The Hotel Pennsylvania is a hotel located at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is currently the fourth largest hotel in the city.
Video Hotel Pennsylvania
History
Initial years
The Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler. Opened on January 25, 1919 and designed by William Symmes Richardson from McKim firm, Mead & amp; White, who also designed the original Pennsylvania Station located across the street.
Statler Hotels, which has managed Pennsylvania since its construction, acquired the property directly from the Pennsylvania Railroad on June 30, 1948 and renamed it with Hotel Statler on January 1, 1949. After the sale of all 17 Statler hotels to Conrad Hilton in the year 1954, the hotel becomes Statler Hilton . It operated under this name until 1979, when Hilton sold the hotel to developer William Zeckendorf, Jr.., for $ 24 million. The hotel was renamed New York Statler and was operated by Dunfey hotels, a division of Aer Lingus. The hotel sold again for $ 46 million in August 1983. The 50% interest was purchased by Abelco, an investment group consisting of developers Elie Hirschfeld, Abraham Hirschfeld, and Arthur G. Cohen, with another 50% purchased by the Penta Hotels network, a joint venture from British Airways, Lufthansa, and Swissair. The new owner changed the name of the Penta New York hotel and made a major renovation. In 1991, a Penta partner bought a chain stake in the hotel and returned it to its real name, Hotel Pennsylvania .
Recent history and destruction threat
The threat of demolition Hotel Pennsylvania was first introduced in 1997 when Vornado Realty Trust bought the hotel in a joint venture with Ong Beng Seng, a developer of hotels and financiers of Singapore. The Vornado and Seng companies announced on 25 September 1997 the formation of a joint venture to transform the hotel into the first Official All Star Hotel.
Vornado announced in 2007 that the hotel would be demolished to pave the way for a new office building with Merrill Lynch as an anchor tenant. The owner of Vornado Realty Trust intends to build a 2,500,000 square foot (230,000 m 2 ) building in 2011.
In 2006, the Save Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation (now the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society) was created. Shortly after the announcement of Vornado's plan, the 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a magazine sponsoring the biennial HOPE rejuvenation convention at the hotel, began investigating possible ways to save the hotel from demolition. They joined the new Save the Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation, whose members include city organizations and politicians to help tag the hotel, including Historic Districts Council, Manhattan Community Board 5 and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. In November 2007, the Manhattan Community Board 5 voted 21-8 to have a historic building in the New York City Council. However, in February 2008 the New York City Landmark Conservation Commission declined the labeling request.
Conservation efforts have proven difficult. Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600 notes that while people abroad expressed concern over the fate of the hotel:
New Yorkers may not care enough to get involved. The hotel is old; the room is not as big and luxurious as other facilities are more modern; and New Yorkers are simply not in a position to understand the importance of such a place because they usually do not require cheap and easily accessible hotels if they already live here.
In May 2010, the hotel was back in danger of demolition. Manhattan Society President Scott Stringer gives conditional approval to rule out the Manhattan Community Board 5. The New York City Landmark Conservation Commission reviews the Cafe Rouge hotel for landmark status on request by the Pennsylvania Preservation Society Hotel, but on October 22, 2010, New York City Land Preservation Commission refusing to designate a cafe as a landmark.
On July 14, 2010, the New York City City Planning Department unanimously supported the tower construction. On August 23, 2010, the NYC Board decided to approve the proposed Uniform Land Review Procedure filed by the building owner.
On December 14, 2011, Vornado proposed to delay the demolition of the hotel due to market conditions.
On March 4, 2013, Vornado revealed that they abandoned plans to destroy the hotel and replace it with an office tower. The decision was followed by a statement by chairman Steven Roth:
We will not destroy the hotel. In fact, we will invest aggressively and try to make it a really profitable and excellent hotel for our purposes.
Vornado has confirmed that they will renovate and improve the hotel, but beyond that is not much else is known. Preservationists as well as those at the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society (formerly Save Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation) wanted to see the renovation develop into a restoration, bringing the hotel back to its 1919 grandeur.
In March 2018, Vornado Realty Trust renewed a special permit with the Town Planning Commission to develop the proposed Penn Plaza 15 skyscraper on the Pennsylvania Hotel website. In an April 2018 letter to investors, Vornado chairman Steven Roth mentions the dismantling/15 Penn skyscraper plan as an advanced option, but also describes Vornado as a "tipping point" relating to Pennsylvania's redevelopment to "the hotel's giant convention/entertainment."
Maps Hotel Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania 6-5000
This hotel has the distinction of having a New York phone number in its longest continuous use. The number, Pennsylvania 6-5000 (212-736-5000), is an inspiration for Jerry Gray's composition of the same name (with lyrics later added by Carl Sigman). The most popular version was done by Glenn Miller, with the Sister Andrews version not far behind.
