Gentleman’s Guide to Brothels

The guide is leather bound, pocket sized and packed with 150 New York addresses. The year is 1870 and the times are both puritanical and hypocritical. Men sitting in church on Sunday may well have had their guide tucked away, ready for a different service later.

There were reviews of the attractions on offer, including the standard of the wine and the atmosphere of the house. Some were luxurious, gleaming like palaces with French mirrors, fine furniture and chandeliers to swing from. But incredibly the guide claims that it is not giving this information to encourage visitors, it is simply describing the places gentlemen should avoid!

In that case, is it absolutely necessary to say one house had eight or ten residents, both blonds and brunettes? That they are all lively and friendly, the refined kind a gentleman can pass an hour or so with, simply enjoying the company?

Prostitution was illegal but New York was a boom town with new immigrants arriving daily. Amongst them were many single men, or men with families left behind. Brothel madams simply bribed police and it was estimated there were nearly 500 pleasure houses in Manhattan alone in 1870. It was all extra income for police and if anyone complained to the authorities they were usually told it was better that the police knew where these places were.

The Gentleman’s Directory had advertisements as well as reviews. They said that no expense had been spared in furnishing the rooms and some claimed they had hosted many of New York’s first citizens. The directory cost $1 and for 50 cents extra there was a supplement, Dr Groves’s Marriage Guide. Whether this was an early marriage counselling service or sex instruction leaflet we don’t know. Those simply looking for intelligent conversation were told to visit the seven beautiful lady scholars on 123 West Street!

Safe sex was also encouraged, the guide had an advertisement for French Imported Male Safes. That’s condoms in other words. 

The Gentleman’s Directory. It sounds like just the book for today’s bankers and hedge fund managers.