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The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel is a
mixed-use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
hotel building at 481 Eighth Avenue in the
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of counties in New York, origin ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, United States. Opened in 1930, the New Yorker Hotel was designed by
Sugarman and Berger Sugarman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Burt Sugarman, American television producer * George Sugarman, American artist * Jeremy Sugarman, American bioethicist * Jule Sugarman, American public administrator * Morris H ...
in the
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style and is 42 stories high, with four basement stories. The hotel building is owned by the
Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy S ...
, which rents out the lower stories as offices and dormitories. The upper stories contain 1,083 guestrooms, operated by
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is an American hotel company based in Parsippany, New Jersey, United States. It describes itself as the largest hotel franchisor in the world, with 9,280 locations. It has a portfolio of 20 hotel brands, including ...
. The building also contains two restaurants and approximately of conference space. The facade is largely made of brick and terracotta, with
Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...
on the lower stories. There are setbacks to comply with the
1916 Zoning Resolution The 1916 Zoning Resolution in New York City was the first citywide zoning code in the United States. The zoning resolution reflected both borough and local interests, and was proposed after the Equitable Building was erected in Lower Manhattan ...
, as well as a large sign with the hotel's name. The hotel contains a power plant and boiler room on its fourth basement, which was an early example of a
cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
plant. The public rooms on the lower stories included a Manufacturers Trust bank branch, a double-height lobby, and multiple ballrooms and restaurants. Originally, the hotel had 2,503 guestrooms from the fourth story up. The modern-day hotel rooms start above the 19th story. The New Yorker was built by Mack Kanner and was originally operated by Ralph Hitz, who died in 1940 and was succeeded by Frank L. Andrews.
Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...
bought the hotel in 1954 and, after conducting extensive renovations, sold the hotel in 1956 to Massaglia Hotels. New York Towers Inc. acquired the New Yorker in 1959 but surrendered the property to Hilton in 1967 as part of a foreclosure proceeding. The hotel was closed in 1972 and sold to the French and Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center, which unsuccessfully attempted to develop a hospital there. The Unification Church purchased the building in 1976 and initially used it as a global headquarters. After the top stories of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994, the lower stories were used as offices and dormitories. The hotel rooms have undergone multiple renovations since the hotel reopened. The New Yorker has been part of the
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is an American hotel company based in Parsippany, New Jersey, United States. It describes itself as the largest hotel franchisor in the world, with 9,280 locations. It has a portfolio of 20 hotel brands, including ...
chain since 2000, first under the
Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. As of December 31, 2018, it operates 811 hotels with 114,614 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from ...
brand, then under the Wyndham brand after 2014.


Site

The Wyndham New Yorker Hotel is at 481 Eighth Avenue, occupying the western side of the avenue between 34th Street and 35th Street, in the
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of counties in New York, origin ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The
land lot In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in o ...
is rectangular and covers . It has a
frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on Eighth Avenue to the west and on both 34th Street to the south and 35th Street to the north.
Manhattan Center The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroo ...
abuts the hotel to the west, while
One Penn Plaza Penn 1 (originally One Penn Plaza) is a skyscraper in New York City, located between 33rd Street and 34th Street, west of Seventh Avenue, and adjacent to Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. It is the tallest building in the Pen ...
,
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, and
Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
are to the southeast. Just prior to the New Yorker's development, the site was occupied by 17 buildings, owned by Frederick Brown and the
Manufacturers Trust Company Manufacturers Hanover Corporation was the bank holding company formed as parent of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, a large New York City, New York bank formed by a merger in 1961. After 1969, Manufacturers Hanover Trust became a subsid ...
. When the New Yorker was built, a bank branch for Manufacturers Trust was constructed at its base.


Architecture

The New Yorker Hotel was designed by
Sugarman and Berger Sugarman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Burt Sugarman, American television producer * George Sugarman, American artist * Jeremy Sugarman, American bioethicist * Jule Sugarman, American public administrator * Morris H ...
and is 42 stories high. The New Yorker Hotel also has four basement levels. Much like the contemporary
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
and the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
, the New Yorker was designed in the
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style, which was popular in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s.


Form and facade

The New Yorker has a relatively plain facade. The first story of the hotel is clad with of Deer Island granite. The second through fourth stories are clad with
Indiana Limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...
. The lowest stories are decorated with cast-stone blocks that contain floral designs. There are also some geometric designs on these stories. The hotel also contains marquees above its entrances on Eighth Avenue and 34th Street. Above each marquee is a LED sign that could change color during special occasions. The fifth through 43rd stories are clad in face brick with some terracotta ornament. The facade mainly consists of vertical
bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
of windows, separated by vertical gray-brick piers. According to architect
Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known ...
, the alternating bays and piers gave "an impression of boldly modeled masses. This was furthered by the deep-cut light courts, which produced a powerful play of light and shade that was enhanced by dramatic lighting at night". The building contains setbacks to comply with the
1916 Zoning Resolution The 1916 Zoning Resolution in New York City was the first citywide zoning code in the United States. The zoning resolution reflected both borough and local interests, and was proposed after the Equitable Building was erected in Lower Manhattan ...
. The setbacks, characterized by architectural writer Anthony W. Robins as "blocky", are ornamented with stone parapets that contain floral and rhombus patterns. The western facade contains a sign with the name "New Yorker" in capital letters. The original sign was illuminated from 1941 to 1967. The sign was dark until 2005, when it was replaced with an LED sign manufactured by LED Solution of Kitchener, Ontario. The sign can be seen from
northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrati ...
, across the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New ...
to the west. Each of the letters can be illuminated separately, allowing the sign to display various messages on special occasions such as celebrations.