Cafe Rouge
The Cafe Rouge was originally the main restaurant in Hotel Pennsylvania. It served as a nightclub for many years, but now operates as a place apart from the hotel completely, as a multi-purpose room. This is the only room in the hotel that escaped significant changes during the massive renovations of the 1980s.
Design
Cafe Rouge is measured 58 by 142 feet (18 by 43 m), with a 22-foot (6.7 m) ceiling height, with the main center level and two terraces on either side. The terrace was raised 18 inches (46 cm). Cafà ©  © is designed with typical Italian characters. Both walls and trim doors are made of terracotta, the walls are artificial limestone, and the ceiling is treated to give effect to the old beam ceiling. The ceiling is studied carefully in color to increase the height of the room, and the ceiling beams have various design carvings. The eastern end of the cafà ©  © has a large floor to the ceiling of the fountain. The CafÃÆ' © has a large curved window that runs along the exterior walls of the room. The curved window design is imitated on the opposite wall. A stage stands on the central floor of the room on the outer wall.
Big band era
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, The Cafà © à © Rouge had a large band remote connection to NBC Radio Network and became famous for the performances held inside. Some artists play inside the Cafà ©  © like The Dorsey Brothers, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and The Andrews Sisters.
One night in November 1939, while in the midst of a stable long-term engagement at Cafe Rouge, bandleader Artie Shaw left the stage between the sets and decided that he had enough business bands and all the hype that had become a year and a half time the leader of the most popular big bands in the country. Shaw is basically out of his own band on the spot; actions that require even the New York Times to comment in the editorial.
From 1940-42, the band Glenn Miller has also repeated long-term bookings in the room for three years as Miller's great popularity as the leading leader of the Swing Era. Glenn Miller and Glenn Miller Orchestra broadcast several live radio shows from Cafà ©  ©; some recorded by RCA Victor. Gray, Shaw's main orchestra from 1937-1939, was soon employed by Miller as a regulatory staff when Shaw left his band; during Miller's 1940 engagement at the hotel that Gray wrote a popular instrumental song that immortalized the hotel's telephone number. The hotel's phone number appears in the title of one of the most famous songs, Pennsylvania 6-5000 .
The band Les Brown, with vocalist Doris Day, introduced their song "Sentimental Journey" in Cafà ©  © in November 1944.
Latest usage
Cafà © à © Rouge is no longer considered part of the Pennsylvania Hotel business and has a separate address and entrance from the street at 145 West 32nd Street. The hotel structure is currently owned by Vornado Realty Trust.
In 2007, for the Garden in Transit project, an adhesive of weatherflower paintings attached to NYC taxes was painted inside the Cafà ©  ©.
The New York City Landmark Conservation Commission reviewed the Cafà © à © Rouge for landmark status based on an evaluation paper made by the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society (formerly the Save Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation) On October 22, 2010, CafÃÆ' © rejected as a candidate for the landmark, most likely due to project 15 Penn Plaza is approved and moderate, but has not spoiled interior changes since its construction. Project 15 Penn Plaza, will include the demolition of Cafà ©  ©.
Most of the original interior decorations remain intact. Fountains and beamed ceilings and other architectural details remain, although the entire room, as well as the ceiling, has been painted white. Many events from 2013 New York Fashion Week are held at Cafe Rouge.
In 2014, Cafà © à © Rouge is converted into an indoor basketball court known as Terminal 23 , to commemorate the launch of Melo M10 by Nike's Jordan Brand division. It provides facilities for young and middle school players.
Important event
On May 6 and 8, 1924, Harry Houdini refuted Joaquin MarÃÆ'a Argamasilla, a 19-year-old Spanish man who claimed to have X-ray vision.
Movie history
- The Hotel Pennsylvania appeared in the 1986 movie The Manhattan Project, as the setting of the science fair. Instead of building a set and filling it with actors, the filmmakers hosted an actual science exhibition at the hotel, and just filmed it as it was going on.
- In 1997, a grand ballroom was hired by the NEP Group and installed in a television studio. This facility is known as the NEP Penn Studio and is a venue for television shows like Maury , Sally Jessy Raphael , 2 Minute Drill , and The People's Court has been recorded, and currently houses The Opposition with Jordan Klepper production.
- In 2009, the old studio in the hotel was rebuilt and consolidated into a 10,000 square foot (930 m 2 ) studio for Sherri's sitcom.
Trivia
Contrary to common floor numbering practices, there is a 13th floor. The hotel states it has 22 floors from the level of the road to the roof, plus three additional levels in the penthouse. The highest penthouse level is numbered as the 21st floor. Non-conformity in floor numbering is caused by several levels of mezzanine type carrying names such as "lobby mezzanine" instead of floor numbers.
Gallery
See also
- Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania)
References
External links
- Official website
- Hotel Preservation Pennsylvania
- The Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Preservation Society page
- Conservation Society page of Pennsylvania Hotel
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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