Walk down Clark Street today and you’ll see a massive, somewhat imposing complex that looks like a city within a city. That’s the St. George. It’s not just a building; it’s a sprawling architectural ghost that used to be the biggest hotel in New York City. Honestly, it’s hard to wrap your head around the scale of it when you're standing on the sidewalk in Brooklyn Heights. Back in the late 1920s, this place had over 2,600 rooms. Think about that for a second. It was bigger than almost anything in Midtown at the time.
Most people recognize the name because of the subway station entrance built right into it. But the St George Hotel Brooklyn Heights isn't just a transit hub or a dorm for college kids, which is mostly what it serves as now. It’s a literal time capsule of how New York tried to reinvent itself during the Jazz Age. It was the "it" spot before the Waldorf Astoria moved uptown and took the crown.
If you’re looking for a lobby with gold leaf and bellhops in 2026, you're out of luck. The hotel as a single entity basically died decades ago. Today, it’s a patchwork of student housing, upscale apartments, and residential units. Yet, the bones of that opulence are still there, hiding behind modern drywall and renovated hallways.
The Saltwater Pool and the Ghost of Glamour
You can't talk about the St. George without mentioning the pool. This wasn't just some hotel lap pool. It was a $1.2 million saltwater masterpiece, lined with green and white tiles and illuminated by an intricate underwater lighting system that was lightyears ahead of its time. They pumped in saltwater directly from the Atlantic. Imagine that. You’re in the middle of Brooklyn, but you’re swimming in filtered ocean water.
Hollywood loved it. Esther Williams, the "Million Dollar Mermaid," filmed here. It was the social epicenter of the borough. On a hot July night in 1930, there was nowhere else you’d rather be. But if you try to find it now, you’ll be disappointed. The pool was filled in years ago to make way for a fitness center. It’s a common story in New York: incredible art deco bones buried under layers of practical, modern necessity.
The hotel was actually a collection of several different buildings, which explains why the architecture feels so disjointed when you walk around the block. You have the original 10-story building from the 1880s, then the massive towers added later by Captain William Tumbridge. He was the visionary who saw Brooklyn Heights as a rival to Manhattan’s luxury. He wasn't wrong, at least for a while.
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Why the St George Hotel Brooklyn Heights Fell Apart
So, what happened? Why aren't we booking rooms there today? It’s a mix of bad timing and the shifting geography of New York social life.
The Great Depression hit just as the hotel reached its peak capacity. While the St. George remained a landmark, the center of gravity for luxury travel shifted decisively toward Manhattan. By the 1960s and 70s, the neighborhood had changed. The hotel started a long, painful slide into becoming a "Single Room Occupancy" (SRO) facility.
Then came the fire.
In 1995, a massive blaze ripped through the complex. It was a 16-alarm fire—one of the biggest in the city's history. It took hundreds of firefighters to get it under control. The damage was catastrophic for the older sections of the hotel. Most people thought that was the end. The St. George was written off as a total loss, a charred shell of a bygone era.
A Strange Resurrection
New York real estate is nothing if not resilient. Instead of tearing it all down, developers realized the "Tower" section—the tallest part of the complex—was still structurally sound. They pivoted. Instead of trying to run a massive, failing hotel, they broke it up.
Educational Housing Services (EHS) took over a huge chunk of it. Now, it’s one of the most popular places for interns and students to live while they’re in the city. It’s weirdly poetic. A place that once hosted celebrities and presidents is now filled with 20-year-olds eating cold pizza and studying for midterms.
- The Tower: Mostly student housing and some residential units.
- The Weller Building: Part of the original complex, now apartments.
- The Grill Room: Long gone, but the space has been repurposed.
The Clark Street subway station remains the heartbeat of the building. You can literally walk out of your apartment and be on a 2 or 3 train in thirty seconds. That’s the real reason the building survived. Its location is unbeatable.
What You See When You Visit Today
If you go there now, don't expect a museum. It's a functioning part of the city. You’ll see the stunning Art Deco brickwork on the exterior, which has been meticulously cleaned. The "Hotel St. George" sign still hangs there, a massive neon reminder of what used to be.
But the interior is a maze. Because it was built as several interconnected buildings, the floor heights don't always match up. You might take an elevator to the 5th floor in one wing and find yourself at a different level than the 5th floor in the next wing. It’s confusing. It’s quirky. It’s very "old Brooklyn."
There are still some "old timers" living in the rent-stabilized portions of the building. These are people who saw the hotel in its final days of decline and stayed through the fire and the renovation. Their stories are the real connection to the past. They remember when the lobby was a place of grand meetings, not just a security desk for student IDs.
The Architectural Legacy of Brooklyn Heights
The St. George is a cornerstone of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District. This was the first neighborhood in New York to be designated as historic, back in 1965. The hotel played a huge role in that. Preservationists realized that if they lost the St. George, they’d lose the soul of the neighborhood’s skyline.
Architecturally, it’s a mix. You see Romanesque Revival elements in the older sections and stark, towering Art Deco in the later additions. It shouldn't work together, but it does. It represents the transition of Brooklyn from a suburban "City of Churches" into a high-density urban powerhouse.
People often ask if the hotel is haunted. With a history that long and a fire that devastating, the rumors are inevitable. Students often claim to hear footsteps in the older hallways or see flickers in the elevators. Whether you believe in ghosts or just old plumbing, the building definitely has an "energy." It feels heavy with history.
Practical Insights for Exploring the Area
If you're heading to Brooklyn Heights specifically to see the St. George, you should do it right. Don't just look at the building and leave.
- Start at the Promenade: Walk a few blocks over to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. From there, you can see how the St. George tower still dominates the local skyline, even with all the new glass towers in Downtown Brooklyn.
- Look for the Details: Walk the perimeter of the building on Hicks, Clark, and Henry Streets. Look up. The terra cotta details and the way the brick changes color tell the story of the different construction phases.
- The Subway Entrance: Go inside the Clark Street station entrance. Even if you aren't catching a train, the lobby area there gives you a sense of the scale. It's one of the few places where the public can still "feel" the old hotel's footprint.
- Eat Nearby: The neighborhood is full of spots that have outlasted the hotel's glory days. Henry's End or Teresa's are local staples that keep that old-school Brooklyn vibe alive.
The St George Hotel Brooklyn Heights teaches us that nothing in New York stays the same, but nothing truly disappears either. It just gets rebranded. It went from the world's largest hotel to a burnt-out shell to a vibrant student community. It’s a survivor.
When you look at the building today, try to see past the modern signage and the students with their backpacks. Imagine the 1930s. Imagine the saltwater pool glowing green. Imagine the thousands of people who checked in, looking for a piece of the New York dream in a borough that was just starting to find its own voice.
To truly understand the St. George, you have to appreciate the layers of the city. It’s not a shiny new tourist trap. It’s a scarred, renovated, massive piece of living history.
Next Steps for History Buffs:
- Check out the Brooklyn Historical Society (now part of the Center for Brooklyn History) just a few blocks away on Pierrepont Street. They have an extensive archive of original photographs of the hotel's interior and the famous saltwater pool.
- Search for the 1995 fire footage on local archives; it provides a sobering look at just how close this landmark came to being completely erased from the map.
- Walk the neighborhood specifically to compare the St. George’s scale with the nearby Hotel Bossert, another "rival" hotel that has its own fascinating history of transformation.