The Hotel Pennsylvania was a historic
hotel
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 ...
at 401
Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in
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 original counties of the U.S. state ...
, across the street from
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 ...
and
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 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the world. It remained
the fourth largest in New York City when it closed permanently on April 1, 2020. After years of unsuccessful preservation battles, it is being demolished and replaced by
15 Penn Plaza
15 Penn Plaza, also known as PENN15 and Vornado Tower, is a planned office tower to be constructed by Vornado Realty Trust on Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets, on the site of present-day Hotel Pennsylvania, in the Midtown Manhattan ...
, a 68-story tower.
History
In the late 19th century, the site around the Hotel Pennsylvania was mostly residential, with three- and four-story row houses and four- and five-story tenements.
The
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
(PRR) had completed 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 ...
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, in 1910.
In construction with the railroad station's opening, the PRR had acquired all lots on the eastern side of
Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, directly east of the station, though the railroad did not initially develop the sites.
The northern site, which became the Hotel Pennsylvania, measured long on 32nd and 33rd Streets and long on Seventh Avenue.
The southern site was sold in 1921 to
Equitable Holdings
Equitable Holdings, Inc. (formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, and also known as The Equitable) is an American financial services and insurance company that was founded in 1 ...
, which developed
11 Penn Plaza there.
Development
In January 1916, the PRR announced that it would build a 1,000-room hotel on the Seventh Avenue site for about $9 million; the hotel itself would cost $5 million, while the furnishings and land would cost $4 million.
The hotel was to be designed by
McKim, Mead & White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...
,
which had also designed the original Pennsylvania Station.
The planned hotel was cited as being either ten
or twelve stories.
The PRR hoped that the hotel's construction would spur development in the surrounding area, particularly after the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
's
34th Street–Penn Station subway station opened in two years.
In addition, the site was near several major attractions, including multiple
Broadway theaters, department stores, and hotels.
The PRR wished to compete with the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
, which was concurrently constructing the
Commodore Hotel near
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
, as well as attract business travelers and professional conventions.
The PRR hired the
George A. Fuller Company
George A. Fuller (1851 – December 14, 1900) was an American architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscrapers and the modern contracting system.
Early life and career
Fuller was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, near W ...
as the hotel's general contractor in March 1916;
the Fuller Company constructed the Pennsylvania and the Commodore simultaneously.
The PRR also hired
Post & McCord
Post or POST commonly refers to:
*Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries
** An Post, the Irish national postal service
**Canada Post, Canadian postal service
**Deutsche Post, German postal service
** Iraqi Post, I ...
as the steel contractor.
The hotel's cost had increased to $11 million by that April; this cost included $7.5 million for the actual hotel, $2.5 million for the land, and $1 million for furnishings.
The PRR filed plans for a 20-story hotel in May 1916, to be designed by McKim, Mead & White.
Initially, the PRR leased the hotel to
Franklin J. Matchette for 21 years.
In December 1916,
Ellsworth M. Statler of 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 purchased a controlling interest in Matchette's lease.
Matchette and Statler formed the New York Hotel Statler Company, which issued stock to finance the hotel's construction. Both men initially had a 50 percent stake in the company, but Matchette turned over a 25 percent stake to Statler shortly after the company was established.
The PRR announced in December 1916 that the hotel would be named the Hotel Pennsylvania and that construction of the hotel's foundations would commence the next month.
Matchette's firm, the Servidor Company, also provided the hotel's original equipment and furnishings including the doors for each guestroom.
The hotel's construction required over of steel and nine million bricks,
although some of these materials were difficult to obtain because of World War I restrictions.
During construction, in July 1917, one worker was killed by a falling steel girder.
In addition, the hotel's dynamo room caught fire and then exploded in April 1918,
damaging the facade and a
sidewalk shed
A sidewalk shed is a temporary structure or scaffold installed over a sidewalk. It is used to protect pedestrians from falling debris during the course of construction. As of 2022, New York City
New York, often cal ...
around the hotel.
That June, Statler Hotels issued $3 million in bonds to finance the hotel's construction.
Roy Carruthers was hired as the hotel's first general manager in late 1918.
Statler planned to rent rooms within a relatively narrow price range, saying: "I am working on the assumption that New York wants a first-class hotel where the ratio between the minimum and maximum rates will be nearer together than is usually the case."
Statler operation
The Hotel Pennsylvania was formally dedicated on January 25, 1919.
On that day, 3,000 spectators viewed the hotel, and 2,000 people ate in the main dining room.
The Pennsylvania's 2,200 guest rooms and baths made it the largest hotel in the world at the time; it was slightly larger than the Commodore, which opened a few days later on January 28.
However, only 1,200 rooms were available when the hotel opened,
and some of the public rooms were still incomplete.
Thirty days after the hotel opened, Statler Hotels started paying $200,000 in annual rent for the site; this amounted to five percent of the hotel building's assessed value of $4 million.
In addition, Statler would pay six percent of the construction cost each year.
One architectural critic wrote that the hotel's completion "marked a great step forward in hotel efficiency", as it had an efficient design that was not overly ornate.
1920s and 1930s
In the hotel's early years, it hosted such events as a charity event for the
Jewish Federations of North America
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization representing 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities across North America, which rais ...
, a meeting for veterans, and a showcase of radio equipment. Employees established a newspaper called ''The Pennsylvania Register'' in 1921, which according to ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' was "said to be the only daily newspaper published in a hotel".
In addition, the Pennsylvania became the first hotel on the
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...
to receive telegraph service in 1922.
The Pennsylvania remained the world's largest hotel until the late 1920s,
when the
New Yorker Hotel
The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel is a mixed-use hotel building at 481 Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1930, the New Yorker Hotel was designed by Sugarman and Berger in the ...
was constructed.
E. M. Statler managed the hotel until January 1928, when Frank A. Duggan took over as the hotel's manager.
After Duggan left for the
Hotel McAlpin
Herald Towers, formerly the Hotel McAlpin, is a residential condominium building on Herald Square, along Broadway between 33rd and 34th Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Constructed from 1910 to 1912 by the Greel ...
that April, Statler again became the hotel's manager,
although Statler died two weeks later.
Following Statler's death, Leo Molony was appointed as the hotel's manager.