Mechanical features

The hotel contained 23 elevators when it opened. Of these, 12 were passenger elevators, six were service elevators, and two were freight elevators. There was also one elevator from ground level to the subway station; one elevator from ground level to the ballroom; and one elevator within a bank branch in the building.


Power plant

The hotel contains a power plant and boiler room on its fourth basement, which could support the needs of 35,000 daily guests at the time of the hotel's opening. When the New Yorker opened, it was one of the few large buildings in New York City with its own power plant. The power plant included four
uniflow steam engine The uniflow type of steam engine uses steam that flows in one direction only in each half of the cylinder. Thermal efficiency is increased by having a temperature gradient along the cylinder. Steam always enters at the hot ends of the cylinder and ...
s and one diesel engine. One of the steam engines was rated at , while the others were rated at . Each of the engines drove a
direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...
generator. The power plant was operated from a switchboard measuring long and high. The switchboard contained manual pushbuttons; one button crushed coal that was blown into the furnaces, while another button deposited ashes. When the hotel opened, the power plant contained more than 200 direct current motors, rated at a combined . The plant could generate up to , but the hotel only used on average. It was anticipated that the excess electricity would be sold to nearby buildings, but this did not happen. At the time, this was the largest private power plant in the United States, as well as an early example of a
cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
plant. The power plant saved the hotel's operators an estimated $48,000 per year. In 2008, the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...
designated the New Yorker Hotel's direct current power plant as a Milestone in Electrical Engineering; at the time, the hotel was one of 75 worldwide recipients of that award. The hotel's own direct current generators were still in use during the
Northeast blackout of 1965 The northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on Tuesday, November 9, 1965, affecting parts of Ontario in Canada and Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New ...
. The hotel's power system had been modernized to
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which ...
by 1967. Due to increased energy costs, four cogeneration units were installed in the hotel in 2001, providing 50 percent of the hotel's electricity in the summer and 80 percent in the winter. The cogeneration plant has a total capacity of . The building also purchases electricity from New York City's power grid, operated by
Consolidated Edison Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 b ...
. The cogeneration plant reduced the hotel's reliance on the power grid, saving an estimated $400,000 annually by 2009.


Other utilities

The three largest motors in the original power plant were each capable of and supplied three of the hotel's four
chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another p ...
s (the fourth chiller was supplied by a steam engine). The ice plant was capable of making 400,000 blocks of ice per day. The modern-day hotel receives ice from a chiller plant in a neighboring building; the chillers produce ice at night, when energy costs are lower. The chiller plant replaced air conditioners that were installed within the windows of 2,000 rooms. Steam exhaust from the original power plant was used for functions such as heating. All services that used heat, such as cooking equipment, laundry machines, lights, vacuum cleaners, refrigeration, and air conditioning units were supplied by steam from the power plant. A boiler plant was installed at the New Yorker in 1998, reducing the need to buy steam from the
New York City steam system The New York City steam systems include Con Edison's Steam Operations, and other smaller systems that provide steam to New York University and Columbia University. Many individual buildings in New York have their own steam systems. Con Edis ...
. The boiler plant, which cost $1.5 million to install, saved an average of $3 million annually by 2009. Following a renovation in 2009, the hotel was retrofitted with a four-pipe system of
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. H ...
(HVAC), allowing guests to set their own temperature settings. Most of the building's modern-day hot water supply comes from the cogeneration plant. The building contains a storage tank with a capacity of . Water from the tank is transferred into the cogeneration units. There are water tanks on the 25th, 35th, and 44th stories. Sewage is pumped from the basements to the New York City sewage system, and a sump pump supplies soapy warm water to the hotel's restaurants.


Interior

The New Yorker spans . The original hotel contained public rooms on its first through fourth stories, as well as guestrooms from the fourth story to the roof. Lajos "Louis" Jambor had painted 26 murals for the hotel's interior, which cost a total of $150,000 (). The public rooms, originally decorated in the Art Deco style, were redecorated in various styles over the years. Many of Jambor's murals were covered up during the mid-20th century. When the New Yorker reopened as a commercial hotel in 1994, its guestrooms were concentrated on the upper stories, while the lower stories remained in use as offices. The building also contains two restaurants and approximately of conference space. The hotel has four basement levels. The first basement contained the kitchen, which had a dishwashing room; divisions for fish, meat, and poultry; an ice cream room; and a pastry room. On the second basement level were a linen room and valet shop, while on the third basement was the laundry room. The lowest of the hotel's basements contained the power plant.


Bank branch

There was a Manufacturers Trust bank branch on the first basement and second floor, designed by Sugarman and Berger. The branch's main entrance was a carved bronze door leading to a lobby, where stairs led up to the second floor and down to the basement. The stairs to the second floor were made of red and black marble and were decorated with a pair of murals by Jambor, which symbolized industry and commerce. The banking room itself had a terrazzo floor and marble walls and columns, as well as large windows on 34th Street. The room contained glass tellers' desks made of bronze and glass, and there was a department for the bank's officers on the eastern wall. The banking room was surrounded by a mezzanine on three sides. The soffit under the mezzanine was made of wood, and there were various pieces of marble furniture. The second floor also contained a women's lounge and service rooms for the bank. From the ground-floor lobby, a terrazzo stair with an iron railing led to the safe-deposit department in the basement. The entrance to the safe-deposit department was through a wrought-iron grille with the bank's initials. The space itself contained coupon desks and a private conference room, all with wood paneling. The bank branch was closed during the 1980s and was abandoned for several decades. By 2017, the old safe-deposit department had been converted into the Butcher and Banker restaurant. The restaurant retained many of the bank's original design features, such as the vault door and safe-deposit drawers.


