By John Ellis Kordes
Village Historian

Q: I was curious about the Casino and its name. Was there ever gambling there - if not, could you tell me why?

The building at the NE corner of Sixth Street and Cathedral Avenue that we today know as the “Casino” originally was called the “Stewart Arms.” It was built in the late 1880’s as a small inn where visitors to the newly constructed Cathedral (1885) could rest and get a bite to eat. In 1895, the Garden City Company (formed in 1893) had Stanford White (a board member) redesign the building and it was named the Casino. The word “casino” originally meant “a large room for entertaining” and that is what is inside the Garden City Casino. During the 20 th century, the term has become synanomous with gambling but that is not what the Garden City Casino is about. Since 1895 it has been a club with tennis courts and a bowling alley in the basement. The large room is used for all kinds of events including weddings, parties, and there is even a stage where plays have been held.

The Garden City Company relinquished ownership to the Village and the club leases the Casino from the Village. In recent years the interior and exterior have gone through a renovation and is looking quite well. The Casino remains in the top ten of Garden City’s most historic landmarks.

As for Stanford White’s involvement in Garden City, he had married Cornelia Stewart’s Grandniece. As such, he sat on the Board of Directors of the Garden City Company when it was formed in 1893. When the first Garden City Hotel was redesigned and expanded into the 2nd Garden City Hotel in 1895 it was a Stanford White design. When that hotel burned to the ground in 1899, Stanford White designed the 3rd Garden City Hotel that opened in 1901. He was an extremely talented and well known architect in New York City at the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century. His firm, McKim, Mead and White, was renowned and had designed over 50 buildings in New York City including the first Penn Station and the original Madison Square Garden. It was there that Stanford White was murdered in 1906 by a jealous husband, Harry Thaw. It was a sensational crime and a sensational trial, as the girl in question was quite a bit younger than Stanford White. The affair became known as “the girl in the red velvet swing.”