Americana Hotel
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel is a , 51-story hotel located near Times Square in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
, New York City. It faces 7th Avenue,
52nd Street 52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of ...
, and
53rd Street 53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
. It is one of the world's 100 tallest hotels, and one of the tallest hotels in New York City.


Site

The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel is at 811 Seventh Avenue in the
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
neighborhood of New York City. The building's rectangular
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 ...
occupies the western half of the city block bounded by Seventh Avenue to the west,
52nd Street 52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of ...
to the south,
Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
(Avenue of the Americas) to the east, and
53rd Street 53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
to the north. The site covers , with 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 Seventh Avenue and along the side streets. Nearby buildings include 810 Seventh Avenue to the west; the New York Hilton to the northeast; Flatotel New York City and
Credit Lyonnais Building 1301 Avenue of the Americas (also known as the Crédit Agricole CIB Building; formerly the Crédit Lyonnais Building and the J.C. Penney Building) is a 609 ft (186m) tall skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. It is located on the west si ...
to the east; and
Axa Equitable Center Axa Equitable Center (originally the Equitable Tower or Equitable Center West) is an office skyscraper at 787 Seventh Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1986 and desi ...
to the south. The site had previously been occupied by the Manhattan Storage and Warehouse Company, built in 1892 to designs by
James E. Ware James Edward Ware (1846 – April 14, 1918) was an American architect, best known for devising the "dumbbell plan" for New York City tenement housing. He was born in New York City in 1846, and studied at the City College of New York. He began h ...
. The warehouse, designed in the Italianate style, had been demolished in 1957.


Architecture

The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel was designed by Morris Lapidus, Liebman & Associates in 1960–1962 as the Americana Hotel. It was constructed by brothers Laurence Tisch and Preston Tisch, co-owners of the Loews Corporation. The Americana was one of at least eight hotels that Loews Hotels developed in Manhattan during the early 1960s, as well as one of four developed by Lapidus. The Diesel Construction Company was the hotel's
general contractor A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...
, and Farkas & Barron was the structural engineer.


Form and facade

At 51 floors, with a height of , the hotel was acclaimed for many years in its advertising and by the media as the tallest hotel in the world, based on the number and height of its inhabited floors. The base is three stories high and contains the hotel's public rooms. The main entrance, on Seventh Avenue, occupies the northern part of the hotel's Seventh Avenue elevation, near 53rd Street. It originally contained a full-height glass wall and was slightly angled from the street grid. The main entrance was also covered with a canopy that contained infrared lamps, which heated the entrance during winter. A two-story semicircular rotunda projects from the southern part of the Seventh Avenue elevation, near 52nd Street. This rotunda contained the hotel's restaurants. The sidewalk on all sides of the rotunda originally had striped paving. Under the sidewalks were electric cables that could melt snow and ice. The main part of the Sheraton is a 47-story slab, which is bent in the center. The western part of the massing is angled toward the corner of Seventh Avenue and 52nd Street, while the eastern part runs parallel to the Manhattan street grid. The hotel was designed in this way because zoning regulations prohibited the upper stories from being built any closer to 52nd Street. On the north side, a 25-story wing is perpendicular to the western part of the slab (and slightly angled from the street grid). Lapidus said the bent massing strengthened the upper stories against wind forces, rather than being intended for aesthetic effect. ''Architectural Forum'' said the slab looked "slim, tall, and elegant" from the east but had a completely different appearance from the west. The slab is clad in yellow brick and marble. On the longer elevations of the slab, each story originally contained horizontal strips of windows, installed in stainless-steel frames. The windows on different floors are separated by spandrel panels of yellow glazed brick. The shorter elevations of the slab are clad with white Vermont marble. The building also used precast concrete
Mo-Sai Mo-Sai is a method of producing precast concrete Cladding (construction), cladding panels. It was patented by John Joseph Earley in 1940. The Mo-Sai institute later refined Earley's method and became the leader in exposed aggregate concrete. The Mo ...
panels. The facades of the accommodation blocks are generally intact, but the podium levels were reclad in the 1991 renovation, replacing the varied, light 1960s details with Postmodern squared granite.


Features

The hotel's
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 superstruct ...
is composed of three structural systems. Floors 1–5 are made of steel members encased in concrete, since these stories contained large public spaces; these steel beams were anchored in the
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
underneath the building. Floors 5–29 are composed of concrete shear walls for wind resistance. Floors 29–51 are supported by
reinforced concrete column A reinforced concrete column is a List of structural elements, structural member designed to carry Compressive stress, compressive loads, composed of concrete with an embedded steel frame to provide reinforcement. For design purposes, the columns ...
s. The concrete frame was both easier to pour and cheaper to build compared to a conventional steel frame. According to Lapidus, his previous projects had all used reinforced concrete, and he did not intend to use steel. At the time of its completion, the building was the tallest concrete-framed structure in the city. The hotel's concrete frame saved at least $1 million compared to a steel frame of similar size, since steel costs generally exceeded concrete costs by about .


