Built to Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York

By Stanley Turkel

The thirty-two century-old hotels featured in this book have defied the passage of time for a variety of reasons, many explicable, some beyond explanation, all miraculous. For eighteen of them, it was the fortuitous creation of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission in 1965. The landmarks law was enacted in response to the demolition of the iconic Pennsylvania Station in 1963. After 139 years, the following evaluation is still true: "New York is the paradise of hotels. In no other city do they flourish in such numbers, and nowhere else do they attain such a degree of excellence. The hotels of New York naturally take the lead of all others in America, and are regarded by all who have visited them as models of their kind." James D. McCabe, Jr. Lights and Shadows of New York, 1872

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463443405

Stanley Turkel

Stanley Turkel is a recognized authority and consultant in the hotel industry. He specializes in asset management,  hotel franchising and litigation support services. Prior to forming his consulting firm, Turkel was the Product Line Manager for Hotel and Motel Operations at the International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. overseeing the Sheraton Corporation of America. Earlier, he was the General Manager of the Summit Hotel and the Drake Hotel and Resident Manager of the Americana of New York. Turkel serves on the Board of Advisors and lectures at the NYU Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. Turkel is one of the most widely-published authors in the hospitality field. He brings many talents and accomplishments including his broad-based experience, his informed knowledge, his frequent appearances as guest speaker and his sterling reputation for integrity and honesty.

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Built To Last:

100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York

STANLEY TURKEL, CMHS, ISHC

V00_9781463443429_TEXT.pdf

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© 2011 Stanley Turkel, CMHS, ISHC. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/11/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4340-5 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4341-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4342-9 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011914565

Printed in the United States of America

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Antique post cards from the author’s and David Drezner’s collection

Contents

DEDICATION

FOREWORD

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Aberdeen Hotel (1904):

Hotel Albert (1883):

Algonquin Hotel (1902):

Ansonia Hotel (1904):

Hotel Belleclaire (1903):

Hotel Bossert (1909):

Hotel Breslin (1904):

Hotel Chastaignery (1902):

Chelsea Hotel (1884):

City Club of New York (1904):

Cosmopolitan Hotel (1845):

Hotel Earle (1902):

Empire Hotel (1889):

Gotham Hotel (1905):

Harvard Club of New York (1894):

Iroquois New York Hotel (1900):

Keller Hotel (1898):

Knickerbocker Hotel (1906):

Lambs Club (1905):

Lucerne Hotel (1904):

Mansfield Hotel (1903):

Hotel Marseilles (1905):

Martha Washington Hotel (1903):

Hotel Martinique (1910):

Penn Club of New York (1901):

Plaza Hotel (1907):

Prince George Hotel (1904):

Royalton Hotel (1898):

Hotel St. George (1885):

St. Regis Hotel (1905):

Wentworth/Patterson Hotel (1902):

Wolcott Hotel (1904):

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

To my brother Leonard Turkel (1930-2011) who spent most of his life merging family life, business entrepreneurship and civic activism. His legacy includes sit-ins at Grant’s and McCrory’s in 1959; creation of the Adker Community Health Center in Overtown, Miami; renovation of the Dana A. Dorsey Memorial Library; mobile eye-care clinics for school children; midnight basketball for at-risk teenagers; No Blue Roofs, a post-Wilma hurricane program in Dade County to help low-income homeowners with storm repairs and much more.

FOREWORD

By Bjorn Hanson, Ph. D.

Stanley Turkel is unique in his passion about the history of the United States lodging industry; he pursues and shares this passion by compiling information about great hoteliers and hotels for articles, updates for his clients, and this, the second of his two hotel books.

As you discover or rediscover hotels through this book, consider what is a hotel room?… a door, a bed and furniture, a bathroom, a television, a telephone and internet access. Yet design, decoration, marketing, history and presentation of these basic attributes create some of the most interesting, exciting, dramatic and memorable buildings and spaces. Also consider how hotel lobbies have developed to be extraordinarily functional and efficient. There are internal control features (front desks are high, computer screens are recessed, employees enter and exit through employee entrances, there is limited access behind the front desk, the cashier area is usually further from the front door, there are more glass front lobbies), energy considerations (seating areas and the front desk are away from doors, smallness of passages to guest room categories and other areas of a hotel, how there are dark spaces to create interesting aesthetics as well as requiring less lighting, use of light colors and quasi reflective surfaces), payroll and staffing considerations (shared coverage – reception, mail, concierge, convenience retail, self service options – kiosks, key drops, check out using the in-room entertainment systems, a prominent clock to eliminate the question, what is the time?) and revenue maximization (the percent of space for revenue generation with vitrines, coffee carts, lobby bars, local advertising, promotion of the hotel’s amenities and outlets). It is even possible to date a hotel by its lobby; for example the tax code definitions of moveable equipment affected design (front desks were sometimes built one inch from their final placement and a photograph was taken before some really big construction workers grunted as they pushed the front desk into place) to qualify for an investment tax credit from 1980 to 1986. Hotels included in this book were built at varying times when there were different economics, lifestyles, priorities and approaches for these and other attributes.