In 1929, Matchette filed two lawsuits in the
New York Surrogate's Court
The Surrogate's Court of the State of New York handles all probate and estate proceedings in the New York State Unified Court System. All wills are probated in this court and all estates of people who die without a will are handled in this court ...
, seeking a combined $10 million in damages from the New York Hotel Statler Company Inc. and Ellsworth Statler's estate. Matchette claimed that Statler had given excessive salaries to himself and his family members and that Statler had mismanaged the hotel's construction.
Matchette filed four lawsuits in 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 ...
in 1930, seeking $17.5 million in damages from Statler's estate, the Hotel Statler Company, and the directors of the hotel company.
PRR received a $5 million mortgage loan from
Prudential Insurance
Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both Investor#Retail_investor, retail and i ...
in 1933, replacing two loans that the hotel had received in 1917 and 1923.
The Automobile Club of New York moved its headquarters to the hotel in 1933,
and the hotel's Room, decorated with cartoons depicting life in New York City, opened the same year.
The hotel continued to host large events in the 1930s, including ping-pong matches, home equipment exhibitions,
National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
conferences, and architects' conventions. Molony managed the hotel until January 1937, when Duggan replaced him.
James H. McCabe became the hotel's manager that June after Duggan was promoted to a vice president within Statler Hotels.
1940s and 1950s
Statler Hotels agreed to buy the property outright from the Pennsylvania Railroad on June 30, 1948.
Statler Hotels president Arthur F. Douglas officially took over the hotel that August,
paying approximately $13 million.
The Statler chain renovated the hotel's main dining room,
Cafe Rouge
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
, that year.
The Pennsylvania was renamed the Hotel Statler on January 1, 1949.
The hotel's managers had supported the name change because the Pennsylvania had hosted Statler Hotels' main offices for many years.
Statler Hotels spent $200,000 on replacing items with the hotel's old name or initial, including nearly 800,000 pieces of linen, 127,000 pieces of china, and 134,000 pieces of silver.
The hotel also replaced signs in subway stations and sent notices to 300,000 people who held Statler-branded credit cards. The hotel was branded as the "Hotel Statler, formerly the Hotel Pennsylvania" for two years after the name change.
Mid-to-late 20th century
Hilton operation
In August 1954,
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 disil ...
acquired a controlling interest in all 17 of Statler Hotels' properties, including the Hotel Statler.
Hilton paid an estimated $76 million for the controlling stake.
At the time, Hilton already owned multiple large hotels in New York City.
Hilton was installing air conditioners in all of the hotel's guestrooms by early 1956.
The hotel became The Statler Hilton in 1958. Over the years, the hotel was reduced to 1,592 rooms. Many of the smaller rooms had been combined to create larger suites with alcoves for businessmen.
In 1960, Hilton renovated the hotel at a cost of $1 million. The work included the reduction of the original two-story lobby to one story, to add more meeting space.
Zeckendorf and Abelco/Penta operation
In January 1979, Hilton Hotels agreed to sell the New York Statler Hilton to developer
William Zeckendorf Jr.
William Zeckendorf Jr. (October 31, 1929 – February 12, 2014) was an American real estate developer. Son of William Zeckendorf Sr., he was the second of three generations of one of New York's great real estate dynasties. While keeping a lower pr ...
for $24 million.
At the time, the hotel had 1,756 rooms.
[ Hilton completed its sale in May 1979,] recording an estimated after-tax profit of $8.8 million. The hotel was renamed the New York Statler and was operated by Dunfey Hotels, a division of Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...
. Dunfey Hotels sought to market the hotel to business travelers and conventions. During April 1981, the hotel was affected by two fires in as many weeks; the second fire caused damage to the grand ballroom.
The hotel was sold again in August 1983 for $46 million. A half-interest in the hotel was acquired by Abelco, an investment group consisting of developers Elie Hirschfeld, Abraham Hirschfeld
Abraham Jacob Hirschfeld (December 20, 1919 – August 9, 2005) was an American real estate investor, Broadway producer and political candidate from New York City. He was the owner of several buildings in Manhattan. He served as treasurer for the ...
, and Arthur G. Cohen
Arthur George Cohen (April 23, 1930 – August 9, 2014) was an American businessman and real estate developer in New York City.
Early life and education
Cohen was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Frances (née Kostic ...
, and the other half was bought by the Penta Hotels chain, a joint venture of British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
, Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
, and Swissair
Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002.
It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
. The new owners renamed the hotel the New York Penta. Anna Quindlen
Anna Marie Quindlen (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist.
Her ''New York Times'' column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a re ...
of ''The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
'' wrote: "Real New Yorkers, who will be damned if they will call 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, still call it the Statler." The owners renovated the facade and the public spaces, creating two restaurant spaces within the hotel. They also refurbished its 1,705 guestrooms, combining some of the rooms to create larger suites. The project was expected to cost $23 million and was timed to coincide with the completion of 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 ...
on the west side of Manhattan. Despite the cost of the renovation, the Abelco/Penta partnership planned to retain the hotel's $100 nightly room rates.
A grand reopening celebration for the Penta was held from December 7 to 10, 1985. It was one of two major structures to open on the west side of Midtown Manhattan that month, the other being the Axa Equitable Center. The Penta's owners hired James Parry Inc. as the hotel's marketing agency. When James Parry Inc. shuttered in 1988, the hotel's partners hired Kirshenbaum & Bond as the Penta Hotel's new agency.
Ramada and Best Western operation
In 1991, the Hirschfelds acquired the Penta Hotels chain's stake in the hotel. The hostelry was renamed the Ramada Pennsylvania Hotel in April 1991, two weeks after the Penta chain exited the venture. Hampton Hotels Co. took over the hotel's operation in 1993. The hotel remained the third-largest in New York City, after the New York Hilton Midtown
The New York Hilton Midtown is the largest hotel in New York City and world's 101st tallest hotel. The hotel is owned by Park Hotels & Resorts and managed by Hilton Worldwide. At 1,929 rooms and over 150,000 sq ft of meeting space, the hote ...
and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel
The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel is a , 51-story hotel located near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It faces 7th Avenue, 52nd Street, and 53rd Street. It is one of the world's 100 tallest hotels, and one of the talles ...