Lowest stories

The lobby contained gold-and-white and teak furniture, as well as a floor made of white marble. There was a colonnade of white-marble columns with gold veins, supporting a ceiling with gold domes. In addition, a set of concrete arches supported a staircase that led to a lower lobby. This "floating staircase" was made of marble and bronze. The lobby also connected to a bank of elevators. The hotel contained "nearly an acre of kitchens", which could accommodate up to 11,000 diners at once. There were seven kitchens, which took up four basement levels. The dining rooms were capable of accommodating 6,800 guests. The dining areas included the Wooden Indian men's bar, which was themed to the Old West and contained themed wooden carvings. The La Ronde cocktail lounge, housed within the semicircular rotunda, contained mirrored columns as well as damask tapestries. Wood, copper, and leather furnishings were used extensively in the Golden Spur restaurant. The hotel also contained a nightclub called the Royal Box, which had a capacity of 380 seats. The main ballroom, known as the Imperial Ballroom, could fit 3,000 people at a banquet or 4,000 at a business dinner. It measured either or . The room was extensively ornamented with bronze, gold-leaf, and marble decoration. The chandelier, which could be raised and lowered on a winch, cost $50,000. The Imperial Ballroom's projection booth could retract into the ceiling when it was not being used. There was also a hydraulically-powered revolving stage, which covered and could be lifted in four sections. A vehicle lift, which could fit two limousines simultaneously, connected the Imperial Ballroom with street level, allowing guests of honor to drive directly into the ballroom. There were two large sliding panels, allowing the Imperial Ballroom to be divided into three smaller spaces. There were also three smaller ballrooms that fit up to 1,000 people; they were known as the Royal, Versailles, and Princess. The Royal (or Georgian) Ballroom could fit 1,200 guests and could be divided into a primary ballroom and a separate foyer. The Versailles Ballroom could fit 400 diners or 500 business guests, and the Princess Ballroom could fit 300 people. The exhibition hall spanned at ground level. The hotel also had 38 private meeting rooms, each with a capacity of 25 to 500 people. The basement contained a parking garage with 350 spots. Also part of the hotel was a swimming pool on the 25th story.


Hotel rooms

When the hotel was developed, it contained 2,000 rooms, including 90 large suites. Originally, the smallest room in the Americana Hotel was a single-bedroom unit measuring . By contrast, the hotel's largest unit had six bedrooms, a three-sided terrace, and its own butler and maid. Lapidus designed most of the hotel's original furniture. These included lamps, portraits, and furniture, which were all designed in a mid-20th-century style. The hotel rooms were originally decorated in a white, blue, and gold color scheme, complementing the design of the lower stories. Lapidus also designed the carpets, which were installed across each room, extending into the closets. Each bedroom initially had its own thermostat, telephone, small refrigerator, and combination swivel/rocking chair, as well as a full-width window. In addition, rooms had their own radio, television, and
Gideon Bible Gideons International is an Evangelical Christian association for men founded in 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Gideons' primary activity, along with their wives in the Auxiliary, is "encouraging each other to do the work of the Lord, focusin ...
. Guests could use the televisions in their rooms to watch
closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
footage of the ballrooms and exhibition areas.


History


Development

The Americana was developed to serve the large business and convention market in New York City. At the time, many of the city's hotels were competing with each other to host large conventions. The occupancy rates of the city's hotels had declined from 96 percent in 1946 to 75 percent in 1961, but conventions could attract large numbers of guests, even if only for a short time. In August 1960, the Tisch brothers acquired the Manhattan Storage Warehouse site on the eastern side of Seventh Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets. The same month, Loew's announced plans for the Americana. The project would contain 2,000 rooms and, at 50 stories tall, would be the tallest hotel in the world. Morris Lapidus was hired to design the new hotel, which was planned to open in May 1962 at a cost of $50 million. Loew's had been developing the
Summit Hotel A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...
on
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along it ...
, which was renamed from the Americana to avoid confusion with the newer project. Loew's was also simultaneously developing two motels and a luxury apartment building in Manhattan. Construction began in September 1960, and the builders brought an elephant to the site to pour champagne into the concrete foundation. E. C. Sherry was hired the next month to direct sales at the hotel. Lapidus, who had also been designing the nearby Hilton, resigned from the Hilton project by the end of 1960 to avoid a conflict of interest. Concrete pouring had commenced in July 1961 when all of the building's concrete workers went on strike, which lasted for eight weeks. All construction at the hotel was paused during the strike, since the hotel was being built using a concrete frame. The concrete work finally began in late 1961, and the concrete superstructure was initially built at a rate of one story every three days. Above floor 29, one story was completed every two days. In November 1961, workers hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the main ballroom's floor, which Loew's dubbed "the world's largest ballroom". Loew's Hotels vice president
Claude Philippe Claudius Charles Philippe, also known as Philippe of the Waldorf or The Host of the Waldorf, (10 December 1910—24 December 1978) was a British-born French-American restaurateur, catering director, hotelier and businessman, who was the hotel ba ...
and actress Barbara Eden attended the hotel's topping out ceremony on May 8, 1962, when a maple tree was hosted to the top floor. The hotel ultimately cost $45 million to construct. Claude Philippe served as the hotel's manager for only one year after it opened, resigning in 1963.