Stanley Turkel has gathered information that reveals how history, the economy, society, technology and entrepreneurship have created among the most iconic and distinctive hotels in the world. For those who can remember the look of a typical hotel room of 50 years ago, not only their survival, but the success of many of these old hotels makes them even more interesting and prepares us to anticipate the hotel rooms in the future may be as different from today’s typical rooms as today’s typical rooms are from those of 50 years ago.

Enjoy your visit and experience with some of the greatest hotels of any time or place through Stanley’s book.

Bjorn Hanson, Ph. D.

Divisional Dean, Clinical Professor, HVS Chair

Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality

Tourism, and Sports Management

New York University

June 2011

PREFACE

My recognition and appreciation of old hotels commenced early in my career. There were six classic old hotels, in particular, which so impressed me that they sparked the researching and writing of this book:

• Hotel McAlpin (1912), New York, N.Y.; now a condominium apartment building

• Traymore Hotel (1879), Atlantic City, N.J.; demolished

• Drake Hotel (1927), New York, N.Y.; demolished

• French Lick Springs Hotel (1879), French Lick, In.; renovated

• Vernon Manor Hotel (1924), Cincinnati, Oh.; converted to a hospital building

• Pierre Hotel (1931), New York, N.Y.; now a Taj Hotel

I got to know the inside story of the McAlpin and Traymore Hotels as a young man when I landed a job with the leading laundry consulting firm in the United States. Victor Kramer Company’s clients were mostly large state institutions, medical centers and individual hospitals. All of them had large complex laundry facilities and linen control problems. However, one of our clients was the Tisch Hotel Corporation which, among others, operated two classic old hotels: the Hotel McAlpin in New York City and the Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City. Later in my career, I was lucky enough to become the General Manager of the Drake Hotel in New York City. Subsequently, I was recruited by the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation to help oversee the Sheraton Corporation of America, including the French Lick Sheraton Hotel in French Lick, Indiana. Thereafter, my hotel management company operated the Vernon Manor Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio. When I established my own hotel consulting business, I served for six years as asset manager for the owners of the Pierre Hotel overseeing the Four Seasons management. By then, I was hooked on classic old hotels and did as much research as my busy life would permit in anticipation of writing this book.

As preface to my book, here are my recollections of these six unique classic hotels:

1. Hotel McAlpin (1912), New York City

The 1500-room Hotel McAlpin was designed by Frank Mills Andrews (1867-1948), one of the most prolific early 20th century architects and developers, especially of hotels. He studied civil engineering at Iowa State College and Cornell University, worked for the well-known architect George B. Post before establishing his own office in New York in 1910-1914 and 1924-1925. His hotel projects included the Seelbach Hotel, Louisville, Ky.; Hotel Taft, New Haven, Ct.; George Washington Hotel, New York; Hotel Sinclair, Cincinnati, Ohio and the Arlington Hotel, Washington, D.C.. He was also the architect for the State Capitols of Kentucky and Montana. The largest hotel in the world at the time, the New York Times commented that the McAlpin was so tall at 25 stories that it seems isolated from other buildings. The top floor had a state-of-the-art fitness center with Russian and Turkish baths. There was an entire floor set aside for women and children with its own check-in desk. That floor had an outdoor playground and a library, in addition to a large lounge and a hair dressing parlor. Another floor was designated the sleepy 16th for night workers which was kept quiet during the daylight hours.

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The McAlpin family sold the hotel in 1938 to Jamlee Hotels headed by Joseph Levy, president of Crawford Clothes which installed a large Crawford clothing store with an entrance on Broadway. During the Jamlee ownership, the hotel was managed by the Knott Hotel chain until 1952 when the management was taken over by the Tisch Hotel Corporation. It was during the next few years that I served as laundry consultant to all the Tisch hotels including the McAlpin. The hotel had a large, modern central laundry facility in the subbasement which had sufficient capacity to provide service to the other Tisch hotels in New York.