Public rooms

The first basement contained a tunnel linking to the original
Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
as well as to 34th Street–Penn Station on the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's Eighth Avenue Line (). Through Penn Station, this tunnel also connected to 34th Street–Penn Station on the New York City Subway's Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (). This tunnel opened in February 1930 but was closed by the 1960s; it was being used as a storage area by the 2000s. The Coffee House cafe and the 250-seat Mosaic Room ballroom were constructed in the basement in 1955. The cafe and ballroom were connected to the lobby via a pair of escalators. After the hotel reopened, the basement had a
self-service laundry A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Uni ...
and
fitness center A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health se ...
. In the early 2010s, the basement laundry room was converted to meeting spaces, each covering . The main entrance on Eighth Avenue leads to a double-story lobby. It originally had green-marble paneling; some of Jambor's murals, depicting scenes from New York City's history, were placed on the lobby's north and south walls and on the ceiling. The lobby was redesigned in 1953 with glass screens and wooden paneling, as well as classical details like Corinthian columns and chandeliers. During a 2009 renovation, designers restored the marble floor, installed a chandelier suspended from the
coffered ceiling A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...
, and added new check-in and concierge desks. In addition, storefronts within the lobby were removed to make way for entrances to the Tick Tock Diner and Cooper's Tavern restaurants. A mezzanine overlooked the lobby. On the mezzanine level was a double-height main ballroom with walnut paneling and more murals by Jambor on each wall. The main ballroom also contained a projection room at its rear. Also at mezzanine level was a terrace ballroom with space for 300 people; it had tapestries on its walls. When the hotel reopened in the 1990s, the two ballrooms on the mezzanine (now the second floor) were restored, and seven meeting rooms were constructed on the third floor. In the mid-2000s, an exhibit with 500 artifacts from the hotel's history was installed on the mezzanine. Joseph Kinney, the hotel's chief engineer and unofficial archivist, collected the artifacts. There were ten private dining "salons" and five restaurants employing 35 master cooks. The dining salons could fit between 15 and 200 people each. The restaurants included the main restaurant; a "terrace restaurant", featuring live events and entertainment; a men's grill room called the Manhattan Room; a tea room; and a cafe. The terrace restaurant abutted an outdoor "summer terrace" with a retractable ice rink. The terrace restaurant hosted both ice shows and big bands. The ice shows were discontinued in 1946 because of the expense of replacing the ice rink and because of the American Guild of Variety Artists' support for removing the ice shows, although they resumed in 1948 due to high demand. The Terrace Room's shows were discontinued permanently in 1950 after the federal government imposed a 20 percent
excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...
on such shows. By 1999, the Terrace Room operated as a
television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...
for TV channel
MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer w ...
. The fourth story contained an in-house medical department with four operating rooms, as well as a beauty parlor and a women's parlor.


Guest rooms

Originally, the hotel had 2,503 guestrooms. The fourth story contained some public rooms and some guestrooms. The hotel was almost entirely composed of guestrooms from the fifth story up. At the time of the hotel's opening, each guestroom had a radio set that could be tuned to one of four channels; according to the hotel's managers, this made the New Yorker the first large hotel in the world with "a central system of radio with a radio receiving set in every room". Approximately 50 suites on the upper stories had private terraces. During the mid-20th century, the guestrooms on the fifth through eighth stories typically hosted trade-show exhibits throughout the year. When the hotel reopened in 1994, it had 250 guestrooms, which by 1999 had been expanded to 1,005 guestrooms. These included 35 mini-suites, which overlooked the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New ...
and
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, as well as four deluxe suites, which had balconies. Following a renovation in the late 2000s, the hotel had 912 rooms, arranged in 17 layouts. During that renovation, the guestrooms were largely redesigned in the Art Deco style, with geometric carpets, star-shaped ceiling lights, and curtains. There are two rooms with terraces directly under the hotel's large "New Yorker" sign. In addition, Educational Housing Services operates 169 rooms on the 24th to 27th stories as part of a student dormitory.


History

The New Yorker Hotel was built by Mack Kanner, who had helped create the Garment District of Manhattan during the mid-1920s. Kanner had previously hired Sugarman and Berger to design the Navarre Building within the Garment District. Kanner wished to build a hotel on 34th Street, which he believed was "destined to be the most important crosstown thoroughfare in the city".


