History & local legend
York’s former Lafayette Club occupied the Small family house at 59 East Market Street. The club used its upper floors for a library, private dining and apartments, creating a setting in which staff sometimes heard or saw people who did not seem to belong among the guests.
In a September 2010 Capital Watch feature, Jackie Goodwin reported waiters’ and cooks’ stories of a young girl calling hello along an upstairs hallway. Staff also spoke of Stuart, remembered as a man who had lived and worked upstairs and was still seen after his death.
The club closed in 2012, and the building later became York College’s Gunter-Smith Center for Community Engagement. A 2025 college feature described continuing reports of footsteps and flickering lights.
Sources
- Jackie Goodwin, “The Lafayette Club: fine dining, great service,” Capital Watch, September 2010, p. 11, contemporary feature on the club and staff stories
- York College, 2025 feature with local ghost-tour guide Rissa Miller and historian Samantha Dorm; records later staff and visitor reports
- York College, history of 59 East Market Street and the club’s use of the upper floors
- Explore York, former Lafayette Club and current Gunter-Smith Center address