One of my favorite restaurants at that time was the McAlpin’s Marine Grill, an expansive grotto of polychrome terra cotta tiles designed by the artist Frederick Dana Marsh. Christopher Gray, the eminent Streetscapes columnist in the New York Times, wrote in July 23, 1989,

The Marine Grill is a forest of tile-clad piers that curve up and form great curved vaults, all in a glazed riot of ornament and color- brown, green, cream, silver and scarlet. Giant semicircles along the walls carry faience panels depicting the maritime history of New York…. Architectural Review in 1913 wrote if there is any limit to the possibilities of colored clay for decorative purposes, this is it and credits the overall tile work to the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company and the hotel’s architect, Frank M. Andrews.

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But in Spring 1989, when the restaurant closed, historic preservationists were concerned about the future of Marine Grill’s tile work. Their worst fears were realized when the non-profit group Friends of Terra Cotta, saw dumpsters outside the hotel filled with fragments from the murals. Rescue efforts were eventually successful when the tiles were reassembled under the direction of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Arts for Transit Program and installed in the Broadway/Nassau Station on the A-line subway.

In the late 1970s, the building was converted to 700 rental apartments and in 2001, to condominiums and now operates under the name Herald Towers.

2. Traymore Hotel (1879), Atlantic City, N.J.

This resort in Atlantic City began as a small boarding house in 1879. Over the years, the Traymore expanded and ultimately grew into the city’s largest hotel with 450 rooms. By 1906, owner Daniel White hired the famous architectural firm of Price and McLanahan to add a new wing and subsequently a majestic 14-story masterpiece with 600 rooms and a Grand Ballroom large enough to hold 4000 guests. It opened in 1915 and long before Donald Trump, it was described in 1924 as the Taj Mahal of Atlantic City. William Lightfoot Price (1861-1916), was an influential American architect, a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete and a founder of the utopian communities of Arden, Delaware and Rose Valley, Pennsylvania. Along with partner Martin Hawley McLanahan, Price’s work in Miami established the American Art Deco style several years before the 1925 French exhibition that gave the style its name. Before the Traymore, Price’s most famous building was the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel (1905-06) on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. As Atlantic City declined in the 1960s, the Traymore suffered as well and by 1972, the Traymore was demolished in the largest-ever controlled demolition. Four years later gambling was legalized in Atlantic City.

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In its heyday, the Traymore provided the entire resort experience, lodging, shopping, dining, dancing, salt-water bathing and other activities in a themed setting. What most guests didn’t know (but I did) was that the hotel’s laundry was inexplicably located on the eleventh floor in one wing. This provided surprise vibrations when the humatic extractors started to operate at 7 AM. It may have been the only hotel laundry with an ocean view.

3. Drake Hotel (1927), New York City

The Drake Hotel, Park Avenue at 56th Street, was built in 1927, with 21 floors when it opened its doors in the Roaring Twenties. Bing and Bing, noted builders, owned and operated the hotel for more than 35 years. In the early 1960s, entrepreneur William Zeckendorf acquired the hotel, added a new wing with 150 guest rooms and opened New York’s first discotheque, Shepheard’s. In 1965, the Tisch brothers acquired the Drake and hired me to be Loews first General Manager. My memories are, therefore, based on the two and a half years that I served as GM.

The hotel’s restaurant was the Drake Room which opened in December 21, 1945 and was a success from the start with its unique ceramic tree, great food, and impeccable service under the direction of Maitre de, Nino Schiavone. Stars of the entertainment world, bankers and politicians made the Drake Room one of the most cosmopolitan restaurants in New York. It featured Cy Walter, the great salon piano player who remained a fixture for six years. When I became GM, I brought Cy Walter back to the Drake Room and got MGM Records to produce a fabulous LP: Cy Walter at The Drake, with a cover photograph of Cy at a Steinway grand piano on the 56th Street sidewalk under the Drake Hotel porte cochere.

The most famous and successful discotheque in Manhattan was Shepheard’s at the Drake which was open seven days a week for cocktails, dinner and supper with continuous dancing from 7:30 PM to 3AM. Luncheon was served Monday through Friday and special brunch on Sunday from noon to 4PM. At lunch there were fashion shows and for some years, at noon time, a talk radio program on WNBC featuring the Metropolitan Opera’s Mimi Benzell as hostess with famous guests. I often filled in for a guest who failed to show up.