Construction

Kanner and Jacob S. Becker announced plans for a hotel at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street in February 1928, while they were developing the Navarre Building. The hotel was to have 38 stories rising , as well as five basements descending . With 2,503 rooms, it would be larger than the nearby
Hotel Pennsylvania The Hotel Pennsylvania was a historic hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the world. ...
, which at the time had the most rooms of any hotel in the city, as well as the second-tallest hotel in New York City, behind the
Ritz Tower The Ritz Tower is a luxury residential building at 465 Park Avenue on the corner of East 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built from 1925 to 1926 as an apartment hotel and was designed by Emery Roth an ...
. The building was planned to cost $8 million. Workers began excavating the site the same month. The George J. Atwill Company, the excavation contractor, employed 350 workers in three shifts. Plans for the hotel were filed in March 1928, when Sugarman and Berger submitted blueprints to the
New York City Department of Buildings The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction t ...
. The
American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitts ...
was hired in June 1928 to manufacture the hotel's steel frame, which was to include of steel. The site had been cleared by August 1928, after of rock had been removed from the site. The excavation cost $1 million and, according to the ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'', was "perhaps the deepest ever cut excavated in Manhattan". That September, the hotel received a $9.5 million mortgage loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company. At a ceremony on October 25, 1928, Kanner drove a golden rivet into the hotel's steel frame, where the
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstru ...
had begun to rise above the
foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
. By this point, the hotel was planned to contain 45 stories above ground. Seven hundred masonry workers and helpers began constructing the facade in January 1929. The hotel's construction was delayed for two weeks that February, when all masonry workers went on strike. The strike took place amid allegations that masonry contractor John J. Meehan had directed workers to install brickwork of substandard quality. Kanner drove the last rivet into the hotel's steel frame in April 1929. Ralph Hitz was hired as the hotel's first manager that July. Hitz hired about fifty of his colleagues from Cincinnati, and he led a $500,000 advertising campaign for the hotel, which at the time was far removed from many of Midtown Manhattan's major attractions. Hitz also hired Bernie Cummins's orchestra to play at the hotel. The hotel's facade had been completed in September 1929. The hotel required massive amounts of materials, including 51,000 bedsheets, 85 miles of carpets, 45 tons of glass, and six carloads of china. The New Yorker ultimately cost $22.5 million and contained 2,500 rooms, making it the city's largest hotel. In addition, it was the world's second-largest hotel behind the Stevens Hotel in Chicago. The New Yorker was one of 37 hotels to be built in Manhattan during 1929, and it was one of two hotels near Penn Station with more than 1,000 rooms to be completed that year, the other being Hotel Governor Clinton.


Opening and early years

A pre-opening ceremony for the New Yorker was hosted on December 28, 1929, and the Manufacturers Trust bank branch at the hotel's base opened the next day. The hotel officially opened on January 2, 1930. Eight hundred guests made reservations on the first day, many of whom took home souvenirs, prompting Hitz to predict that "the total loss will exceed everything in the past history of hotel openings". Upon the hotel's completion, it employed 17 manicurists, 43 barbers, and numerous multilingual waiters. Nightly room rates ranged from $3.30 for a single-bedroom unit to $30 for a suite with a terrace. The barber shop was one of the largest in the world, with 42 chairs and 20 manicurists. The New Yorker also employed 92 "telephone girls", as well as 95 switchboard operators and 150 laundry staff,'One Thousand New York Buildings'', by Jorg Brockman and Bill Harris, page 257, Published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2002'' who washed 450,000 pieces of linen per day.


Hitz operation

The hotel had been completed at the beginning of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...
, so it was initially largely empty. The ''New York Observer'' said that, according to one urban legend, the hotel's management attracted business by turning on all the lights, announcing that the hotel was fully booked, and directing would-be guests to the Hotel Pennsylvania. In its first year of operation, the New Yorker Hotel recorded a profit of $1.293 million. Hitz added 12 suites of "sample rooms" in early 1931, where products and furnishings were exhibited. Hitz then decided to create the National Hotel Management Company, a national
hotel chain A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
managed by the New Yorker Hotel's staff. He acquired the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit as the first hotel in the chain in January 1932. Hitz renewed his original five-year lease for 30 more years in 1933, and Frank L. Andrews was hired the next year as the hotel's general manager. When Andrews was promoted to a vice president of the National Hotel Management Company in 1936, George V. Riley became the hotel's resident manager, overseeing day-to-day operations. The Equitable Life Assurance Society gave the New Yorker Hotel a loan of $6.5 million in 1938, and Leo A. Molony of the Hotel Pennsylvania was hired as the New Yorker's resident manager the same year. Hitz continued to acquire hotels for his chain, which contained seven hotels when it was disbanded upon his death in January 1940.


Andrews operation

After Hitz died, Andrews became the New Yorker Corporation's president. The hotel had received three million total guests by 1941. The same year, the hotel's managers installed custom-made ultraviolet devices in the hotel's bathrooms, which it advertised under the name "Protecto-Ray". Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the ''New York Observer'' said that "actors, celebrities, athletes, politicians, mobsters, the shady and the luminous—the entire Brooklyn Dodgers roster during the glory seasons—would stalk the bars and ballrooms, or romp upstairs". In spite of its popularity, the New Yorker consistently lost money from the 1930s to the early 1950s. The Manufacturers Trust Company's president disclosed in early 1946 that it had taken over control of the hotel. The New Yorker's managers announced the same year that they would install television sets in some of the public rooms. The hotel's managers also installed TVs in 100 guestrooms in 1948, making it the second hotel in the city with guestroom TVs, after the
Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president *Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Roosev ...
. That year, the hotel spent $50,000 () to combine eight double rooms into one luxury suite. Gene Voit was named as the New Yorker's general manager in 1951. Andrews announced in early 1953 that he planned to spend $600,000 on renovating the hotel, hiring Eleanor Le Maire to redesign the lobby.