. Hampton Hotels spent $15 million on renovations over the next two years. In advance of the 1992 Democratic National Convention
The 1992 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas for president and Senator Al Gore from Tennessee for vice president; Clinton announced Gore as his running-mate on July 9, 1992. The convention was held at Madison ...
, the hotel's owners spent $4 million to $6 million on renovations, including a refurbishment of the lobby. By the early 1990s, celebrities no longer frequented the Ramada Pennsylvania, which tried to attract guests by offering discounts for guests' pets. A Sports Authority
Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the reta ...
store at the hotel's base was announced in 1993, and it opened the following year, within the hotel's former bar and mezzanine.
The board of directors of the Best Western
Best Western International, Inc. owns the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, which it licenses to over 4,700 hotels worldwide. The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. ...
hotel chain voted in November 1993 to rename the hotel New York's Hotel Pennsylvania, pending an inspection of the hotel's quality. The Image Group leased the hotel's ballrooms in February 1995 for twenty years, converting the seldom-used ballrooms into television studios. Best Western also added a business center to the hotel the same year, equipped with fax machines, computers, and televisions. At that point, the Pennsylvania no longer had any restaurants, and guest-service directories instead listed restaurants near the hotel. Hirschfeld rebranded the hotel as the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1995, and he placed the hotel for sale in April 1996 for $150 million. Hirschfeld had installed ''Lover's Bench'', a bronze sculpture depicting a nude couple and a partly clothed woman, outside the Pennsylvania's entrance. The sculpture was ultimately removed in 1997.
Vornado acquisition
Planet Hollywood plans
In June 1997, Vornado Realty Trust
Vornado Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan.
Investments
Notable properties owned by the ...
and Singaporean developer Ong Beng Seng
Dato' Ong Beng Seng ( born January 1946) is a Singapore-based Malaysian billionaire businessman and husband of Christina Ong. He is the founder of the Singapore-based organisation Hotel Properties, and a shareholder in many businesses. ''Forbes' ...
agreed to buy the hotel for $159 million. Vornado and Ong sought to convert the Pennsylvania to a sports-themed hotel operated by Planet Hollywood
Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl En ...
(in which Ong held a large stake), citing the hotel's proximity to Madison Square Garden. The plans were complicated by the fact that the Riese family held a long-term lease on commercial space at the Pennsylvania. At the end of June 1997, Vornado paid $75 million to terminate the Rieses' lease and acquire several buildings that the family owned nearby. Vornado and Ong finalized their acquisition on September 25, 1997, with plans to convert the Pennsylvania into Planet Hollywood's first Official All Star Hotel. Vornado and Ong would each own a 40 percent stake in the hotel, while Planet Hollywood would own 20 percent. The Official All Star Hotel plan was announced amid a revival in 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 mo ...
, as well as demand for office space in Penn Plaza. The hotel's renovation was expected to cost about $200 million. Vornado would operate about of commercial and office space at the hotel.
The planned conversion did not happen, as Planet Hollywood suffered major financial losses in the late 1990s. Vornado bought out Ong's 40 percent stake in the hotel in early 1998 for $70 million, paying $22 million in cash and taking on $48 million in debt. When Ong decided to sell his stake, many Asian companies were selling off real estate in New York City. Vornado Realty Trust transferred the hotel's management to a subsidiary, Vornado Operating Company, in October 1998 because of regulations concerning non-real-estate holdings of real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
s. Vornado then acquired the remaining 20 percent stake from Planet Hollywood in August 1999 for $42 million, paying $18 million in cash and assuming $24 million in debt. Vornado thus obtained full ownership of the hotel. The Planet Hollywood transaction valued the hotel at $216 million. By late 1999, to attract business travelers, the Hotel Pennsylvania was advertising rooms at $150 to $300 per night.
2000s
As early as 2001, a Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...
analyst said that Vornado officials were considering replacing the hotel with a 50- to 60-story tower. Through the 2000s, the hotel remained popular enough that its managers trademarked the slogan "World's Most Popular Hotel" in 2002. However, the hotel had become noticeably rundown, and guests reported bedbug infestations, darkened windows, and dirty carpets, among other things. By the mid-2000s, Vornado officials said the hotel was merely "a placeholder, sort of like a parking lot". ''Observer'' described the hotel as having "devolved into a cheap, decrepit tourist trap more commonly associated with reported bedbug attacks than big-band nostalgia". The hotel was divided into two sections by then: the main hotel and the more upscale Penn 5000 Club. Vornado also rented out some of the hotel's space to small businesses during the 2000s, and the T. R. Engle Group gradually renovated the hotel's lobby and rooms during this decade. As part of the planning process for 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 ...
, in 2003, city and state officials determined that the Hotel Pennsylvania was eligible for official landmark protections on the city, state, and national levels.
With the redevelopment of west Midtown in the mid-2000s, the Hotel Pennsylvania was again being considered as a prime site for redevelopment. In early 2007, Vornado announced plans to demolish the hotel and develop the 15 Penn Plaza
15 Penn Plaza, also known as PENN15 and Vornado Tower, is a planned office tower to be constructed by Vornado Realty Trust on Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets, on the site of present-day Hotel Pennsylvania, in the Midtown Manhattan ...
skyscraper there, as part of a redevelopment of the area around Penn Station. Vornado intended to complete the building by 2011, marketing the tower to financial tenants. At the time, there was little interest in protecting the hotel as a landmark. Investment firm Merrill Lynch & Co. announced plans to relocate from 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 ...
to the skyscraper that October. Had the hotel been demolished at that time, Vornado would have been required to maintain a "museum-quality" exhibit of the Hotel Pennsylvania's history in the new building's lobby. Ultimately, Merrill Lynch opted to move to the World Financial Center in January 2008, in part because of the firm's financial troubles. At a conference call in June 2008, Roth said he was considering downsizing his planned development or renovating the Hotel Pennsylvania.
The redevelopment plans prompted the staff of '' 2600: The Hacker Quarterly'', a magazine that sponsored biennial HOPE
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
hacker convention
A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts.
Events
Common activities at hacke ...
s at the hotel, began investigating possible ways to save the hotel from demolition. They were joined by the new Save the Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation (later the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society), whose members included a number of city organizations and politicians to aid in designating the hotel as a landmark, including the Historic Districts Council
The Historic Districts Council (HDC) is a New York City-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that serves as the advocate for New York City's historic buildings, neighborhoods, and public spaces. HDC'YouTube channelprovides a large catalog of free w ...
