Tom Colicchio Restaurant Stripped Of Name After Racist Link Discovered

TRIBECA, NY — Tom Colicchio's lower Manhattan restaurant, Fowler & Wells, has been renamed because of the racist history associated with its original identity, the New York Times reports.

Fowler & Wells, which has been renamed "Temple Court," opened in October 2016 in the Beekman Hotel at 5 Beekman St. It took its original name from a publishing company and science center previously located at its same address.

Colicchio, a prolific NYC restaurateur, said he had no idea Orson Fowler and Samuel Wells were not simply 19th century businessmen – but rather were proponents of phrenology, the racist theory that the shape of someone's skull affects their mental ability. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The theory was developed as a pseudo-scientific justification for slavery, and the Fowler family has been credited with helping to spread its prevalence in the 1800s. Fowler and Wells operated out of a Beekman Street office in the 1830s, where they also published "The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany."

Colicchio told the Times that he was unaware of Fowler and Wells' work promoting fake science to justify slavery before choosing the name of the restaurant.

"I don’t think it was a bad idea to start with because we didn’t have any of the information we have now," Colicchio told the Times. "I have a fairly liberal persona and never in a million years would consider myself a racist, so it never crossed my mind."

Colicchio said that earlier this year he learned of the figures' past work and "quickly" moved to change the restaurant's name and all of its branding, a process that cost between $50,000 and $100,000, according to the Times.

Crafted Hospitality, the parent company that owns Colicchio's restaurants, did not immediately respond to an email from Patch seeking more information about the name change or when it was implemented.

Lead image via Bryan Bedder / Stringer / Getty Images Entertainment.