The Ansonia

The Ansonia is at 2109 Broadway, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the eastern end of a trapezoidal city block bounded by Broadway to the east, 74th Street to the north, West End Avenue to the west, and 73rd Street to the south.{{cite AIA4|page=378}} The land lot covers {{cvt|44375|ft2}}.{{Cite web |title=2126 Broadway, 10023 |url=https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/1165/7503 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315143836/https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/1165/7503 |url-status=live}} The site has frontage of about {{Cvt|185|ft}} on 74th Street, {{Cvt|218|ft}} on Broadway, and {{Cvt|249|ft}} on 73rd Street.{{cite news |date=August 12, 1945 |title=Hotel Ansonia Being Sold by Stokes Concern: Sales Contract Calls for Sum in Excess of $2,500,000 Cost 4 Million in 1904 Miss Lydia C. Willard |page=A11 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325073095}}}}{{Cite news |date=September 30, 1911 |title=Stokes to Give Son Biggest City Hotel; Ansonia, Just Leased for Thirty Ears at $9,000,000, Will Be Owned by 15-Year-Old Boy. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/09/30/archives/stokes-to-give-son-biggest-city-hotel-ansonia-just-leased-for.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313181942/https://www.nytimes.com/1911/09/30/archives/stokes-to-give-son-biggest-city-hotel-ansonia-just-leased-for.html |url-status=live}} It occupies what was originally 42 land lots.{{cite news |date=August 19, 1945 |title=Syndicate Gets Ansonia Hotel September 17: Upper Broadway Building Will Be Held by Rexby Realty Corp. As Investment |page=A11 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1267880098}}}} The Ansonia is on a curved section of Broadway, which runs diagonally to the Manhattan street grid to the south, but which parallels other avenues to the north. Prior to the development of larger structures on Broadway, the building was originally visible from as far south as 59th Street and as far north as 105th Street.{{harvnb|Stern|Gilmartin|Massengale|1983|ps=.|p=385}}

The building is near several other notable structures, including the Rutgers Presbyterian Church to the south, the Hotel Beacon and Beacon Theatre to the northeast, the Apple Bank Building to the east, and the Dorilton one block south. Directly south of the Ansonia is Verdi Square and an entrance for the New York City Subway's 72nd Street station, serving the {{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh}}.{{cite web |url=http://web.mta.info/maps/neighborhoods/mn/M13_upper_west_side_2015.pdf |title=MTA Neighborhood Maps: Upper West Side |year=2015 |website=mta.info |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority |access-date=December 30, 2016 |archive-date=May 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518222150/http://web.mta.info/maps/neighborhoods/mn/M13_upper_west_side_2015.pdf |url-status=live}}

The city's first subway line was developed starting in the late 1890s, and it opened in 1904 with a station at Broadway and 72nd Street.{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=James Blaine |url=https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsrapid00walkgoog |title=Fifty Years of Rapid Transit — 1864 to 1917 |date=1918 |publisher=Law Printing |location=New York, N.Y. |pages=148, 186}} The construction of the subway spurred the development of high-rise apartment buildings on the Upper West Side along Broadway; many of these buildings were constructed on land that had never been developed.{{harvnb|Stern|Gilmartin|Massengale|1983|ps=.|p=383}}{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=June 14, 2018 |title=Untrodden Broadway: The Hidden Gems of a World-Famous Street |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/arts/design/broadway-walking-tour-hidden-gems.html |access-date=March 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231052/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/arts/design/broadway-walking-tour-hidden-gems.html |url-status=live}} The Ansonia was one of several large apartment buildings developed on the Upper West Side in the early 1900s, along with such structures as the Dorilton and the Astor.{{cite news |date=December 23, 1900 |title=West End Gossip |page=12 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570887111}}}}{{cite magazine |date=March 26, 1910 |title=The Apartment Houses of New York |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_045&page=ldpd_7031148_045_00000691&no=7 |magazine=The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide |volume=85 |pages=644–645 |via=columbia.edu |number=2193 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308202329/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_045&page=ldpd_7031148_045_00000691&no=7 |url-status=live}}