Mid-20th century


Hilton purchase and renovations

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...
agreed in November 1953 to acquire the New Yorker for $12.5 million, prompting Andrews to announce that he would retire from the New Yorker Hotel Corporation. Hilton Hotels took
title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
to the hotel the following month and immediately started renovating the hotel, completing the first phase of the project in March 1954. A meditation chapel opened within the New Yorker that May. The chain allocated another $1.5 million to further renovations in June 1954, and it hired the Walter M. Ballard Corporation to convert the hotel's former Empire Tea Room into a restaurant for $175,000. Hilton Hotels refurbished the hotel's cafe and installed an escalator from the lobby to the cafe, the first escalator in a hotel in New York City. The chain planned to repaint all of the rooms, as well as renovate hallways and guestrooms on four stories so they could be used for trade exhibits. In addition, the chain planned to replace twin beds in 100 guest rooms, redecorate 45 luxury suites, and install air-conditioning in several public rooms. Meanwhile, Hilton Hotels had purchased the
Statler Hotels The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler in Buffalo, New York. Early ventures In 1901, Buffalo hosted the ...
chain in 1954, it owned large hotels in many major cities, including the New Yorker, the Roosevelt, the Pennsylvania, the
Plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
, and the
Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultz ...
in New York City. Consequently, the federal government filed an
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
action against Hilton in April 1955. The New Yorker was making a profit by the end of 1955, At that point,
Conrad Hilton Conrad Nicholson Hilton Sr. (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American businessman who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916 Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disi ...
was negotiating to sell the hotel, amid rumors that the chain was planning to sell multiple hotels to resolve the federal lawsuit. To resolve the suit, Hilton Hotels agreed to sell three hotels in February 1956, including either the Roosevelt or the New Yorker.


Subsequent ownership

Hilton sold the New Yorker in May 1956 to Massaglia Hotels for $20 million, despite the fact that the chain had already sold the Roosevelt. As partial payment for the New Yorker, Joseph Massaglia Jr. of Massaglia Hotels sold the Senator Hotel in
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
, to Hilton. Massaglia took over the hotel at the beginning of September 1956, paying an estimated $20 million. Charles W. Cole of Massaglia Hotels began managing the hotel, and Douglas Shaffer was appointed as the hotel's resident manager in July 1957. Massaglia then negotiated for a year and a half to sell the hotel to New York Towers Ltd., an investment syndicate led by Alexander Gross. New York Towers ultimately bought the hotel in September 1959 with plans to spend $2 million on renovations. New York Towers renovated the main ballroom, lobby, and guestrooms, and it added air conditioning throughout the hotel. The New Yorker's managers announced these changes at a reception in September 1960. The hotel experienced a large fire that November, which killed one person and damaged the sixth floor. The
New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...
ordered seven stories to be closed after the fire, although these stories reopened within two days, after the hotel's owners had conducted emergency repairs. In anticipation of the opening of the nearby
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
arena, New York Towers renovated the New Yorker's two main ballrooms, as well as several smaller public rooms. The hotel's operators predicted that the arena's opening would attract additional conventions to the hotel. Gross's firm had fallen behind on mortgage payments by 1966, and the hotel went into
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
that April. According to ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', "other real estate industry sources" indicated that the hotel had lost $4 million since New York Towers bought it. The next month, the New Yorker's owners filed for
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...
bankruptcy, claiming $21.5 million in debt, half of which came from seven mortgages. At an auction in December 1967, Hilton repurchased the New Yorker Hotel for $5.6 million. Hilton's public relations director said the chain had reacquired the hotel because the surrounding neighborhood was "coming back to life" with the development of Madison Square Garden and nearby office buildings. Hilton began refurbishing the hotel yet again in June 1968, spending $5 million on the main ballroom and lobby. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the hotel largely catered to guests in the garment industry, as well as businessmen who were attending trade shows there. The New Yorker had downsized to 2,000 rooms, but it was still one of New York City's largest hotels.


Closure and redevelopment attempts


Hospital plan

By December 1971, Hilton Hotels planned to sell the New Yorker for $13.5 million to the French and Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center, which planned to convert the building into a 749-room hospital. According to French and Polyclinic vice president Xavier Lividini, Hilton officials did not believe the area could support "too many hotels". The medical center ultimately agreed to buy the hotel for $8.8 million; it made a
down payment Down payment (also called a deposit in British English), is an initial up-front partial payment for the purchase of expensive items/services such as a car or a house. It is usually paid in cash or equivalent at the time of finalizing the transactio ...
of $1.8 million and received a $7.1 million mortgage loan. In addition, it leased the underlying land from Hilton for 99 years, acquiring an option to purchase the land in the future Hilton closed the hotel on April 19, 1972. French and Polyclinic had wanted to begin converting the New Yorker immediately, with plans to open the hospital in 1974. At the time of the New Yorker's closure, the number of hotel rooms in New York City was declining, and the city had lost 3,800 rooms in 1972 alone, over half of which had been in the New Yorker. French and Polyclinic added some living spaces and administrative offices for nurses and staff, as well as space for its postgraduate medical school. Before the medical center could fully convert the hotel into a hospital, the
New York State Department of Health The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is the department of the New York state government responsible for public health. It is headed by Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett, who was appointed by Governor Hochul and confirmed by the S ...
(NYSDOH) had to approve the plans, and the
New York State Housing Finance Agency The New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) is a New York State public-benefit corporation created in 1960 to build and preserve affordable multifamily rental housing throughout New York State. HFA sells bonds and uses the proceeds to make mor ...
(HFA) had to agree to a mortgage commitment for the project. NYSDOH did not approve the plans until eight months after the hotel closed. Afterward, the HFA twice rejected French and Polyclinic's application for a mortgage commitment, saying that the medical center did not have enough capital for the conversion. French and Polyclinic also spent around $210,000 per month on the hospital building, including $80,000 on a first mortgage, $75,000 on maintenance fees, and $60,000 in taxes. The medical center received a tax abatement for the hotel building in June 1973. French and Polyclinic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that July, allowing the medical center to defer payment of other debts and allocate funding for the New Yorker project. State assemblyman Andrew Stein said the medical center's bankruptcy was a direct result of its acquisition of the New Yorker. The medical center's president, Stanley Salmen, resigned in late 1973 after controversies over the bankruptcy filing and the New Yorker's delayed renovation. To reduce its increasing losses, in September 1974, the medical center proposed converting the New Yorker into a
homeless shelter Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously re ...
for 500 families who had been displaced by emergencies. Manhattan Community Board 4, which represented the neighborhood, indicated that October that it needed additional time to consider plans for the shelter. French and Polyclinic unsuccessfully attempted to obtain private funding for the hospital from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, and the city government rejected the shelter plan that November. The medical center continued to use the hotel as an office and dormitory but only occupied one-tenth of the building. French and Polyclinic officially abandoned its plans for the hospital at the end of November 1974. The cancellation of the hospital eventually forced French and Polyclinic to close completely in 1977.


