Formerly: Queen's Head Tavern · Sign of Queen Charlotte
New York, New York · Founded 1762 · Building: 1719, extensively restored 1905–1907
A Lower Manhattan restaurant and museum in a 1719 building where George Washington bade farewell to his officers in 1783.
Fraunces Tavern occupies a Lower Manhattan building constructed in 1719 as Stephen De Lancey’s private residence. Samuel Fraunces converted it into the Queen’s Head Tavern in 1762, and George Washington made his celebrated 1783 farewell to Continental Army officers in its Long Room. The active restaurant and museum are a 1907 revival after a major restoration, not an uninterrupted tavern operation from the Revolution.
Stephen De Lancey builds the Lower Manhattan structure as a private residence.
Source: Fraunces Tavern Museum, “History”; Fraunces Tavern, “About.”
Samuel Fraunces purchases the building and opens the Queen's Head Tavern, also called the Sign of Queen Charlotte.
Source: Fraunces Tavern Museum, “History”; CultureNow, “Fraunces Tavern Museum”; Library of Congress, “Today in History: December 4.”
George Washington meets his Continental Army officers in the Long Room and bids them farewell before leaving New York.
Source: Library of Congress, “Today in History: December 4”; Fraunces Tavern Museum, “George Washington's Farewell to His Officers”; Memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge.
The Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York acquires the Fraunces Tavern property to preserve it.
Source: Fraunces Tavern Museum, “History”; Fraunces Tavern, “About.”
The Sons of the Revolution hires preservation architect William H. Mersereau to begin the Colonial Revival restoration.
Source: CultureNow, “Fraunces Tavern Museum.”
After restoration, Fraunces Tavern reopens as a museum and restaurant on the anniversary of Washington’s farewell.
Source: CultureNow, “Fraunces Tavern Museum”; Fraunces Tavern, “About.”
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Fraunces Tavern is widely described as one of Manhattan’s oldest surviving buildings and dates its original construction to 1719. The categorical title “oldest building in Manhattan” is too broad because surviving-building definitions depend on original fabric, later alteration, reconstruction, and what counts as Manhattan’s boundaries.
Samuel Fraunces’s tavern opened in 1762, but the historic tavern operation was interrupted during the nineteenth century. The current restaurant and museum began after the Sons of the Revolution’s 1905–07 restoration, so the venue cannot claim uninterrupted bar operation from 1762.
The Library of Congress and Fraunces Tavern Museum identify the Long Room as the site of Washington’s farewell. Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge’s firsthand memoir describes the officers gathering at Fraunces Tavern and Washington’s emotional final leave-taking.
The organization acquired the property in 1904 and says it still owns 54 Pearl Street, operating the museum upstairs while leasing the first floor to the restaurant tenant.
Fraunces Tavern has operated continuously as a tavern since 1762.
Samuel Fraunces opened the Queen’s Head Tavern in 1762, but tavern operations were interrupted during the nineteenth century. The present restaurant and museum operation began when the Sons of the Revolution restored and reopened the site in 1907.
Source: Fraunces Tavern Museum, “History”; Fraunces Tavern, “About”; CultureNow, “Fraunces Tavern Museum.”
Fraunces Tavern is definitively the oldest building in Manhattan.
The building dates to 1719 and is widely described as one of Manhattan’s oldest surviving buildings, but a categorical citywide oldest-building title depends on how later alterations, restoration, original fabric, and geographic boundaries are defined.
Source: Fraunces Tavern Museum, “History”; Fraunces Tavern, “About”; Spectrum News, “Founding Fathers' presence still felt at Fraunces Tavern,” 2026.
Fraunces survived because preservation advocates treated it as both a historic artifact and a functioning public place. The Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York acquired the property in 1904, directed its 1905–07 restoration, and has continued to operate the museum while leasing the ground-floor restaurant space.
Samuel Fraunces opened a tavern in Stephen De Lancey’s 1719 Lower Manhattan residence in 1762. The Queen’s Head Tavern became a major Revolutionary-era gathering place and hosted George Washington’s farewell to his officers in the Long Room on December 4, 1783. The historic tavern was not continuously active through the nineteenth century; today’s restaurant and museum began after the Sons of the Revolution restored and reopened the site in 1907.
No. Fraunces Tavern has the earliest tavern origin among major New York City claimants, dating to 1762, but it is not continuously operating from that date. Tavern use was interrupted during the nineteenth century, and the present restaurant and museum operation reopened in 1907, so it does not qualify for New York City’s oldest-continuously-operating-bar race.
On December 4, 1783, George Washington met his Continental Army officers in Fraunces Tavern’s Long Room to thank them and bid them farewell. Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge’s memoir describes Washington raising a glass, delivering a final toast, and embracing the officers before leaving New York.
The Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, Inc. owns the Fraunces Tavern building at 54 Pearl Street. The organization operates the museum on the upper floors and leases the ground-floor restaurant space to a separate tenant; the reviewed sources do not identify the current restaurant operating entity.
54 Pearl St, New York, NY 10004
(212) 968-1776
Fraunces Tavern combines a ground-floor restaurant and bar with the ticketed Fraunces Tavern Museum on upper floors; confirm current restaurant and museum hours before visiting.