The Ansonia was built as a residential hotel and is designed in the Beaux-Arts style, with ornamentation such as brackets, moldings, scrolls, and medallions.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|page=158}} Its developer, William Earl Dodge Stokes, listed himself as "architect-in-chief" for the project and hired French architect Paul Emile Duboy to draw up the plans.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=October 31, 1993 |title=Streetscapes/The Ansonia; Changes for the Better, But Still a Long Way to Go |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/31/realestate/streetscapes-the-ansonia-changes-for-the-better-but-still-a-long-way-to-go.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310014849/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/31/realestate/streetscapes-the-ansonia-changes-for-the-better-but-still-a-long-way-to-go.html |url-status=live}} Duboy made only one set of drawings before Stokes demoted him to a draftsman, and it is not known how much of the Ansonia's final design is derived from Duboy's original plans, as Stokes modified them later.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|pages=33–35}} The New Orleans architect Martin Shepard served as draftsman and assistant superintendent of construction,Shepard, Martin. Undated resume. Martin Shepard Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. while George Vassar's Son & Co. built the structure.{{Cite news |date=February 10, 1928 |title=George Vassar Dies After an Operation; Builder of Standard Oil Building and Ansonia Hotel Was 70 Years Old. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/02/10/archives/george-vassar-dies-after-an-operation-builder-of-standard-oil.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153206/https://www.nytimes.com/1928/02/10/archives/george-vassar-dies-after-an-operation-builder-of-standard-oil.html |url-status=live}} The building was named for industrialist Anson Green Phelps,{{Cite news |last=Richterman |first=Anita |date=June 19, 1986 |title=Problem Line |pages=221 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120657961/problem-lineanita-richterman/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221311/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120657961/problem-lineanita-richterman/ |url-status=live}} the developer's grandfather.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|page=35}}{{harvnb|National Park Service|1980|ps=.|p=3}}

The Ansonia is 17 stories tall.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|page=156}} Early plans called for the building to be 12 stories,{{cite news |date=September 21, 1900 |title=Want Taxes Cut for Loss of Trees: W. E. D. Stokes Says Property in Upper Broadway Is Hurt and Suggests Plan to Save Elms |page=6 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570827172}}}} 14 stories, or more than 20 stories. In a letter to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the developer's son William Earl Dodge Stokes Jr. claimed that "they just put one floor on top of another and they got up to the seventeenth floor, and they decided they wouldn't build any more".{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=173}} Other sources have cited the Ansonia as being 16{{cite news |date=September 29, 1911 |title=News of the Realty Market: Hotel Ansonia Leased Sales in the Back Bay South and West Ends Active Investing in Chicago Dorchester Transfers Downtown Business Corner South End Sales Charlestown Sales Suffolk Registry Transfers Building Notices |page=8 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|193787899}}}} or 18 stories tall.

File:The Ansonia (2).jpg

The Ansonia measures about {{cvt|200|by|200|ft}}.{{harvnb|National Park Service|1980|ps=.|p=2}} The building includes turrets with cupolas at its corners and light courts along each side. Early drawings also called for a large tower at the building's center, but this was dropped in the final design. There are two light courts each on 73rd and 74th Streets and one light court along Broadway. This gives the building an irregular "H" shape, which allowed each guestroom, suite, and apartment to receive as much natural light as possible.{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1972|ps=.|p=1}}

The Ansonia has a facade of limestone, granite, white brick, and terracotta.{{cite news |date=January 26, 1901 |title=Magnificent Hotel: William E. D. Stokes Erecting a Five Million-Dollar Monument to His Own and His Father's Name. |page=1 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |id={{ProQuest|164105029}}}} The base is clad with rusticated blocks of limestone, and there are balconies just above the base and near the top of the building. On 73rd Street is a {{cvt|27|ft|adj=on}} archway (which originally led to a tea room) and two full-height windows, which were restored in the 2000s as part of the construction of a North Face store at the building's base. All three windows, which had been hidden behind a masonry wall for several decades, have cast-iron frames and large roundel windows.{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=June 29, 2003 |title=Postings: Windows Revealed and Restored; North Face Store Gives Ansonia a Face Lift |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/realestate/postings-windows-revealed-restored-north-face-store-gives-ansonia-face-lift.html |access-date=March 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231047/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/realestate/postings-windows-revealed-restored-north-face-store-gives-ansonia-face-lift.html |url-status=live}}