Americana of New York

The Americana of New York opened on September 24, 1962, following a press preview on September 20.
Francis Cardinal Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary ...
, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, blessed the Americana when it was completed. It was the city's first hotel with more than 1,000 rooms since 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 1931.
Lilly Daché Lilly Daché ( 1892 – 31 December 1989) was a French-born American milliner and fashion merchandiser. She started her career in a small bonnet shop, advanced to being a sales lady at Macy's department store, and from there started her own ha ...
operated a beauty salon in the hotel when it opened. As at the Summit, the Americana required that many staff members be able to speak several languages. One of four employees in the hotel's front offices could speak more than one language. The hotel's
concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...
service included staff members who could speak Spanish, French, German, and Italian. When the Americana opened, its managers claimed that the hotel had received 250 bookings, some as far as four years in advance, worth a cumulative $10 million. This was attributed to the proximity of the Broadway Theater District and of the shopping areas on Fifth and Madison Avenues, as well as the fact that many people were visiting the upcoming
1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...
. Shortly after the Americana opened, officials conducted an extensive inspection of the hotel after detecting several building-code violations. The hotel's Royal Box nightclub was renovated in early 1963, having opened in October 1962 with a performance by Harry Belafonte. The hotel hosted several events, such as the 1963 Tony Awards, which were held in the Imperial Ballroom on April 28, 1963. John Lennon and Paul McCartney announced the formation of their music label Apple Corps at a press conference in the Americana in 1968. In addition, the Americana also hosted the New York portion of the
Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
and again in
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...
. The Royal Box hosted performances by musical artists including Harry Belafonte, Nancy Ames, Thelma Houston,
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
, Ella Fitzgerald, and
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 ...
; it also hosted other performers such as comedian Woody Allen. On July 21, 1972, American Airlines leased the Americana of New York from Loews, as well as the City Squire Motor Inn across the street, and the Americana Hotels in Bal Harbour, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a period of thirty years. American merged the hotels with their existing Sky Chefs Hotels chain, and marketed all the properties under the Americana Hotels brand. The Americana hosted the
1974 NFL Draft The 1974 NFL draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks. Many experts consider the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers to have h ...
and served as Democratic headquarters for the
1976 Democratic National Convention The 1976 Democratic National Convention met at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from July 12 to July 15, 1976. The assembled United States Democratic Party delegates at the convention nominated former Governor Jimmy Carter of Geor ...
and
1980 Democratic National Convention The 1980 Democratic National Convention nominated President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale for reelection. The convention was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City from August 11 to August 14, 1980. The 1980 convention ...
.


Sheraton

The Americana of New York and the City Squire were sold to a partnership of
Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Ce ...
and the Equitable Life Assurance Society on January 24, 1979. The Americana was renamed the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers. Sheraton bought out Equitable's share in the hotel in 1990, freeing them to undertake a nearly $200 million renovation in 1991, when the hotel was renamed the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Lehman Brothers' Investment Banking division temporarily converted the first-floor lounges, restaurants, and 665 guestrooms of the hotel into office space. Starwood Hotels (which had bought Sheraton in 1998) sold the hotel on November 14, 2005, to Host Marriott for $738 million, as part of a $4 billion transaction that included 37 other hotel properties. The hotel continued to be managed by Sheraton, however, and was again renovated from 2011 to 2012 at a cost of $160 million. The name was shortened to Sheraton New York Hotel in 2012 and then changed to Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in 2013. In 2018, Host Hotels & Resorts attempted to sell the hotel, without success, for $550 million. By 2020, the price had dropped to $495 million. Host sold the hotel to
MCR Hotels MCR Hotels is an American hotel owner-operator. It is the fourth largest hotel owner in the United States by room count. In 2021, MCR purchased the Lexington Hotel Lexington Hotel or Hotel Lexington may refer to: * Lexington Hotel (Chicago), now ...
and Island Capital Group in March 2022 for $373 million, barely half of the 2005 purchase price and a $365 million loss.


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* *


External links


Sheraton New York Times Square official website
{{End Hotel buildings completed in 1962 Hotels established in 1962 Morris Lapidus buildings Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) Sheraton hotels Skyscraper hotels in Manhattan Times Square buildings 1962 establishments in New York City