We printed and distributed a card entitled, How to Do the Newest Discotheque Dances at Shepheard’s in New York’s Drake Hotel with step-by-step instructions to dance the Jerk, Watusi, Frug and the Monkey. Killer Joe Piro’s party was regular feature at Shepheard’s. The discotheque was so successful that patrons lined up on 56th Street and around the corner on Park Avenue to wait (even on the winter’s coldest nights) to be admitted where they paid a hefty cover charge to dance to disco music.

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The Drake’s guest list included such famous classical musicians as Alicia del la Rocha, Dame Myra Hess and Glenn Gould. Also celebrities like Milton Berle, Leon Bibb, Paul Anka, Muhammed Ali (soft spoken and kind), Barry Goldwater and many more.

On my office wall, the following framed note on Drake Hotel letterhead with a signed photograph is hung in a prominent location:

Dear Mr. Turkel,

I was very touched by your remembering my birthday and sending me this lovely bottle of Moèt et Chandon, which we drank with great pleasure. At the same time, I wanted to tell you that we find ourselves very comfortable in the Drake and are delighted with the service and attention we get.

Sincerely yours,

Artur Rubenstein

(world- famous classical pianist)

In 2006, the Drake was sold for $440 million to Harry Macklowe who demolished it in 2007.

4. French Lick Springs Hotel (1879), French Lick, In.

The first hotel built on this site opened in 1845 to take advantage of the natural sulphur springs and Pluto mineral water. The original hotel burned down in 1897 but was rebuilt on a grander scale by Thomas Taggert, the mayor of Indianapolis (and later a U.S. Senator). The Monon Railroad built a spur directly to the hotel grounds with daily passenger service to Chicago. Casino gambling, although illegal, flourished at the resort. In its heyday in the Roaring Twenties, the surrounding Spring Valley had 30 hotels and 15 clubs. At the time, it was a lively community for gamblers, politicians, sport figures, entertainers and gangsters. The town got its name from the French traders who founded it and the salty mineral deposits that attracted wildlife.

During the Prohibition years, French Lick had 13 casinos, all of them illegal. Famous guests who visited French Lick included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Adlai E. Stevenson, the Marx Brothers, Joe Louis, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

The Donald Ross golf course at the French Lick Resort reopened in September 2006 unveiling a $4.6 million restoration of the famed course where Walter Hagen won the PGA championship in 1924. Hagen closed out Englishman James Barnes on the 36th and final hole of the two-round match-play championship. Similarly, Betsey Rawls walked off the 72nd hole in 1959 with an LPGA Championship defeating Patty Berg.

In the 1950s Sheraton acquired the six-hundred room French Lick Springs Hotel plus 1700 acres of land, the makings of an artificial lake, a shooting range, bridle paths, sulphur baths and two championship golf courses. After extensive remodeling, air-conditioning and modernizing, Sheraton president Ernest Henderson wrote that the renovated resort is definitely one of the brighter stars in the Sheraton constellation. However, despite hotel-sponsored jazz and music festivals featuring Duke Ellington and Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops, the hotel never fulfilled Henderson’s prediction. It was during these years that I visited the French Lick Sheraton Hotel when I served as the Product Line Manager for Hotels at the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation.

Under new ownership in 2006, the French Lick Springs Resort reopened after a two-year historic renovation of its 443 guestrooms, restaurants, casino, spa and golf course. The French Lick Resort’s new casino is apparently as luxurious and bigger than the original. The 84,000 square-foot casino features 1,200 slot machines and dozens of blackjack, roulette, craps and poker tables. The Resort has eight new restaurants, six-lane bowling, indoor tennis, riding stables and promenade shops. The casino is built in the shape of a riverboat and is surrounded by a moat (in accordance with a 1993 state law which permits gambling only on riverboats). French Lickers call it the Boat in the Moat.

5. Vernon Manor Hotel (1924), Cincinnati, Oh.

Since 1924, the nine-story Vernon Manor Hotel has maintained a stately presence in Cincinnati’s Pill Hill district, not far from the University of Cincinnati. It was built as a retreat for wealthy Cincinnati residents on one of the city’s Seven Hills to escape from the busy downtown Riverfront district and to enjoy wonderful service and a fabulous view.