On the intermediate stories are French windows with elaborate iron balconies.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Martha |date=July 16, 1987 |title=Inside the Ansonia |page=12 |work=Newsday |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|277797720}}}} The balconies, many of which span several bays, visually divide the facade into several groups of windows. Some parts of the facade are characterized by smooth brickwork, limestone, and terracotta details, while other sections are ornamented with quoins and rusticated limestone blocks. The facade was decorated with Louis XVI style grilles and scrollwork, leading the Ansonia to be nicknamed "the Wedding Cake of the Upper West Side". The building is topped by a convex mansard roof, which measures three stories high. Prior to World War II, the building had a copper cornice and seven copper cartouches, each weighing {{cvt|4|to|5|ST|LT t}}.{{Cite news |date=September 19, 1942 |title=Ansonia to Scrap High Ornaments To Obtain Tons of Copper for War; Hotel to Remove Cartouches From Roof Cornice as Part of Its Campaign to Save 100,000 Pounds of Metal |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/09/19/archives/ansonia-to-scrap-high-ornaments-to-obtain-tons-of-copper-for-war.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314162751/https://www.nytimes.com/1942/09/19/archives/ansonia-to-scrap-high-ornaments-to-obtain-tons-of-copper-for-war.html |url-status=live}} Each domed cupola is topped by finials and widow's walk rooftop platforms.

When the Ansonia opened in the 1900s, it covered {{cvt|550000|ft2}}. Sources disagree on the size of the hotel, which has been variously cited as having 1,400 guestrooms and 340 suites,{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=174}}{{cite web |last=Mattimore |first=Ryan |date=November 15, 2016 |title=Basement Bathhouse, Rooftop Farm, Symphonies and Scandals in Between |url=https://www.mcny.org/story/basement-bathhouse-rooftop-farm-symphonies-and-scandals-between |access-date=March 11, 2023 |website=Museum of the City of New York |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221311/https://www.mcny.org/story/basement-bathhouse-rooftop-farm-symphonies-and-scandals-between |url-status=live}} or 1,218 guestrooms and 400 suites. One source described the hotel as having 2,500 total rooms (including rooms in individual apartments).{{Cite magazine |last=Stephenson |first=Walter T. |date=Oct 1903 |title=Hotels and Hotel Life in New York |magazine=the Pall Mall Magazine |volume=31 |issue=126 |page=256 |id={{ProQuest|6573113}}}}{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|page=157}} There were about 400 full bathrooms and about 600 additional sinks and toilets; at the time of the Ansonia's construction, it was the largest-ever plumbing contract. Of the 340 original apartments 222 were classified as housekeeping suites, whose residents could hire one or two servants who lived in the apartment.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|page=159}} The modern-day Ansonia has 425 apartments, as well as a garage and a rooftop terrace.{{cite web |last=Warerkar |first=Tanay |date=June 18, 2018 |title=Ansonia Pad with Porthole Windows, Skylights Asks $1.6M |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2018/6/18/17475522/ansonio-upper-west-side-porthole-windows-condo-for-sale |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314191902/https://ny.curbed.com/2018/6/18/17475522/ansonio-upper-west-side-porthole-windows-condo-for-sale |url-status=live}}

The hotel was also planned with "more and finer banquet halls, assembly rooms, and reception rooms than any other hotel". All of the public rooms were decorated in the Louis XIV style. An art curator, Joseph Gilmartin, was hired to display the hotel's collection of 600 paintings.

The hotel contained about {{cvt|175|mi}} of pipe, about ten times as much as in similarly sized office buildings. The pipes carried gas; hot, cold, and iced water; electrical wiring; and sewage.{{cite news |date=August 17, 1902 |title=The Ansonia: An Up to Date Specimen of Apartment Architecture |page=B11 |work=New-York Tribune |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120774982/the-ansonia/ |access-date=March 13, 2023 |id={{ProQuest|571153982}} |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313164936/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120774982/the-ansonia/ |url-status=live }} The boilers had a total capacity of {{cvt|1400|hp}}. The building had its own power plant with coal-fired generators. The power plant occupied one-fourth of the basement. The Ansonia also included an air-filtration plant, which drew air from the western side of the building; the air was filtered, heated in the sub-basement, and distributed to each room through pipes in the walls. Air was ventilated from a flue on the roof.