, Manhattan Community Board 5
Manhattan Community Board 5 is a New York City community board, part of the local government apparatus of the city, with the responsibility for the neighborhoods of Midtown, Times Square, most of the Theater District, the Diamond District, the ...
, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried
Richard N. Gottfried (born May 16, 1947) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly representing portions of Manhattan. Gottfried had been a member of the Assembly for more than 50 years, making ...
. In November 2007, Manhattan Community Board 5
Manhattan Community Board 5 is a New York City community board, part of the local government apparatus of the city, with the responsibility for the neighborhoods of Midtown, Times Square, most of the Theater District, the Diamond District, the ...
voted 21-8 in support of a landmark designation. Three months later, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(LPC) rejected the landmark request. Emmanuel Goldstein
Emmanuel Goldstein is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. He is the principal enemy of the state according to the Party of the totalitarian Oceania. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious ...
of ''2600'' noted that while people overseas expressed concern over the fate of the hotel:New Yorkers might not care enough to get involved. The hotel was old; the rooms weren't as big and luxurious as other more modern facilities; and New Yorkers simply weren't in a position to grasp the importance of such a place since they normally don't need cheap and easily accessible hotels if they already live here.
2010s
In May 2010, the hotel was again in danger of demolition. Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer
Scott M. Stringer (born April 29, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 44th New York City Comptroller. A Democrat, Stringer also previously served as a New York State Assemblyman, and as the 26th borough president of Manhattan.
I ...
gave a conditional approval overruling Manhattan Community Board 5
Manhattan Community Board 5 is a New York City community board, part of the local government apparatus of the city, with the responsibility for the neighborhoods of Midtown, Times Square, most of the Theater District, the Diamond District, the ...
. The LPC reviewed the hotel's Cafe Rouge
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
for landmark status based on a request by the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society, but on October 22, 2010, the LPC declined to designate the cafe as a landmark. On July 14, 2010, the New York City Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
voted unanimously in favor of the construction of the tower. On August 23, 2010, the NYC Council voted to approve the proposed Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is a process mandated by the 1975 revision of the New York City Charter that is invoked when a proposed development will affect certain legal protections afforded to the existing area and/or its inhabitan ...
submitted by the building owners. In December 2011, Vornado announced a delay in the demolition of the hotel because it was financially infeasible to do so at the moment. Steven Roth said in March 2013 that he wanted to renovate the hotel instead of demolishing it.
By 2014, Vornado was again looking to develop a skyscraper on the Hotel Pennsylvania's site. Due to uncertainty over the site's future, Roth opted not to renovate the hotel during the mid-2010s. In the hotel's final years, the mezzanine levels above the lobby were operated as a separate business, the Penn Plaza Pavilion, a series of raw spaces used as function facilities. They were the site of numerous trade shows and conventions, including the annual Big Apple Comic Con
The Big Apple Comic Con is a New York City comic book convention, the longest-running comic book/speculative fiction/pop culture convention in New York City. It was started by retailer Michael "Mike Carbo" Carbonaro in March 1996 in comics, 1996 ...
. The guestrooms were frequented by students and shoppers who sought discounted room rates.
In March 2018, Vornado renewed special permits from the City Planning Commission to develop 15 Penn Plaza on the Hotel Pennsylvania's site. In an April 2018 letter to investors, Roth mentioned the demolition and 15 Penn skyscraper plan as a continued option, but also described Vornado as being at "a tipping point" with regard to redeveloping the Pennsylvania into a "giant convention/entertainment hotel". In June 2019, Vornado unsuccessfully tried to lure Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
to rent space in the proposed office building, with a new design done by Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly Beceiro (born 1944) is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983. The firm has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, and Buenos Aires.
Viñ ...
.
Closure and demolition
The hotel was forced to close in April 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...
. Seeing an opportunity to redevelop the site, Steven Roth again contemplated closing the hotel permanently. Roth announced plans in April 2021 to replace the hotel with a skyscraper, now known as Penn15. According to Roth, "the hotel math has deteriorated significantly over the last five years", and the benefits of continuing to operate the hotel were outweighed by the drawbacks of maintenance, taxes, and lack of demand. Several groups, such as the Hotel Trades Council, supported the plans for redeveloping the Pennsylvania's site. By then, the hotel had been neglected for several years. Christopher Bonanos of ''Curbed
''Curbed'' is an American real estate and urban design website founded as a blog by Lockhart Steele in 2006. The full website, founded in 2010, featured sub-pages dedicated to specific real estate markets and metropolitan areas across the Unit ...
'' wrote: "Architecturally, it is like a lot of early-20th-century midsize hotels and office buildings around the city, only larger; it is surely a better-quality example from its period ..Even if you're a hardcore preservationist, your energies might be better spent elsewhere."
In late 2021, International Content Liquidations finished selling the hotel's contents in preparation for demolition. Items for sale included chandeliers and lighting, guest room furniture, unused mattresses and linens, televisions, the entirety of the hotel's fitness center and commercial kitchens, banquet tables and chairs, and the original, historic guest room doors known as Servidors. The hotel's demolition began in January 2022, and the main entrance was converted to a turnstile for demolition workers. The Pennsylvania caught fire on February 7, 2022, while it was being demolished. By the middle of that year, demolition of the hotel had resumed.
Architecture
The Hotel Pennsylvania was designed by William Symmes Richardson of McKim, Mead & White. The hotel measured 22 stories high, including the street level and the rooftop; there was also a three-story penthouse
Penthouse most often refers to:
*Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building
*Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine
*Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
. The hotel's design was intended not only to complement that of the original Penn Station, which was demolished in 1963, but also that of the General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
one block west, which still exists.
