"Designed by Robert Gibson and completed in 1903, the twelve-story Martha Washington was designed to house 400-500 'business women' and to provide specifically for this groups’ needs, at 30 East 30th Street... By the time the hotel opened, much of the stock was owned by individual women backing the idea of a women’s hotel… At the Martha Washington, female residents were afforded the same freedoms allowed their male counterparts. In contrast to the supervisory homes, this women’s hotel was explicitly linked with feminist ideals of independence, the ability to earn one’s own living, and the conscious presentation of white-collar working women as 'business women.' It was a success: the building was fully occupied immediately with both permanent and transient guests and 200 more women on a waiting list. The hotel’s philosophy was met with approval by important feminist groups, including the Interurban Women’s Suffrage Council, who made the hotel their headquarters beginning in 1907."

For more on the Martha Washington and other Industrial Era female-only housing, check out this article by Nina E. Harkrader in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History