There were originally six elevators for guests, two elevators for housekeepers, two freight elevators, and numerous dumbwaiters.{{Cite news |date=September 13, 1903 |title=A Village Under One Roof Is Ansonia Apartment Hotel: Accommodates 3,000 People and the Great Building Is Now New York's Show Place |page=D2 |work=Courier-Journal |id={{ProQuest|1016275244}}}} Although the Otis Elevator Company had offered to install elevators in the building, Stokes considered them too expensive, so he created his own elevator company and his own hydraulic-elevator model, which could travel at up to {{cvt|400|ft/min}}.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=176}} Upon the Ansonia's opening in 1903, it was cited as having 362 telephones, 18,000 electric burners, 2,500 steam radiators, 400 refrigerators, and 1,000 faucets. The building also had 600 toilets and 400 washrooms, more than any other residential building in New York City at the time.

In the basement was a shopping arcade with a butcher, a barber, and a laundry room. There was also a theater, bakery, a milk shop, hairdressers' salons, cold-storage vaults, safe-deposit vaults, and a vehicular garage, in addition to a liquor store and milliners' shop. The basement reportedly had the world's largest indoor swimming pool at the time of the Ansonia's completion, The swimming pool was cited as measuring either {{cvt|90|by|40|ft}}{{cite news |date=December 29, 1912 |title=Hotel Ansonia—New York |page=11A |work=Nashville Tennessean and the Nashville American |id={{ProQuest|905594096}}}} or {{cvt|100|by|32|ft}}. The Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse operated by Steve Ostrow, began operating within the Ansonia's basement in 1967 or 1968.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=193}}{{Cite news |last=Auer |first=Jeff |date=May–June 2008 |title=Bette at the Bathhouse |volume=15 |pages=26–27, 29 |work=The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide |issue=3 |id={{ProQuest|198687752}}}} The bathhouse had "private encounter rooms", a sauna, a massage parlor, and Turkish baths.{{cite magazine |last=Marx |first=Patricia |date=April 16, 2007 |title=Do I Look Fat? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/23/do-i-look-fat |access-date=March 12, 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312193729/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/23/do-i-look-fat |url-status=live}} From 1977 to 1980, the Ansonia's basement housed Plato's Retreat, a club for heterosexual couples{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=196–197}} characterized in The New York Times as a swingers' sex club.{{Cite news |date=February 6, 1981 |title=The City; Owners of Sex Club Indicted in Tax Case |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/06/nyregion/the-city-owners-of-sex-club-indicted-in-tax-case.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201521/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/06/nyregion/the-city-owners-of-sex-club-indicted-in-tax-case.html |url-status=live}} The space was accessed by a mirrored staircase, and also featured a 60-person Jacuzzi, an "orgy room", a dance floor, and private rooms. In the 1990s, the basement was converted into storefront space.

The ground floor was devoted to public rooms and consisted of various offices and corridors. Originally, there were several storefronts at ground level, including a bank, a florist, and a pharmacy.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=May 8, 2014 |title=Upper West Side Facade Snatchers |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/realestate/upper-west-side-facade-snatchers.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309221111/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/realestate/upper-west-side-facade-snatchers.html |url-status=live}} The hotel's lobby included a fountain with live seals{{cite web |date=February 13, 2013 |title=From Utopia to Scandal to Luxury, The History of the Ansonia |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2013/2/13/10273862/from-utopia-to-scandal-to-luxury-the-history-of-the-ansonia |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231050/https://ny.curbed.com/2013/2/13/10273862/from-utopia-to-scandal-to-luxury-the-history-of-the-ansonia |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=175}} and was flanked by two banks of elevators. Next to the main entrance, on 73rd Street, was a palm court and assembly room. The ground-floor restaurant, decorated with chandeliers and hand-painted murals, could fit 550 people and included a balcony from which an orchestra performed at night.{{cite news |date=February 14, 1903 |title=The Ansonia Practically Finished |page=7 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|571328554}}}} Also on the ground floor was a small grill room. There was a ballroom on the second floor, which was briefly converted into a mini-golf course in 1929.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=189–190}} In the 21st century, American Musical and Dramatic Academy occupied the lower stories, with a theater, studios, private rooms, and performance spaces.{{cite web |title=The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, New York |website=AMDA |url=https://www.amda.edu/campuses/new-york |access-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-date=March 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318170829/https://www.amda.edu/campuses/new-york |url-status=live }}