Form and facade
The first four stories occupied nearly the entire site. The hotel was set back from the property line
A unit of real estate or immovable property is limited by a legal boundary (sometimes also referred to as a property line or a lot line). The boundary (in Latin: ''limes'') may appear as a discontinuation in the terrain: a ditch, a bank, a hedge, a ...
on Seventh Avenue, creating a plaza in front of the hotel's entrance. The plaza had been intended as a forecourt for the original Penn Station, though the hotel's height blunted this effect. When the PRR had leased the site to the hotel's original operators, the lease agreement included a clause that prevented the hotel's operators from constructing any structure, except for an entrance portico, on the westernmost 15 feet of the site for twenty-one years. Three light court
In architecture, a lightwell,light well, light-well sky-well,skywell, sky well or air shaft is an unroofed or roofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or ...
s on the southern facade, each measuring wide, divided the hotel into four wings that faced south. Each wing measured wide. There was another light court facing eastward toward the former Gimbels
Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...
department store (now Manhattan Mall
Manhattan Mall is an inactive indoor shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade wit ...
), which measured wide. The two western wings collectively contained 1,000 rooms, while the two eastern wings collectively contained 1,200 rooms.
The 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, ...
facade of the lower stories was intentionally designed to closely mirror the architecture of the station. A colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
of Ionic-style pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s divided the lowest three stories vertically into 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 narr ...
, with lightly rusticated walls between each set of pilasters. Over the years, the first three stories were modified significantly, and storefronts with various signs and awnings were installed. In the center of the Seventh Avenue facade was a portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
of six Ionic columns marking the main entrance. This portico protruded from the facade, although it remained well within the property line. When the entrance was widened in the hotel's later years, four of the columns were truncated to make way for a marquee. The fourth story was faced in plain ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
.
Above the fourth story, the facade was made of buff
Buff or BUFF may refer to:
People
* Buff (surname), a list of people
* Buff (nickname), a list of people
* Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955)
* Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional ...
-colored and gray brick. Over the years, the windows on the upper stories were replaced in a piecemeal fashion, and numerous signs were installed on the facade. Near the end of the hotel's existence, the upper stories contained aluminum windows of various designs. The top three stories contained a colonnade of pilasters, above which was a cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
made of terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
. Sometime during the hotel's existence, a half-story penthouse was installed above part of the cornice.
Above the westernmost wing was a roof garden
A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational oppo ...
with a restaurant, which was topped by the elevator penthouse. The roof restaurant had a simple design, with a plaster vaulted ceiling
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
supported by a colonnade, which formed a central hall with aisles. The walls were of plaster above a tile wainscoting, and the restaurant had simple details, which allowed the decorations to be changed between different seasons. The second-westernmost wing contained an outdoor lounge, connected to the restaurant by a wide bridge. When the hotel opened, the roofs of the two eastern wings were left undeveloped.
Mechanical features
The hotel received electricity from three sources: a power generator in the building and two power stations outside of it. The hotel received steam from a nearby plant on 32nd Street, and the subbasement also contained a steam-driven generator. The hotel also received 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 whic ...
from a PRR substation in the Long Island City
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
neighborhood of Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. Cables carried power from the substation to a room in the hotel's basement, which contained five banks of transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s. Two of the banks of transformers supplied the hotel's lighting system, while the other three banks supplied a set of rotary converter
A rotary converter is a type of electrical machine which acts as a mechanical rectifier, inverter or frequency converter.
Rotary converters were used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC), or DC to AC power, before the adven ...
s. The lights were operated from three sets of circuits, allowing some parts of the hotel to remain illuminated even if a blackout affected the entire hotel.
The ventilation system contained 27 motors, which powered fans that ventilated the air from all of the hotel's bathrooms. In addition, a pair of motors powered a vacuum system that collected dust from 487 openings throughout the hotel. The hotel received water from the city's water supply system, which supplied ice machines, faucets, and mechanical equipment. The water-drainage system included sewers to the city's sewage system, as well as sump pumps that drained water from the basements.
As built, there were two banks of six passenger elevators, which all ran from the basement to the roof. The elevators could be configured so that one bank only served the upper floors and the lobby, while the other bank only served the lower floors. The southeast corner of the hotel contained two elevators which connected the lobby to the subway and railroad stations. Closer to 33rd Street, two elevators ran from ground level to the ballrooms above. Three elevators, at the eastern end of the hotel, ran from the basement to the kitchen on the first mezzanine level, stopping at the driveway. There were also eight service elevators and six dumbwaiters. One of the service elevators operated at a slightly slower speed than the remaining service elevators and all of the passenger elevators.
Interior
The public rooms were largely on the lower floors. The ground level was largely designed in an Italian style. The hotel also had for exhibitions and of ballrooms. Large portions of the interiors were clad in Mycenaean marble, including corridors, stairways, and elevator lobbies. Prior to the hotel's demolition, most of the interior spaces were substantially altered.
Basements
There were three floor levels below the street. The first basement contained main and auxiliary kitchens, grill room, lunch room, barber shop, and bathroom. The grill room was designed to resemble an Italian garden with bright colors; its columns and walls contained sgraffito
''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...
decorations. The sub-basement mezzanine only covered part of the site and contained the hotel's workshops, service dining rooms, and locker rooms. The sub-basement contained laundry rooms for staff and guests; refrigerating, pumping, and filtering plants; and machine rooms.
The first basement level also contained a direct entrance to the 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 IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatta ...
(later serving the ). In addition, there were underpasses leading to the railroad station at 32nd and 33rd Streets; these underpasses were outside of the subway station's fare control area. Under 33rd Street was a connection to the Gimbels passageway
Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...
, which opened in 1920 and was shuttered in 1986. The Gimbels passageway led east to the 34th Street–Herald Square station and to the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned sub ...
(later PATH)'s 33rd Street station. Further connections to 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 the current 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 ...
were built in the late 20th century. The hotel also contained direct subway entrances from the street to the platform, though these entrances had deteriorated significantly by the early 1990s.
Ground level
At ground level were the main lobby, office, dining room, tea room, men's cafe, bar, and main serving pantry. There were various shops that could be accessed both from the street and from inside the hotel, as well as a florist shop, telegraph office, public telephones, and check rooms at ground level.
= Lobby
=
The two-story main lobby was accessible from the main entrance on Seventh Avenue and from one entrance each on 32nd and 33rd Streets. The lobby, measuring , was described by the ''New-York Tribune'' as the largest in the city. It was surrounded by 16 fluted columns, designed in the Doric order. Both the columns and the lobby's walls were made of Botticino marble
The following is a list of various types of marble according to location.
(NB: Marble-like stone which is not true marble according to geologists is included, but is indicated by ''italics'' with geologic classification given as footnote.