The hotel was designed to emulate the style and character of Hatfield House, the ancestral home of the earls of Percy in Hertfordshire, England. The forward-thinking architect, Frederick W. Garber provided the most modern conveniences, including fireproof floors and refrigerators in every room. His blueprints included large guest rooms, a variety of suites, wide corridors, and gardens with wonderful oak trees. This spaciousness attracted long-term guests and many permanent residents. Their presence helped the Vernon Manor Hotel to weather the tough times that many elite hotels of the era were unable to endure. Architect Frederick W. Garber (1877-1950) partnered with Clifford B. Woodward (1880-1932). They were students together, business partners and brothers-in-law. They attended Cincinnati Technical School, worked as draftsmen for Elzner & Anderson in Cincinnati and attended a two-year course in architecture at M.I.T. Garber was a fellow of the AIA and a member of its Board of Directors. He also served on the visiting committee of the art and archeological department of Princeton University. The Vernon Manor ultimately emerged as the oldest continuously operating hotel in Cincinnati.

Through the years, notable personalities such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bob Dylan, Pete Rose, Liza Minnelli, Kevin Bacon, Keanu Reeves, Tiger Woods, several presidents and many others come to enjoy this haven. The Beatles stayed here when on tour and one of the suites was named in their honor. There were 177 guest rooms in this impressive facility. In addition, the hotel was center stage for the 1988 Oscar- winning movie Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The address that Hoffman’s character frequently uttered, 400 Oak Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, is actually that of the Vernon Manor Hotel.

From 1983 to 1986, the Vernon Manor was acquired by Jay Thompson Properties who embarked on an extensive renovation program. During those years the hotel was managed by the Sterling Management company which was owned and operated by me and my partner, Dieter Seelig. The Forum Grill offered a spectacular Friday night Seafood Festival and one of the most renowned Sunday brunches in the city. During the three years that we managed, the Vernon Manor had strong occupancies and excellent food and beverage revenues.

The Vernon Manor closed on March 31, 2009 due to deteriorating market conditions. In June 2011, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center will begin converting the 87-year old building into supplementary office, research and laboratory facilities.

6. Hotel Pierre (1931), New York City

Did you read that a penthouse triplex at the Hotel Pierre in New York City was for sale for $70 million, the highest price ever listed for a New York hotel residence? At 13,660 square feet, that works out to $5,124 per square foot. The major feature of the triplex of the triplex is the 3,500 square foot Grand Salon which was the Club Pierrot, an exclusive supper club when the hotel opened. But in the depths of the Depression, the Club disbanded after only three months. Later, the Pierre Roof was the favored site for debutante receptions, weddings and gala banquets. It often featured Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm orchestra. During hot New York summers before effective air conditioning, the Pierre advertised the highest and coolest hotel roof in Manhattan to compete with the Starlight Roof of the Waldorf-Astoria.

In 1928, millionaire Elbridge T. Gerry died leaving a large family house at 61st Street and Fifth Avenue to his son who did not want it. Backed by a group of financiers who admired his talent, restaurateur-turned-hotelier Charles Pierre Casalasco raised the then-astounding sum of $15 million from a group of investors that included Otto H. Kahn, Finley J. Shepherd, E. F. Hutton and Walter P. Chrysler to create a hotel that he hoped would be a majestic monument to simplicity, beauty and refinement.

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Designed by Schultze & Weaver (who also designed the Waldorf-Astoria and the Sherry-Netherland), the 42-floor, 714-room hotel offered very large suites and mixed permanent residents with transient guests.

During the Depression, the Pierre went into bankruptcy in 1932 and was bought six years later by John Paul Getty for $2.5 million. In 1958, Getty converted the Pierre into a cooperative and subsequently sold some of the hotel’s suites to the likes of Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor. Some 70 coop-owners purchased ownership of the 200 transient guestrooms, restaurant, lounges, meeting rooms and public spaces. Getty built an adjacent office building and leased space on the second floor to the Pierre for an enlarged ballroom. Soon thereafter, the Pierre Roof ballroom was closed because the new coop owners did not want to wait for elevator service when the rooftop ballroom was in use. For some 30 years thereafter, the rooftop ballroom was used by the hotel for storage of old hotel files, records, furniture, equipment and for an upholstery shop.

In the early morning hours of January 2, 1972, five men carrying suitcases and wearing tuxedos entered the lobby of the Pierre Hotel. They proceeded to handcuff 19 startled guests and employees and in less than two-and-a- half hours took from its safe deposit boxes an estimated $10 million in precious gems and cash. The story of this Guinness Book record-holder robbery is told in Ira Berkow’s, The Man Who Robbed