Further redevelopment attempts

After French and Polyclinic abandoned its plans for the hospital, Hilton Hotels agreed to take back the hotel, which it did in February 1975. Hilton had no plans to reopen the hotel at the time. The chain tried to sell the hotel but struggled to find a buyer. The New Yorker was one of three shuttered hostelries on Eighth Avenue in Midtown that were having trouble attracting buyers; the others were the Royal Manhattan Hotel and the 51st Street
YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
. By mid-1975, Hilton Hotels maintained a loss reserve of $5.5 million on the hotel. The ''
New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...
'' reported in June 1975 that the New Yorker owed the second-most real-estate taxes of any building in New York City, with $1.8 million in
back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or n ...
. A syndicate led by Irving Schatz had acquired a purchase option for the hotel by early 1976; at the time, the New Yorker's only occupant was a ground-level bank branch. Schatz planned to convert the building into 1,000 apartments. Hilton and Equitable Life allowed Schatz to extend his option, but he could not obtain financing from major savings banks because of the low occupancy rate of a nearby residential development,
Manhattan Plaza Manhattan Plaza is a large federally subsidized residential complex of 46 floors and at 400 and 484 West 43rd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1977, it has 1,689 units and about 3,500 tenants. 70% of the tenants are from ...
.


Unification Church acquisition

The
Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy S ...
, led by
Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon (; born Yong Myung Moon; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Un ...
, agreed to buy the hotel in May 1976. The church paid $5.6 million, a discount of more than $3 million from the price that French and Polyclinic had paid several years earlier. As part of the sale, Hilton Hotels agreed to pay $1.1 million in back taxes to the city. The church also acquired the neighboring
Manhattan Center The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroo ...
, which it had similarly bought at a deep discount. After acquiring the New Yorker Hotel, the Unification Church converted the hotel for use by its members, and it became the World Mission Center, the church's global headquarters. The Unification Church had about 1,500 full-time volunteers in the New York City area at the time; these volunteers would renovate the hotel themselves and use it as a dormitory. U.S. representative
Bella Abzug Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem, ...
criticized the fact that Moon planned to hire his adherents, rather than unionized laborers, for the renovations. By August 1976, there were 150 volunteers living on the hotel's 20th through 30th floors. According to the Unification Church, its volunteers had been placed in "the best rooms, where the best plumbing is". The church requested in 1977 that the
New York City Board of Estimate The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments effec ...
grant a tax exemption to the New Yorker, which had been valued at $11 million the prior year. The church stopped paying taxes in 1978, while its application for a tax exemption was pending. During the same time, the Board of Estimate had refused to give the Unification Church a tax exemption for three other properties, on the basis that it was not a true church. The
New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
affirmed the city's refusal to give a tax exemption for these buildings, but the
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...
overturned the Supreme Court's decision in May 1982, ruling that the three properties did qualify for a tax exemption. Although the Appeals Court ruling did not specifically name the New Yorker Hotel, church officials insisted that the hotel was also tax-exempt. City officials disagreed and, in August 1982, initiated foreclosure proceedings on the hotel, which had $4.5 million in unpaid back taxes. At the time, church officials used the hotel as a dormitory and conducted services there. Ultimately, the New Yorker received an 83 percent property-tax exemption. The New Yorker did not operate as a commercial hotel, as all of the guestrooms were reserved for church members. The hotel largely housed unmarried adherents of the Unification Church, but their numbers had dwindled after the church conducted a mass-marriage ceremony at Madison Square Garden in 1982. Consequently, the New Yorker was closed during the winter of 1982–1983 because the Unification Church could not pay its fuel costs. The church began renovating the hotel in 1987, evicting 1,200 members who lived there; ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' reported that the church had not decided what it would do with the hotel. During the next decade, an increasing proportion of residents got married and moved away, and quality of life in the neighborhood improved. In addition, there was increasing demand for hotel rooms in New York City.


