Park Central Hotel
{{Short description|Hotel in Manhattan, New York}}
{{About|the hotel in Manhattan|other hotels and uses|Park Central (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Park Central Hotel
| image = From the Wellington td 01 - Park Central.jpg
| image_caption =
| building_type = Hotel
| architectural_style = Renaissance revival
| location = 870 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
| address = 860-882 7th Avenue, 201-211 West 55th Street, 200 West 56th Street
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|40|45|53|N|73|58|52|W}}
| completion_date = 1926
| opened_date = June 12, 1927
| height = {{convert|357|ft}}
| floor_count = 25
| architect = Gronenberg & Leuchtag
}}
The Park Central Hotel is a 25-story, 761-room{{cite web | url=https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/870-Seventh-Ave-New-York-NY/18138764/ | title=870 Seventh Ave, New York, NY 10019 }} hotel located southwest of Carnegie Hall at 870 7th Avenue (between West 55th and 56th Streets) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and opened on June 12, 1927. The Park Central is an independent hotel managed by Highgate Holdings.
Description
The Park Central Hotel is named because of its proximity to Central Park, though it does not have views of the park. It was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and has housed such figures as Jackie Gleason, Mae West, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who kept a suite there from 1950 to 1953. It occupies the east half of the city block between Seventh Avenue and Broadway. Anchoring the west half is 1740 Broadway, a 26-story, {{convert|375|ft|m|abbr=|adj=on}} skyscraper formerly owned by Mutual of New York, with a weather beacon as well as an imposing façade.[http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/no-more-mony-in-the-midtown-skyline/ "No More MONY in the Midtown Skyline"] by David W. Dunlap, City Room (The New York Times local news blog), February 4, 2008.]
The Mermaid Room was created as the hotel's cocktail bar and nightclub in the late 1940s. Irving Fields and his trio played there from 1950 to 1966.
History
Park Central Hotel is located on the former site of the Van Corlear building, the first apartment hotel in New York City, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and built in 1879. The Van Corlear was demolished in 1921 to make way for the Park Central Hotel.{{cite web|date=May 7, 2000|title=Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, an Architect Who Left an Indelible Imprint|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/realestate/streetscapes-henry-janeway-hardenbergh-architect-who-left-indelible-imprint.html|work=The New York Times}}
File:Park Central Hotel jeh.JPG
The hotel was built by Harry A. Lanzer and opened on June 12, 1927. Lanzer sold the hotel to Sheraton in 1948 and it became the Park-Sheraton Hotel.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/dickjohnson/6789267603/in/album-72157629162167725/ Park Central Hotel, New York City] by Richard Johnson Sheraton renamed it The New York Sheraton Hotel in 1972, not to be confused with the later Sheraton New York Hotel. In 1983, Sheraton sold the hotel for $60 million{{cite web|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~statler/genealogy/statler/docs/statlerhotels/statlernyt.html|title=New York Times Archive Stories of Statler|website=freepages.rootsweb.com}} to V.M.S. Realty, which contracted with Dunfey Hotels to manage the hotel through their Omni Hotels division, and the hotel was renamed the Omni Park Central in January 1984.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/24/business/new-york-sheraton-sold.html|title=New York Sheraton Sold|date=May 24, 1983|work=The New York Times}} The hotel was sold to developer Ian Bruce Eichner in 1995 and left the Omni chain, reverting to its original name, Park Central Hotel. Eichner converted half the hotel's 1,450 rooms into the Manhattan Club, a 266-unit, all-suite timeshare development located at the north side of the hotel at 200 West 56th Street.
It is infamous as the site of the assassination of mobster Albert Anastasia, which took place on October 25, 1957, in the hotel's barber shop.[https://www.nytimes.com/1957/10/26/archives/anastasia-slain-in-a-hotel-here-led-murder-inc-victims-brothers.html "Anastasia Slain in a Hotel Here; Led Murder, Inc."] by Meyer Berger, The New York Times, pp. 1, 12, October 26, 1957 ([https://nyti.ms/3muouDd Facsimile]) Earlier, in 1928, the Jewish gangster and well-dressed prototype of the modern don, Arnold Rothstein, was shot and fatally wounded inside one of the suites.[https://www.nytimes.com/1928/11/07/archives/rothstein-dies-exconvict-sought-police-think-meehan-in-whose-rooms.html "Rothstein Dies; Ex-convict Sought"], The New York Times, pp. 27, 28, November 7, 1928 ([https://nyti.ms/3Cyjvqm Facsimile)] The silent-film actor Roscoe Arbuckle died in 1933 from a heart attack in his sleep in his suite in the hotel.[https://www.nytimes.com/1933/06/30/archives/dies-in-his-sleep-film-comedian-central-figure-in-coast-tragedy-in.html "Fatty Arbuckle Dies in His Sleep"], The New York Times, p. 17, June 30, 1933 ([https://nyti.ms/3Bwc9CL Facsimile])
The hotel was the venue for the National Football League Draft from 1980 to 1985. Today, the Park Central is an independent hotel managed by Highgate Holdings.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E3D91338F936A35752C0A962948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fM%2fMorgan%20Library|title=New York Day by Day|author1=Susan Heller Anderson|author2=Maurice Carroll|date=January 5, 1984|work=The New York Times}} The facade was renovated in 2007.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Park Central Hotel}}
- {{Official website|http://www.parkcentralny.com|Park Central Hotel official website}}
- {{Official website|http://www.manhattanclub.com/|Manhattan Club official website}}
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| title = Venues of the NFL Draft
| before = Waldorf Astoria New York
| after = New York Marriott Marquis
}}
{{End}}
{{Midtown North, Manhattan}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|40|45|53|N|73|58|52|W|display=title}}
Category:Skyscraper hotels in Manhattan
Category:1927 establishments in New York City
Category:Hotels established in 1927
Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1927
Category:Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City