Afri ...
. In addition, the lobby originally contained multicolored carpets and walnut furniture, including a walnut registration desk near 32nd Street. The lobby's ceiling measured high and had a two-color steel-and-glass skylight
A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes.
History
Open ...
, designed by G. Rae & Co. Above the skylight were reflectors, which provided gold-tinted illumination; workers replaced the reflectors using a set of trolley tracks. The lobby was flanked by a promenade to the north and south. By the early 21st century, the skylight had been removed and the columns had been reclad multiple times, but the floor was extant.
At the mezzanine level was a gallery that surrounded the lobby. The mezzanine also contained the lounging and writing rooms, a library, a large exhibition space, a hairdresser's shop, and the maitre d'hotel Maitre or Maître is a French-language title, associated with lawyers. It is also a surname, equivalent to the English "Master"
Notable people with the surname include:
*Jean-Philippe Maitre (1949–2006), Swiss politician
*Romain Maitre (born 19 ...
's office. The writing room, opening off the southern side of the mezzanine, was designed in a Jacobean style and was paneled in oak. The writing room's bookshelves extended nearly to the top of the plaster ceiling, which contained molded centerpieces that represented 16th-century printers' marks. From the mezzanine's gallery, a short flight of steps led to the ballroom floor.
The upper level of the two-story lobby was severed from the room by Hilton in 1960, during major renovations, which reduced the lobby to one story. The mezzanine level floor was extended over the lobby, creating 30,000 sq ft of new exhibition space for conventions, giving the hotel the largest such facilities in the country at the time. In the mid-1990s, part of the mezzanine became a Sports Authority store.
= Other ground-level spaces
=
The men's cafe was just south of the main entrance and could also be accessed directly from the street. It contained a chestnut-paneled ceiling, tiled floors, and Georgian- and Flemish-inspired light fixtures, as well as a fireplace and grill on one wall. Just north of the main entrance was a Tuscan-style bar, which had wood paneling, stone walls and ceiling, and a mosaic tile floor. Later known as the Penn Bar, the space had become a storefront by the mid-1990s. East of the main lobby was the tea room, designed in the Adam style
The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...
with arches and murals on the wall, as well as mirrored panels, Chinese-style carpets, and a decorative plaster ceiling. The tea room was surrounded by an extension of the lobby's promenade, which contained Caen stone
Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...
walls and Italian furniture.
The main restaurant, later a nightclub known as the Cafe Rouge
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
, was a double-height space to the south of the tea room. The Cafe Rouge measured approximately , with a ceiling height of approximately . It consisted of a central space flanked on either side by a terrace measuring high. At the end of each terrace was a colonnade of four columns. Both the wall base and door trim were made of terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
, while the walls were artificial limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
. The beamed ceiling had various carvings in the Italian and French Renaissance styles, and the ceiling itself was painted to increase the perceived height of the room. The east end of the cafe had a large floor-to-ceiling fountain. A bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...
was located on the central floor of the room on the exterior wall.
The easternmost of the first floor, under the eastern light court, contained two parallel driveways, as well as a service driveway with loading platforms. Elevators led to workshops on the upper floors and the storage rooms and kitchen in the basement, and a conveyor belt connected with a baggage storage area on the mezzanine. At the extreme east end was a driveway for the adjacent Gimbels store, which contained elevators and a loading platform. Between the Gimbels store and the Pennsylvania Hotel was a shopping arcade, which was built in 1919. Originally known as the Pennsylvania Arcade, it was known as Gallery 34 by the 1990s.
Ballroom floor
The ballroom floor, above the lobby's mezzanine, contained a flexible entertainment area with a grand foyer and ballroom, two large parlors, banquet room and foyer, and three smaller dining rooms. The ballrooms had their own stair and elevator from 33rd Street, which led to a grand foyer flanked by parlors. The ballroom facilities covered and were high. Each of the ballrooms was a large, open space without columns.
The main ballroom alone covered and was one of the largest hotel ballrooms in New York City, having been planned with a capacity of 1,200 people. The main ballroom was on the south side of the building, directly over the main dining room, and measured . It had a vaulted ceiling
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
with Italian arabesques and was surrounded on three sides by a gallery with boxes. Two silk-and-crystal chandeliers illuminated the space. The banquet room, on the north side of the same floor, had white-oak floors and a foyer with artificial stone walls. The private dining rooms were designed in the Georgian style. The ballroom floor was served by a large banquet kitchen, and the ballrooms could host one large event or multiple smaller events simultaneously.
In 1995, the main ballroom was converted into a television studio measuring across. The areas around the main ballroom were converted into offices, conference rooms, telecommunications facilities, and audience rooms. The studio was used to tape television shows including ''The People's Court
''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality sty ...
'', ''Idiot Savants'', '' Maury'', ''Sally Jessy Raphael
Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American former tabloid talk show host known for her program '' Sally'' (originally called ''The Sally Jessy Raphael Show'').
Early life and education
Lowent ...
'', '' 2 Minute Drill'', and ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper
''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'' is an American late-night talk and news satire program that aired on Comedy Central from September 25, 2017, to June 28, 2018. The show was hosted by comedian Jordan Klepper, a former correspondent on ''The ...
''. In 2009, the studios in the hotel were rebuilt and consolidated into a new studio for the sitcom ''Sherri Sherri may refer to:
*Sherri (name)
* ''Sherri'' (2009 TV series), an American sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd
* ''Sherri'' (talk show), a syndicated daytime show hosted by Sherri Shepherd that premiered in 2022
See also
* Shari (disambiguation)
* ...
.'' The television studios continued to operate through the 2010s.
Other public spaces
Half a story above the ground floor were hotel executives' offices, baggage and parcel rooms, a print shop, and staff dining rooms. A conveyor belt connected the baggage room to a service driveway on the eastern end of the building.
The second mezzanine and the entire second floor contained service bedrooms, storerooms, sewing and linen rooms, and a telephone exchange
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...
. When the hotel opened, ''American Architect'' said the telephone exchange was "the largest of its kind ever built". The eastern end of the fifth floor contained two Turkish baths
A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the Islamic culture, culture of the Muslim world and ...
, one for men and one for women. The women's bath was accessed by a stair from the sixth floor. The hotel also originally contained a swimming pool with filtered water.
