Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Plaza Hotel (1907): New York's Most Celebrated Symbol of Turn-of-the-Century Splendor Originally constructed between 1905 and 1907, the Plaza Hotel is set back from Fifth Avenue and is prominently located near Grand Army Plaza and the Pulitzer Memorial Fountain. The 1969 New York Landmarks Designation Report said, "By day, the impressive white mass of the Plaza Hotel is visible above the trees in Central Park. By night, the lighted windows and the picturesque silhouette of the high roofs, reminiscent of a French Renaissance Chateau, add a note of beauty to the skyline… the building occupies one of the finest sites in the City and is the most elegant of our great New York hotels…. The boldness of mass and good scale of this eighteen story white brick and marble structure make the Plaza the outstanding example of American hotel architecture of the first decade of the Twentieth Century." Eve Brown, in her book, The Plaza, Its Life and Times, says, “From the cotillion to the bunny hug, to the Charleston, to the frug; from diademed dowager to dancing deb; from Lillian Russell to Eloise; from Elinor Glyn to Eleanor Roosevelt; from Groucho to Gromyko; from Billie Burke to Brigitte Bardot; from Caruso to Ringo; from High Society to Hollywood - through all phases of transition, the Plaza has always managed to be in tune with the times, its dignity unruffled, its good taste unimpaired.”
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
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
About the Author
Stanley Turkel is a recognized authority and consultant in the hotel industry. He specializes in asset management, franchising and litigation support. Prior to forming his consulting firm, Turkel was the Product Line Manager at the International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. overseeing the Sheraton Corporation of America. Earlier, he was the GM of the Summit Hotel and the Drake Hotel. 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.