Long before it welcomed travelers from around the globe, our historic building welcomed sailors from around the world.
Built in 1908 on the Hudson River waterfront, the red-brick landmark at Jane and West Streets has been a home for travelers, a stage for some of New York's most daring theater, and a West Village icon. More than a century later, it's still doing what it was built to do: giving people a great place to land in New York.
More Than a Century
on Jane Street
The building opened in 1908 as the American Seamen's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute, designed by William A. Boring, who also co-designed the main building at Ellis Island. Sailors rented rooms for 25 cents a night beneath a corner tower once topped by a working beacon, and the original carved anchors, buoys, and rope still decorate the facade. In 1912, it sheltered the surviving crew of the Titanic, and in 1945, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited to help fund its renovation.
As the waterfront changed, the building found a second life in the arts. RuPaul called its tower home in the 1980s, and its former auditorium became the Jane Street Theatre, where “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” made its off-Broadway debut in 1998, followed by Jonathan Larson's “tick, tick... BOOM!” in 2001. In 2000, the city named it an official New York City landmark.
Same Landmark, New Chapter
A 2008 renovation preserved the building's character while reimagining its original sailors' quarters, with design inspired by classic ship cabins, vintage train cars, and the cinematic world of films like “The Darjeeling Limited.”
Today, the story continues as West Village Eurohostel. The rooms are still cozy and cabin-style, now refreshed with modern comforts and renovated European-style shared bathrooms that have been part of its story from the start. More than a hundred years after the first sailors checked in, it's still a home base for travelers, just steps from the Hudson.