THE GRAND CENTRAL hotel, opened August 24, 1870, is the largest in the United States. It stands on Broadway between Amity and Bleecker streets, with a frontage of 175 feet, and extends to Mercer street, being 200 feet in depth. It covers the ground once occupied by the Lafarge House, afterwards the Southern Hotel and the Winter Garden Theatre. The edifice is constructed of brick and marble, is ten stories high, and covers fourteen full lots, for some of which Mr. Higgins paid eighty-three thousand dollars apiece. The dining-room affords space for 600 persons to sit at table at once; the plate and furniture are magnificent, costing half a million, and the arrangements for observation, health, and comfort, the most exquisite. The building is 127 feet high at the cornice, which is surmounted by a heavy Mansard roof, the top of the flag-staff being 197 feet above the pavement. Thirty miles of steam coil are employed in heating the edifice, the floors amount to 350,000 square feet, requiring seven acres of carpeting, besides an acre of marble tiling; and the cooks, waiters, chambermaids, hallmen, and clerks amount to a small brigade. The price of board is $3, $3.50, and $4 per day.