Reopening


1990s and early 2000s

In May 1994, the Unification Church decided to convert the New Yorker's top eight stories to 250 guestrooms, marketing them to business travelers visiting
Javits Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James ...
, Penn Station, and Madison Square Garden. The church also redeveloped the ground-floor banking space, although the remaining stories continued to operate as offices and dormitories. The hotel was reopened in stages, and the first 178 rooms opened on June 1, 1994, operated by the New Yorker Hotel Management Company. The New Yorker contained 240 rooms by 1995. Barry Mann became the hotel's general manager. The hotel's clientele largely consisted of tourists from Asia, Europe, and South America, and between 60 and 80 percent of bookings came from wholesalers and travel brokers. The hotel began a $30 million renovation in 1997. Within two years, the hotel had expanded to 860 rooms; the lowest stories included amenity areas, while the 7th through 17th floors were rented out as commercial office space. Also in 1999, nearly 400 workers in non-managerial positions joined a labor union after several workers complained about low wages and the presence of asbestos in the hotel. The New Yorker failed to attract business travelers as originally anticipated, so it joined the
Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. As of December 31, 2018, it operates 811 hotels with 114,614 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from ...
hotel chain in January 2000. Hotel management believed that the Ramada franchise agreement would raise revenues by up to 200 percent. The hotel was henceforth renamed the Ramada New Yorker. To further attract businesspeople, hotel management offered a promotion in which room prices were linked to the
Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indexe ...
.
Tourism in New York City Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
had stagnated by early 2001, but business was even more negatively impacted by the September 11 attacks, which caused the hotel's profit margin to decrease from 25 to 5 percent. At the time of the attacks, the hotel had 1,100 rooms. The hotel's operators decided to convert the 17th floor back into offices, since the destruction of the World Trade Center had caused a shortage of office space in Manhattan; by early 2002, fifteen former tenants of the World Trade Center had relocated to the hotel. The Barbizon School of Modeling leased in 2002. Ten psychotherapists also rented offices on the 17th floor, and Educational Housing Services rented space for dormitories on the 24th through 27th floors in 2003. Kevin Smith, the president of the New Yorker Hotel Management Company, considered converting the guestrooms to condominiums but ultimately rejected the plan.


2000s renovations

Smith announced plans in 2004 to renovate the hotel in advance of a proposed expansion of the Javits Center and the redevelopment of the
James A. Farley Building The James A. Farley Building is a mixed-use structure in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, which formerly served as the city's main United States Postal Service (USPS) branch. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style, the structur ...
. Decreased cash flows after the September 11 attacks had prompted the managers to defer renovations, but tourism in New York City had begun to recover by then, and guests were being attracted to newer hotels. The project would cost $43 million and would include renovating the lobby and meeting rooms, adding a central HVAC system, and refurbishing the upper-story guestrooms. The lower stories would retain of office space and of dormitories, and the Tick Tock Diner and the La Vigna restaurant at ground level would be refurbished. The first stage of the renovation took place in 2005, when the hotel's management replaced the large sign on the facade, which had not been lit since 1967. A new LED sign was installed in advance of the hotel's 75th anniversary and was illuminated in December 2005. Smith announced in August 2007 that he would complete a further renovation of the hotel for $65 million. At the time, the hotel had 840 rooms. The renovation was designed by Stonehill & Taylor Architects. The project involved replacing guestroom furnishings; redesigning the lobby, entrance, and foyer; renovating the restaurant; replacing the individual air-conditioning in each room with a central HVAC system; and upgrading Wi-Fi and televisions. As part of the project, the marble floors in the lobby were restored, and a new sprinkler system was added. In addition, the Cooper's Tavern restaurant opened at ground level in 2007. The hotel also removed two thousand air-conditioning units from windows. During the renovation, a Fordham University student sued the Unification Church, alleging that her dormitory room (which was not part of the Ramada hotel) had an infestation of bedbugs. The
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
caused a decrease in business, prompting the New Yorker to reduce its payroll by 25 percent during early 2009. The hotel's renovation was completed in February 2009 at a final cost of $70 million. Following the renovation, the New Yorker had 912 guestrooms, including 64 suites. Some of the commercial space on the lower stories was converted back to guestrooms, which spanned the 19th to 40th stories. In addition, the hotel expanded its meeting facilities to across two ballrooms and twelve conference rooms. The completion of the project coincided with a decrease in tourism due to the late-2000s financial crisis, prompting the hotel's managers to reduce room rates. To celebrate the hotel's 80th anniversary, in 2010, its managers offered discounted room rates to guests who were at least 80 years old. The Unification Church, which still owned the hotel building, began marketing of office space on five of the lower floors in 2011.


2010s modifications and Wyndham takeover

The Unification Church began renovating the New Yorker Hotel again in 2013 for $30 million. The church sought to attract business travelers in anticipation of the Hudson Yards and
Manhattan West Manhattan West is a mixed-use development by Brookfield Properties, built as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment. The project spans 8-acres and features four office towers, one boutique hotel, one residential building, of retail space a ...
redevelopment projects and the
7 Subway Extension The 7 Subway Extension is a subway extension of the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line, which is served by the local and express services. The extension stretches southwest from its previous terminus at Times Square, at Seventh Avenu ...
. To make the hotel more appealing to business travelers, the church installed laundry machines on each of the hotel's dormitory stories, freeing up space for meeting rooms within the former laundry room in the basement. After some of the office tenants' leases expired, the church converted some office space into additional rooms. The church planned to eventually expand the hotel to 1,500 rooms by converting of office space. The hotel added 114 rooms in January 2014, in advance of
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
. The Wyndham Hotel Group, which operated both the midscale Ramada chain and the upscale Wyndham chain, rebranded the New Yorker as a Wyndham hotel that March. At the time, the hotel had 1,083 rooms. After the New Yorker became part of the Wyndham chain, the hotel's operators planned to upgrade the hotel's signage with color-changing LEDs, similar to those on the Empire State Building three blocks east. Also in 2014, the Bar Below Kitchen & Cocktail Vault was announced for the hotel's basement. The Butcher and Banker steakhouse, developed by restaurateur Matt Abramcyk, opened within the former Manufacturers Trust bank branch in November 2017.


