The Hotel Albert is both a historic hotel and a apartment complex located in Lower Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. The hotel was created in the 1880s through the combination of three different houses that were constructed before the Civil War. The combined structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in June of 2012. Today, the Hotel Albert no longer functions as a hotel, but instead operates as an apartment complex.
One of the oldest and grandest neighborhoods in Manhattan, Gramercy Park has long been associated with the city’s moneyed elite. Built around the private Gramercy Park, whose gates have been locked to the general public since the 1840s, the neighborhood is lined with Italianate and Greek Revival designs. Numerous celebrities and dignitaries have called Gramercy home, and many made a home at the Gramercy Park Hotel, which was built in two stages in the 1920s. Former residents of the hotel include the family of Joseph P. Kennedy (including a young John F. Kennedy), and Humphrey Bogart was married there.
The elegant Prince George Hotel was built in 1904 by Howard Greenley. It quickly earned a reputation for being one of the city’s most modern and lavish hotels, and the first with private bathrooms in each room. In addition to its modern amenities, the hotel also featured a majestic Main Lounge with ornate ceilings and murals. In the late twentieth century, however, the city began using the property as a welfare hotel for hundreds of homeless families. Eventually the families were forced to leave the property, which sat vacant for a number of years and was nearly demolished. More recently, the building was renovated and is used as apartments for low-income residents, homeless people, and people with HIV/AIDS. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hotel Chelsea is an iconic hotel in the Manhattan area, which was established in 1884. The hotel was home to many iconic residents, such as Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Iggy Pop, and it was the setting and subject of many films, novels, and other forms of popular culture. The Chelsea was closed for renovations in 2011, and as of April 2019, the renovations are ongoing.
In the years following the Civil War, the areas along Broadway and Fifth Avenue became home to numerous fashionable businesses and residences. One of those was the Grand Hotel, which was commissioned by Elias Higgins in 1868. Higgins was a successful carpet manufacturer who expanded into real estate, often building impressively elegant structures. As its name suggests, the Grand Hotel was an opulent white marble structure. As the theater district shifted northward, new luxury hotels and theaters were built beyond this neighborhood. By the turn of the century, Times Square became the location of the city's leading hotels and the Grand Hotel became something less worthy of its moniker as vice-filled what was then known as the Tenderloin District. Thanks to preservationists, the building once again offers a grand facade and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
This iconic hotel New York was acquired by businessman John Jacob Astor IV in 1904 and opened two years later. The influential hotel owner saw the building's potential to provide luxurious hotel accommodations in New York City and acquired the building from a pair of businessmen who launched the hotel's construction in 1903 but soon ran into liquidity issues. Astor's wealth and fame brought success to the hotel in the early 1900s. However, the management of the Knickerbocker found themselves saddled with growing expenses in trying to maintain the grand hotel following the onset of prohibition just fifteen years after the ambitious hotel opened. the building served as the home for many offices and retailers until 2015 when the restored building reopened as a historically-themed luxury hotel. The hotel emphasizes its history and seeks to recreate the luxury and grandeur envisioned by its founder.
As New York City's most prestigious literary hotel, The Algonquin is designated a New York City Landmark and a National Literary Landmark. It has hosted writers, editors, actors, producers, critics, and publishers for over one hundred years, including the famous Algonquin Round Table (also known as the Vicious Circle), actors John Barrymore and Harpo Marx, and authors William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, J.D. Salinger, and Maya Angelou, among many others. Its Oak Room Cabaret has helped launch musical careers such as those of Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Feinstein. The Round Table Restaurant is the meeting place of the literary circle which included the founder of The New Yorker, Harold Ross; Dorothy Parker; Robert Benchley; and many other important writers and editors of the 1920s. Monthly walking tours of the hotel and nearby sites related to the Algonquin Round Table are available through the Dorothy Parker Society (see links at bottom of entry), led by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, the Society's president.
