Queer Places:
96 Park Ave, New York, NY 10016
Hotel Irvin for Women, 308 West 30th Street (near 8th Avenue), New York, New York, USA
Colony Club, 120 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 & 564 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065, USA
Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA
Mary B. Morris (June 1, 1848 – June 5, 1918) was the wife of the head of the banking firm, Richard
Irvin & Company. She took an active interest in charitable work and
was president of the Samaritan Home for the Aged and of St. Mary's
Free Hospital for Children.The Hotel Irvin for Women was named for Mary M. Irvin (Mrs. Richard Irvin), president of the organization that worked for many years to create this residence. As early as 1916 the group planned a hotel "where self-supporting girls and women with small incomes could be accommodated comfortably and well at little cost." (Quoting New York Times Feb. 21,1916, p.11.)
But it was not until 1924 that the group managed to acquire the land and begin construction here at 308 W 30th St. By that time the corporation consisted of Asher Mayer, president, and Charles H. Strong, treasurer. The hotel opened in 1925, "for exclusive occupancy by business women," with apartments "arranged in small flexible units with facilities for self-housekeeping" and rents "adjusted on a basis to meet the big demand that exists for this type of housing." (Quoting here the New York Times July 4, 1924, p. 20.)
In the early 1940s the Irvin seems to have dropped the women-only policy. They went out of business in the mid-1950s.
Few women have been better known en New York than Irvin, the greater part of whose time had been demoted to philanthropic and charitable work. At the time of her death she was president of the Samaritan Home for the Aged, the Loomis Sanatorium, St. Mary's Free Hospital for Children, the Virginia Day Nursery, the Association of Day Nurseries, the Virginia Hotel for Working Girls and the Irene Club for Working Girls.
She was a member of the Diocesan Auxiliary of the Cathedral of St John the Divine, and actively interested in the Fresh Air Association of the Cathedral. It had been her desire to see completed tne Irvin Hotel for Working Girls.
Irvin was one of the founders of the Colony club, one of the governors and one of the vice-presidents. She was a woman of great executive ability, and her name added to an undertaking for a charitable or philanthropic undertaking was sure to bring success.
Irvin's husband was a member of the banking firm of Richard Irvin & Co. She came of a distinguished family. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Morris of Baltimore. Her mother, who was Mary Morris, was a daughter of Reverdy Johnson, one time United States Senator from Maryland and also American Minister to the Court of St. James. One of her mother's sisters became the wife of William R. Travers.
Mary Morris Irvin died in her home at 96 Park avenue, after a long illness. Her funeral was held in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the burial was in Green-wood Cemetery.
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