Notable people


Staff

Hotel management pioneer Ralph Hitz was selected as its first manager, eventually becoming president of the National Hotel Management Company. An early ad for the building boasted that the hotel's "bell boys were 'as snappy-looking as
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
ers'" and "that it had a radio in every room with a choice of four stations". A New Yorker bellboy,
Johnny Roventini Johnny Roventini, also known as John Louis Roventini and popularly as Johnny Philip Morris, (August 15, 1910 – November 30, 1998) was an American actor. Less than four feet tall as a fully developed adult, Roventini was working as a bellbo ...
, served as tobacco company
Philip Morris Phil(l)ip or Phil Morris may refer to: Companies *Altria, a conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the tobacconist **Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group **Philip Morris Inter ...
's pitchman for twenty years, popularizing their "Call for Philip Morris" advertising campaign.


Guests

The New Yorker hosted the headquarters of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB)'s
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
in its early years, complementing the Commodore Hotel across midtown, which hosted MLB's
American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
. During the 1941
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Wor ...
, the hotel housed the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califor ...
, who were competing against the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
. One advertisement for the hotel, in 1945, featured
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
director
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation  ...
. In May 1949, the hotel hosted the first concurrent annual meetings of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, the
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; french: Association canadienne de hockey amateur) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included ...
, and the
International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
. The hotel's guests included such figures as
Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
,
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
, and
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...
. The actor
Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
frequented the first iteration of the hotel, and
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
also stayed there while serving in the U.S. Senate.
Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
recuperated there after his March 1971 fight against
Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure ...
at the Garden. The New Yorker also hosted many popular
Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
s, such as
Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
,
Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air For ...
,
Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
, and
Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
. The inventor
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''
Tesla gave speeches to reporters every year on his birthday until he died there in 1943. By the 2000s, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine wrote that Tesla's presence had attracted three kinds of guests, namely "electrical engineers and technology enthusiasts; people interested in U.F.O.s, anti-gravity airships, death-ray weapons, time travel, and telepathic pigeons; Serbs and Croats."


Critical reception

A reviewer for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...
'' wrote in 1999 that the hotel was popular among large groups, saying: "If being close to the action is important to you, you won't be unhappy. If you want a good night's sleep . . . well, make sure you're not on a floor occupied by, say, a high school band." A reviewer for ''The New York Times'' praised their room in 2000 as "clean, reasonably sized, and with a lovely vintage tiled prewar bathroom", but criticized the lack of soundproof windows, the crowded lobby, and the gritty character of surrounding neighborhood. Similarly, an ''
Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...
'' reporter said: "True, the 40-floor art deco hotel has a somewhat dingy exterior, but the location (near Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and
Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wit ...
) and the views (maximized by having guest rooms from the 19th floor up) belie the first impression." By contrast, a writer for the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with M ...
'' called the New Yorker "a nice but unglamorous hotel" in 2001. The ''
New York Observer New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'' wrote in 2011, "There was nothing bespeaking the New Yorker’s pre-Moonie swagger, save for maybe the piano against the wall, behind a superfluous red cordon." After the New Yorker Hotel came under the Wyndham brand in 2014, it received mixed reviews. A reviewer for ''Oyster.com'' said, "The nice bright rooms, convenient location ..and rich history make the 912-room Wyndham New Yorker a reasonable pick for the price", though they noted that the hotel's rooms were quite small. Similarly, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' said that many guests praised the Wyndham New Yorker's "comfortable accommodations" but criticized the hotel's small rooms and facility fees.


Replica

The
New York-New York Hotel and Casino New York-New York Hotel and Casino is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International, and is designed to evoke New York City in its architectu ...
in Paradise, Nevada, contains a replica of the New Yorker Hotel, which measures 38 stories tall. A portion of the New York-New York's interior was also designed to resemble the New Yorker Hotel's interior.


See also

*
Art Deco architecture of New York City Art Deco architecture flourished in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, before largely disappearing after World War II. The style is found in government edifices, commercial projects, and residential buildings in all five boroughs. The arc ...
*
List of hotels in New York City The following is a list of some notable hotels in New York City. Number of hotels Most of the hotels are represented by the Hotel Association of New York City trade organization. As of 2016, the organization had 270 members, representing 75,000 r ...


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * *


External links

*
Official Chain website

Educational Housing Services website
{{Portal bar, Architecture, Hotels, New York City 1929 establishments in New York City 1930 establishments in New York City 34th Street (Manhattan) Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Art Deco skyscrapers Art Deco hotels Eighth Avenue (Manhattan) Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Hotel buildings completed in 1929 Hotels in Manhattan Nikola Tesla Skyscraper hotels in Manhattan Unification Church properties