Originally designed by The Bowman-Biltmore Hotels, the 2,000-room building was named the Commodore in honor of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, originator of the New York Railroad system. Opening its doors in 1919, it had a successful six-decade run before financial issues nearly forced its closure. In 1976, businessman Donald Trump, bought the hotel in an attempt to save it and moved to refurbish the building. The ensuing public battles regarding tax breaks placed the building and its owner into the national limelight.
One of the leading icons of the city of New York, the 13-story Waldorf Hotel was opened in 1893. In 1897, the hotel merged with the Astoria Hotel - a 17-floor building. Once one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, the facility became dated and closed at the end of the 1920s. The original hotel was replaced with a new building created by the developers, and it would eventually become the Empire State Building. The second and current Waldorf-Astoria opened in 1931 and is once again regarded as one of the most luxurious in the world. Currently, it is under renovation to restore and enhance the experience for guests.
Built as a series of six private homes around a central complex between 1882 and 1884, this architectural masterpiece is now the Lotte New York Plaza Hotel. The complex was financed by Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Unfortunately for Villiard, the railroad construction boom outpaced the growth of the economy and he lost his fortune shortly after the "Villiard Homes" went on the market. The property was used as private residences until 1943 when it became home to the Women’s Military Services Club--a space that offered accommodation for thousands of women who joined the armed forces during World War II. Today, the hotel hosts guests from all over the world and the Villard Ballroom serves as a venue for weddings and other social gatherings.
Manhattan has a wealth of hotels with rich and colorful histories, including the Hotel Elysee. this elegant, French country style property on E. 54th Street has been in business since 1926 and has a storied history. The hotel's famous Monkey Bar has been used as the backdrop for many movies and television shows such as “Mad Men.” Playwright Tennessee Williams lived in the hotel for a number of years, and it was there that the author died in 1983. Marlon Brando also maintained an apartment in the hotel, as did many other luminaries during this New York establishment's long history. After the original owners filed for bankruptcy in the Great Depression, the hotel was purchased by Mayer Quain. The hotel is now part of the Library Hotel Collection, a company that operates several literary-themed hotels in New York.
From its opening in 1907 to today, this iconic hotel has represented the glamour of New York City and has entertained celebrities and world leaders. The current Plaza Hotel replaced a much smaller hotel, also known as the Plaza Hotel, that operated at this location from 1890 to 1905. Investors Bernhard Beinecke, Fred Sterry, and Harry S. Black recognized the value of this location and constructed the present luxury hotel which became the first in the city to become a National Historic Landmark.
Manhattan is full of storied hotels, but few can match the colorful provenance of the Warwick. The hotel was built in 1926 by media tycoon William Randolph Hearst as part of his plan to provide a place for his mistress, Marion Davies, to live. One of the most powerful men of his era, Hearst built the Warwick to be one of the grandest hotels in the city. While Davies lived in the hotel's penthouse for only a few years, the hotel grew into a New York institution that has hosted many of the biggest celebrities of the twentieth century. Cary Grant lived in the hotel for a number of years. During their first appearance in New York, the Beatles stayed at the Warwick, as did Elvis Presley when he was in the city.
This historic New York hotel opened in 1927 and was operated by the Sheraton corporation from 1948 to 1983. The hotel features the Renaissance Revival style of architecture and with its sixteen hundred rooms and location near many iconic New York City landmarks and establishments, the Park Central continues to be a favorite for tourists visiting the Big Apple. Beyond its elegant facade and interior, Park Central is best known for an event that occurred within a year of its opening. The hotel was one of the preferred meeting places of Arnold Rothstein, a leader of New York's organized crime circuit in the 1920s, and Rothstein was shot and killed in the hotel. A similar fate befell Albert Anastasia of the Albert Gambino crime family who was killed in the hotel in 1957. The hotel has been frequented by many celebrities and world leaders and was also the site of a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Eleanor Roosevelt lived in a suite at the Park Central from 1950 to 1953 while she worked as the US Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
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Take a tour of famous New York City hotels, from The Plaza Hotel which is associated with many pop culture films and events, to The Hotel Chelsea home of one of rock and rolls most famous deaths. Take a walk, talk the subway, or take a taxi, but don't miss out on all the history these temporary lodgings have to offer.