The top stories included a restaurant and a roof garden. The restaurant, on the 16th floor, was designed in an English style and could fit 1,300 people. During the summer, orchestras played music in the roof garden. The hotel's roof included a small farm, where Stokes kept farm animals next to his personal apartment, as well as a cattle elevator next to the farm. Stokes's decision to create a roof farm was influenced by his belief that the Ansonia could be either partially or fully self-sufficient.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=176–177}} The farm housed bears, chickens, ducks, goats, and hogs;{{Cite news |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=December 31, 2006 |title=Semis in the City |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/nyregion/thecity/31fyi.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312222902/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/nyregion/thecity/31fyi.html |url-status=live}} it also reportedly housed four geese and a pig owned by W. E. D. Stokes. Every day, a bellhop delivered free or half-priced fresh eggs to all tenants. The New York City Department of Health raided the roof farm in November 1907 after receiving a tip about it. In a failed effort to prevent its closure as an illegal farm, W. E. D. Stokes claimed the animals belonged to his son, W. E. D. "Weddie" Stokes Jr.{{Cite news |date=November 12, 1907 |title=W.E.D. Stokes Saves His Son's Pet Pig; Also Rescues Four Wild Geese When Health Board Threatens a Raid |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/11/12/archives/wed-stokes-saves-his-sons-pet-pig-also-rescues-four-wild-geese-when.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312222902/https://www.nytimes.com/1907/11/12/archives/wed-stokes-saves-his-sons-pet-pig-also-rescues-four-wild-geese-when.html |url-status=live}} Thereafter, the farm was closed, and the animals were sent to Central Park.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=177}} When Weddie was 12 years old, he installed a radio transmitter on the roof of the hotel.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=187}} For a short time in 1929, the roof contained handball courts.

The hotel had two interior staircases and several fire escapes when it was completed. Leading from the lobby was a large stairwell, characterized as a spiral staircase.{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=July 22, 1982 |title=Design Notebook |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/22/garden/design-notebook.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221311/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/22/garden/design-notebook.html |url-status=live}} The marble-and-iron stairway was intended to complement the lobby's marble floor, which was designed in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. The stairway was topped by a skylight, which was blacked out during World War II. The building reportedly had about {{cvt|4.5|mi|m}} of hallways in total. Hallways measured {{cvt|10|ft}} wide. Each story also had a hall attendant, a cold-storage pantry, a serving room where food from the kitchen could be delivered, and a reception room with communal toilets. On the 17th floor were rooms for staff.

File:Typical floor plan of the Ansonia (NYPL b11389518-417150).jpgResidents lived in "luxurious" apartments with multiple bedrooms, parlors, libraries, and formal dining rooms. The smallest units had one room and one bath, while the largest units had 18 rooms with several baths and toilets.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|pages=157–158}} Generally, the apartments were designed in the French Renaissance style with enameled woodwork. The suites had mahogany doors that were twice the width of normal doors, and the apartments were decorated with paintings from the hotel's collection. Other decorations included Persian rugs, domes with crystal chandeliers, and art glass windows. Long-term tenants were allowed to add their own furniture. The rooms had several doorways so they could easily be combined into a larger apartment. To facilitate this, the floors and moldings all had a uniform design so they would not look out of place when several rooms were merged.{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Trish |date=October 18, 1998 |title=In Combining Apartments, 1 + 1 = 2+ |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/realestate/in-combining-apartments-1-1-2.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/realestate/in-combining-apartments-1-1-2.html |url-status=live}} Some of the rooms were designed in unconventional shapes such as ovals, circles, and heraldic shields.

