King’s Arms started when Lieutenant John Hutchins bought a lot, near Trinity churchyard and there built a house, naming it the King’s Arms.
The King’s Arms was built of wood, and had a front of yellow brick. The structure is supposed to have been standing in Holland when it was purchased, dismantled, and it parts transported to America where it was reassembled. It is the first coffee house in New York.
King’s Arms became the unofficial headquarters of English émigrés in New York.
It began serving coffee along with food and drink - in green curtained booths in the bar-room.
The patrons could sit at leisure, browsing in an ample supply of newspaper and journal, in the 1700s, still mostly dominated by commercial and shipping news.
Committees of both the provincial assembly and Common Council routinely convened in its spacious upstairs meeting rooms, whose windows and balconies afforded sweeping views of the river and harbor below.
During the early 18th century, many more coffeehouses were opened in New York City and they served hot chocolate and food as well as coffee and tea.
The King’s Arms tavern
