Editing Tammany Hall (section)

==Headquarters==
[[File:(King1893NYC) pg619 THE SUN, NASSAU AND FRANKFORT STREETS.jpg|thumb|225px|170 Nassau Street in 1893]]
[[File:Tammany Hall LC-USZ62-101734.jpg|thumb|225px|Tammany Hall on [[14th Street (Manhattan)|East 14th Street]] between [[Third Avenue (Manhattan)|Third Avenue]] and [[Irving Place]] in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]] (1914). The building was demolished {{circa|1927}}.]]
[[File:Tammany Hall 17th Street.jpg|thumb|225px|[[44 Union Square]], the former Tammany Hall building at [[17th Street (Manhattan)|17th Street]] and [[Park Avenue South]], across from [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]], housed a theatre and a film school until renovations commenced in 2016.]]

===Early years===
In its very early days, the Tammany Society met in the back rooms of various taverns, most often in Barden's Tavern on Broadway near Bowling Green.<ref name=allen7>Allen, pp. 7–8</ref> These back rooms served as unofficial campaign headquarters on election days.<ref>Burrows & Wallace p. 322</ref> In 1791, the society opened a museum designed to collect artifacts relating to the events and history of the United States. Originally presented in an upper room of City Hall, it moved to the Merchant's Exchange when that proved to be too small. The museum was unsuccessful, and the Society severed its connections with it in 1795.<ref>Burrows & Wallace p. 316</ref>

In 1798, the Society moved to more permanent and spacious quarters, the "Long Room" of "Brom" Martling's Tavern, at [[Nassau Street (Manhattan)|Nassau Street]] and Spruce Street, near where City Hall is today. Tammany controlled the space, which it dubbed "The Wigwam", and let other responsible political organizations it approved of use the room for meetings. This space became commonly known as "Tammany Hall".<ref name="allen7" />

Their new headquarters had limitations as well as advantages, and in 1812 Tammany moved again, this time to a new five-story $55,000 building it built at the corner of Nassau and Frankfort streets, just a few blocks away. The new Tammany Hall had a large room that could accommodate up to 2,000 people for political and social events, and the rest of the building was run as a hotel. The Society was to remain there for 55 years.<ref>Allen, p. 24</ref>

===14th Street headquarters===
By the 1860s, Tammany under Tweed had much greater influence – and affluence, so new headquarters was deemed desirable. The cornerstone for the new Tammany headquarters was laid on July 14, 1867, at 141 [[14th Street (Manhattan)|East 14th Street]] between [[Third Avenue (Manhattan)|Third Avenue]] and [[Fourth Avenue (Manhattan)|Fourth Avenue]] (the building at Nassau and Frankfort was sold to [[Charles Anderson Dana|Charles Dana]] and his friends, who bought a newspaper, ''[[The Sun (New York City)|The Sun]]'', and moved it there).<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Frank Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/storysunnewyork00obrgoog/page/n261|title=The Story of the Sun: New York, 1833–1918|date=1916|place=New York|publisher= George H. Doran company|page=229}}</ref>

When the leaders of the Society found that they had not raised enough funds, and needed $25,000 more, a meeting was held at which $175,000 was immediately pledged.<ref name=allen99>Allen, pp. 99–100</ref> The new Wigwam was completed in 1868. It was not just a political clubhouse:

<blockquote>Tammany Hall merged politics and entertainment, already stylistically similar, in its new headquarters. ... The Tammany Society kept only one room for itself, renting the rest to entertainment impresarios: Don Bryant's Minstrels, a German theater company, classical concerts and opera. The basement – in the French mode – offered the Café Ausant, where one could see [[Tableau vivant|tableaux vivant]], gymnastic exhibitions, pantomimes, and [[Punch and Judy]] shows. There was also a bar, a bazaar, a Ladies' Cafe, and an [[oyster saloon]]. All this – with the exception of Bryant's – was open from seven till midnight for a combination price of fifty cents.<ref>Burrows & Wallace p. 995</ref></blockquote>

The building had an auditorium big enough to hold public meetings, and a smaller one that became [[Olympic Theatre, New York|Tony Pastor's Music Hall]], where [[vaudeville]] had its beginnings.<ref>Wurman, Richard Saul. ''Access New York City''. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. {{ISBN|0062772740}}</ref> The structure was topped off by a large-than-life statue of Saint Tammany.<ref name=allen99 />

===44 Union Square===
{{main|44 Union Square}}
In 1927 the building on 14th Street was sold, to make way for the new tower being added to the [[Consolidated Edison Building]]. The Society's new building at [[44 Union Square]], a few blocks north at the corner with [[17th Street (Manhattan)|East 17th Street]], was finished and occupied by 1929.<ref name="preserve2">{{cite web |url=http://www.preserve2.org/gramercy/proposes/new/district/100_102e17.htm |title=Second Tammany Hall Building Proposed as Historic Landmark |access-date=March 3, 2008}}</ref> When Tammany started to lose its political influence, and its all-important access to graft, it could no longer afford to maintain the 17th Street building, and in 1943 it was bought by a local affiliate of the [[International Ladies Garment Workers Union]]. Tammany left, and its leaders moved to the [[Joseph Raphael De Lamar House|National Democratic Club]] on Madison Avenue at East 37th Street, and the Society's collection of memorabilia went into a warehouse in the Bronx.<ref>Allen, p. 259</ref>

The building at 44 Union Square housed the [[New York Film Academy]] and the [[Union Square Theatre]], and retail stores at street level, until a complete renovation of the building began in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160809/REAL_ESTATE/160809867/redevelopment-of-old-tammany-hall-building-at-100-east-17th-st-marks-latest-changes-in-union-square|title=Redevelopment of old Tammany Hall marks latest changes in Union Square|date=August 9, 2016|website=Crain's New York Business|language=en|access-date=November 26, 2019}}</ref> The [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] designated it in October 2013.<ref>[http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/10/tammany-hall-named-an-official-city-landmark Tammany Hall a Landmark] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031233023/http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/10/tammany-hall-named-an-official-city-landmark |date=October 31, 2013 }} ''[[New York Daily News]]''</ref> The renovation, which included a gutting of the interior and the installation of a glass-domed roof, was substantially completed by July 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Young|first=Michael|date=2020-07-11|title=Tammany Hall Renovation and Expansion Nearing Completion at 44 Union Square|url=https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/07/tammany-hall-renovation-and-expansion-nearing-completion-at-44-union-square.html|access-date=2020-08-04|website=New York YIMBY|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-31|title=Gut Renovation Turns Former Tammany Hall into Offices, Retail|url=https://www.connect.media/gut-renovation-turns-former-tammany-hall-into-offices-retail/|access-date=2020-08-04|website=Connect Media|language=en-US|archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112230037/https://www.connect.media/gut-renovation-turns-former-tammany-hall-into-offices-retail/|url-status=dead}}</ref>