on 22nd Street. Hubert paid Ingersoll $175,000 ({{inflation|index=US-GDP|value=175000|start_year=1883|r=-3|fmt=eq}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP|group=lower-alpha}}) for the plots and promised Ingersoll an apartment in the new building, as well as membership in the Chelsea Association.{{sfn|Tippins|2013|pp=25–26}} Hubert, Pirsson & Co. filed plans in early 1883 for a "[[housing cooperative|cooperative club apartment house]]" on the site at an estimated cost of $350,000 ({{inflation|index=US-GDP|value=350000|start_year=1883|r=-3|fmt=eq}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP|group=lower-alpha}}).<ref name="The Manufacturer and Builder: a Practical Journal of Industrial Progress 1883" /><ref name="Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 1883">{{cite magazine |date=January 20, 1883 |title=Between 14th and 59th Sts. |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031128_031&page=ldpd_7031128_031_00000067&no=15 |magazine=Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|publisher=F.W. Dodge Corp |volume=31 |page=45 |via=Columbia University |number=775 |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021220414/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031128_031&page=ldpd_7031128_031_00000067&no=15 |url-status=live}}</ref> In August 1883, the Chelsea Association obtained a $200,000 mortgage loan for the building ({{inflation|index=US-GDP|start_year=1883|value=200000|fmt=eq|r=-3}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP|group=lower-alpha}}) from the [[Equitable Life Assurance Society (United States)|Equitable Life Assurance Society]].<ref>{{cite news |date=August 9, 1883 |title=Notes From the Register's Office. |page=8 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|id={{ProQuest|94080978}}}}</ref> The same bank placed a $300,000 mortgage loan on the hotel that December ({{inflation|index=US-GDP|start_year=1883|value=300000|fmt=eq|r=-3}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP|group=lower-alpha}}).<ref>{{cite news |date=December 5, 1883 |title=City and Suburban News: New-york. Brooklyn. Westchester County. Long Island. |page=3 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|id={{ProQuest|94054644}}}}</ref> By March 1884, the Chelsea Association Building was nearly complete. One account in ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the Chelsea as "the most profitable and popular of [Hubert and Pirsson's] enterprises".<ref name="The New York Times 1914" />