Guest rooms
Guestrooms started at the fifth story, above the roofline of the original Penn Station. There were 17 stories of guestrooms, each of which contained a central corridor flanked by bedrooms. Each story contained an average of 125 rooms, and the larger rooms were generally concentrated in the western part of the hotel. Each room contained its own bathroom; some of the larger guestrooms had bathrooms that faced outward toward the street, while other guestrooms had bathrooms that faced inward toward the corridor. Two of the guestroom floors contained living and reception rooms, dining rooms, pantries and bedrooms, which could arranged into different suites with three to ten rooms. In the two eastern wings, three of the upper floors contained large guestrooms with large closets. Each guestroom floor contained its own "floor clerk", stationed outside the elevators, which acted as concierges for their respective stories. There was also a pantry, as well as a fire lookout
A fire lookout (partly also called a fire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a ...
station and an electrical clock system, on each story.
Each guestroom contained Servidor doors with compartments. These allowed guests to give servants their dirty clothes and unpolished shoes without opening the door, and it enabled servants to deliver newspapers, room service, and other food. The Servidor doors, novelties at the time of their construction, were still in place when the hotel was demolished. The guestrooms also contained Chippendale furniture
Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Cab ...
; each room typically contained a bed, two chairs, a writing desk, and a dresser. Curtains were hung from cornices or rods, and there were radiators on the ceilings and walls. The bathrooms in each guestroom contained a shower. To reduce the complexity of the electrical equipment, each guestroom was originally equipped with a telephone that could only be used for room service. To send messages, guests had to contact their floor clerks, who then sent the messages using telautograph machines or pneumatic tubes.
Notable guests and events
The hotel hosted multiple notable guests in its early years. On May 6 and 8, 1924, Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
debunked Joaquin María Argamasilla, a 19-year-old Spaniard who claimed he had X-ray vision
In science fiction stories or superhero comics, X-ray vision is the supernatural ability to see through normally opaque physical objects at the discretion of the holder of this superpower. The most famous possessor of this ability is DC Comics' i ...
. In December 1925, William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
stayed at the Pennsylvania while writing one of his many novels; he subsequently received the Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
. Galveston crime boss Johnny Jack Nounes
Johnny Jack Nounes, also known as the "Beau Brummell of Galveston", was a mob boss in Galveston, Texas, United States, during the 1920s and 1930s. He, with one-armed George Musey, led the Downtown Gang, one of the two gangs which controlled most o ...
threw a $40,000 party at the Pennsylvania in the 1920s, inviting silent film starts Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
and Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll (born Ann Veronica Lahiff; November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress. She started her career in Broadway musicals and then became an actress in sound films and was in many films from 1927 to 1938. She was t ...
, who were said to have bathed in tubs of champagne
Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
. Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
spoke before the Ohio Society of New York at the Hotel Pennsylvania in November 1935. The American Russian Institute presented its first annual award to the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
at the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1946, and Edwin H. Land
Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS, FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an Russian-American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a ...
demonstrated his invention of an instant camera
An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...
at the hotel in 1947.
U.S. Army bacteriologist Frank Olson
Frank Rudolph Emmanuel Olson (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick (now ...
died after he crashed through a window on the 10th floor in 1953; the U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure, while others alleged that he was murdered. 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 200 ...
stayed at the Statler Hilton in 1959, shortly after he became the leader of Cuba. Gameel al-Batouti
Gameel Al-Batouti ( ar, جميل البطوطي; also rendered "Gamil El Batouti" or "El Batouty" in U.S. official reports; 2 February 1940 – 31 October 1999) was a pilot for EgyptAir and a former officer for the Egyptian Air Force. On 31 Octo ...
(who was first officer of EgyptAir Flight 990
EgyptAir Flight 990 (MS990/MSR990) was a regularly scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cairo International Airport, with a stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City. On October 31, 1999, the Boeing 767-3 ...
when it crashed in 1997, killing all 217 people aboard) was reportedly sexually promiscuous with female staff and was nearly banned from the hotel.
The Statler also hosted delegates during several Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
meetings at Madison Square Garden. During the 1976 convention, the Statler allocated 80 percent of its rooms to delegates; In advance of the 1980 convention, the Statler spent $5 million just on preparations, which included a "fast food" delicatessen as well as a kitchen in an elevator. Other events at the hotel included Esto 92, an Estonian heritage festival that had booked the entire hotel at the beginning of the 1992 DNC convention, as well as the 1994 edition of the Gay Games
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals.
Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was starte ...
. By the 2000s, the hotel hosted hundreds of dogs every year during the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, traditionally held annually at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs ...
. The hotel's other events in the 2000s included auditions for reality TV show ''America's Next Top Model
''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...
''.
Cafe Rouge
Big band era
The hotel's main dining room, later named the Cafe Rouge, was known for several decades as a major venue for 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 an ...
s. Numerous acclaimed musicians performed at the Cafe Rouge, including Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
, the Dorsey Brothers
The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records.
History
The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Domino, Jewel, Oriole, ...
, 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 ...
, 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 United States Arm ...
, Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction.
Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...
, and Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...
. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Cafe Rouge had a big band remote
A big band remote (a.k.a. dance band remote) was a remote broadcast, common on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.
Overview
Broadcasts were usually transmitted by the major radio networks d ...
connection to the NBC Red Network (after 1942, the NBC Radio Network
The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...
) and became known for the performances held inside.
One evening in November 1939, while in the midst of a steady long-term engagement at the Cafe Rouge, bandleader Artie Shaw left the bandstand between sets and decided to quit his own band on the spot. Shaw's principal orchestrator from 1937 to 1939, Jerry Gray
Jerry Don Gray (born December 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Gray played college footbal ...
, was immediately hired by Miller as a staff arranger when Shaw deserted his band. The Glenn Miller Orchestra
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American swing dance band formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most popular and com ...
also had repeated long-term bookings in the Cafe Rouge from 1940 to 1942, when the band was broken up. Miller's orchestra broadcast from the cafe; some were recorded by RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
. Les Brown's band, with its vocalist Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
, introduced their song "Sentimental Journey" at the Cafe Rouge in 1944. The cafe was closed for renovation during mid-1948.
Other spaces in the hotel were also used for musical performances. Before air-conditioning became popular, major bands performed in the hotel's roof garden ballroom during the summer. In addition, 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 ...
's band frequented the hotel's Room and started performing there in late 1936.
Use as event venue
In later years, the former Cafe Rouge space within the structure operated separately from the hotel business, with a separate address and entrance at 145 West 32nd Street. In 2007, for the Garden in Transit project, adhesive weatherproof paintings of flowers attached to taxicabs in New York City were painted inside the cafe. Numerous events from the 2013 New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...
were held in the Cafe Rouge. In 2014, the Cafe Rouge space was converted to an indoor basketball court known as Terminal 23, celebrating the launch of the Melo M10 by the Jordan Brand
Air Jordan is an American brand of basketball shoes produced by American corporation Nike. The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls in late 1984 and ...
division of Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
. In its final years, the room operated as Station 32, a rental function/event space.
Impact
In media
* The Muppet
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
character Statler of Statler and Waldorf
Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling. The two elderly men first appeared in ''The Muppet Show'' in 1975, where they consistently jeered the entirety of ...
was named after the hotel, when it was the Statler Hilton.
* The Hotel Pennsylvania appeared in the 1986 film ''The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
,'' as the setting of a science fair
Science and engineering fairs, hosted by schools worldwide, offer students the opportunity to experience the practices of science and engineering for themselves. In the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards makes experiencing the ...
. Rather than construct a set and populate it with actors, the filmmakers hosted an actual science fair in the hotel, and simply filmed as it was going on.
Phone number
Early in its existence, the hotel was assigned the phone number (212) 736-5000. The phone number was more commonly known as PEnnsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is a telephone number in New York City, written in the 2L+5N (two letters, five numbers) format that was common from about 1930 into the 1960s. The number is best known from the 1940 hit song " Pennsylvania 6-5000", a swing j ...
, as written in the 2L+5N (two letters, five numbers) format that was common in the mid-20th century; the two letters stood for the telephone exchange
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...
. The number may have been assigned after the 2L+5N format was introduced in 1930. With the implementation of the North American Numbering Plan
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international callin ...
, the area code 212
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...
was added to the number. Initially, all of the hotel's landlines used this number. During Glenn Miller's 1940 engagement at the hotel, Jerry Gray wrote the tune "Pennsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is a telephone number in New York City, written in the 2L+5N (two letters, five numbers) format that was common from about 1930 into the 1960s. The number is best known from the 1940 hit song " Pennsylvania 6-5000", a swing j ...
" (with lyrics later added by Carl Sigman
Carl Sigman (September 24, 1909 – September 26, 2000) was an American songwriter.
Early life
Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish-American family, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his bar exams to practice in ...
) that made use of the hotel's telephone number.
Although the hotel's owners claimed that (212) 736-5000 was "the oldest continuously in-service telephone number in New York", the veracity of this claim is disputed. Phone numbers in New York City existed as early as the 1880s, and the phone number may have been changed at some point before 1992. The hotel still carried the number when it became the Penta in 1983. A ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' reported in 1993 that, when he dialed (212) 736-5000, a live operator at the Ramada Pennsylvania spoke to him while the song "Pennsylvania 6-5000" played in the background. By 1996, a writer for the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' reported that an automated voice was directing callers to press a button to access one of the hotel's departments. Steven Roth said in 2022 that Penn15 would retain the phone number (212) 736-5000, although he did not specify how the phone number would be reassigned.
Gallery
File:Exterior columns at the Hotel Pennsylvania, NY (circa 1919).jpg, Exterior of Hotel Pennsylvania
File:Hotel Pennsylvania, NY (external view, ca 1919).jpg, General view of the exterior of Hotel Pennsylvania
File:Foyer of Hotel Pennsylvania , NY circa 1919.jpg, The Foyer
File:Lobby of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, The Main Lobby
File:Lobby colonnade (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919).jpg, Details of the Lobby Colonnade
File:Lobby corridor (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919).jpg, The Corridor of the Lobby
File:Architectural diagram of the lobby of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, Detail of The Main Lobby
File:Main restaurant (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919).jpg, The Main Restaurant of Hotel Pennsylvania, The Cafe Rouge
File:Terrace, main restaurant (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919).jpg, View of the terrace in The Cafe Rouge
File:Hotel Pennsylvania main restaurant east wall.JPG, View of the east wall of The Cafe Rouge
File:Hotel Pennsylvania main restaurant west wall (NY, circa 1919).jpg, View of the west wall of The Cafe Rouge
File:Hotel Pennsylvania - main restaurant - fountain, close-up (NY circa 1919) (edit).jpg, The fountain of The Cafe Rouge
File:Architectural diagram of the restaurant of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, Detail of The Cafe Rouge
File:Palm Room (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919).jpg, The Palm Room
File:Detail of the Palm Room of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, Detail of the Palm Room
File:Grand Ballroom of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, The Grand Ballroom
File:Outer column detail of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, Detail of the exterior colonnade
File:Outer detail of Hotel Pennsylvania, NY circa 1919.jpg, Detail of the exterior of Hotel Pennsylvania
File:Dining room of the Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania) (postcard circa 1920).jpg, The Dining Room when the hotel opened, before becoming the Cafe Rouge
File:Wall of Cafe Rouge, Hotel Pennsylvania (27 10 2012).jpg, Wall detail in the former cafe Rouge in 2012
File:Fountain at the Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania, NY - 2012).jpg, The fountain in the Cafe Rouge in 2012
See also
* Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania)
The Café Rouge was constructed as the main restaurant at Hotel Pennsylvania in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It achieved its greatest fame as a nightclub.
Construction
The Café Rouge (as well as the rest of the interior and exterior of ...
* List of former hotels in Manhattan
This is a list of former hotels in Manhattan, New York City.
Former hotels in Manhattan
* 995 Fifth Avenue
* The Ansonia
* Astor House
* Barbizon-Plaza Hotel
* City Hotel
* Dauphin Hotel
* Drake Hotel
* Endicott Hotel
* Fift ...
* 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
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Midtown South, Manhattan
1919 establishments in New York City
Culture of New York City
Glenn Miller songs
Hotel buildings completed in 1919
Hotels established in 1919
McKim, Mead & White buildings
Pennsylvania Plaza
Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Hotel
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Skyscraper hotels in Manhattan