Each apartment's ceiling measured {{cvt|12|ft}} or {{cvt|14|ft}} tall.{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Joan |date=March 12, 1984 |title=A Landmark Struggle |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652701/a-landmark-strugglejoan-shepard/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221315/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652701/a-landmark-strugglejoan-shepard/ |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |access-date=March 11, 2023 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=272}} The building had extremely thick masonry walls measuring between {{cvt|1|and|3|ft}} thick,{{cite magazine |last=DeNitto |first=Emily |date=April 29, 1996 |title=Made-Over Grande Dame Set for Coming-Out Party |magazine=Crain's New York Business |page=12 |volume=12 |issue=18 |id={{ProQuest|219173786}}}} which made each apartment nearly soundproof. The thickness of the walls might be derived from Stokes's mistrust of insurance companies and his desire to make the structure fireproof.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|pages=158–159}} There were also reportedly {{Convert|175|mi}} of pipes and tubes laid throughout the building. Embedded in the walls was a system of pneumatic tubes, which allowed residents and staff to communicate easily. Each apartment had a landline for long-distance calling and call bells to summon staff; there was also a hall attendant on every floor. The walls also included a system of pipes that carried freezing brine, which was characterized as an early version of an air-conditioning system. The brine pipes allowed the building to maintain a constant temperature of {{cvt|70|F|C}} year-round. Many of the smaller guestrooms initially did not have kitchens because they were intended for short-term guests; instead, there were refrigerators in these units. Apartments with kitchens were equipped with electric ranges.

After the Ansonia was converted to condominiums, many of the old apartments were combined. Some apartments on the south side of the building retained their original layouts in the 2010s.{{cite web |last=Plitt |first=Amy |date=February 7, 2018 |title=Epic Ansonia Combo Pad with Turret, Wraparound Terrace Lists for $16M |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16986590/upper-west-side-ansonia-renovated-apartment-for-sale |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524175614/https://ny.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16986590/upper-west-side-ansonia-renovated-apartment-for-sale |url-status=live}}

During the early 19th century, apartment developments in the city were generally associated with the working class. By the late 19th century, apartments were also becoming desirable among the middle and upper classes.{{cite NY1930|page=206}} Between 1880 and 1885, more than ninety apartment buildings were developed in the city.{{cite magazine |date=February 7, 1885 |title=How the Great Apartment Houses Have Paid |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031138_001&page=ldpd_7031138_001_00000152&no=10 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=35 |issue=882 |pages=127–128 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506014424/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031138_001&page=ldpd_7031138_001_00000152&no=10 |archive-date=May 6, 2022 |access-date=May 6, 2022}} Meanwhile, the Ansonia's developer William E. D. Stokes, an heir to the wealthy Stokes family, developed and bought real estate on the Upper West Side in the late 19th century.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|page=33}} From 1887 to 1890, Stokes bought land at the intersection of 73rd Street and Broadway, but he did not redevelop the land immediately. According to the writer Elizabeth Hawes, the Ansonia was one of Stokes's "dream houses", along with a townhouse at 4 East 54th Street that he built but never occupied.

File:Ansonia apartments LC-D4-17421 crop.jpg

Stokes established the Onward Construction Company specifically to develop the hotel;{{cite news |date=February 25, 1946 |title=Hotel Ansonia On Broadway Is Transferred: After 48 Years the Stokes Ownership Is Ended; New Interests Hold Landmark |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=25A |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1291151454}}}} the company was named after one of the Stokes family's racehorses. In July 1899, the Onward Construction Company acquired additional land on the western side of Broadway between 73rd and 74th Streets, and the Equitable Life Assurance Society placed a $500,000 mortgage loan on the site.{{Cite news |date=July 21, 1899 |title=Real Estate News |pages=9 |work=The Sun |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120770526/real-estate-news/ |access-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154643/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120770526/real-estate-news/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=July 21, 1899 |title=In the Real Estate Field |pages=10 |work=The New York Times |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120770618/in-the-real-estate-field/ |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154642/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120770618/in-the-real-estate-field/ |url-status=live}} Stokes also founded companies to manufacture the building's terracotta and elevators.{{Efn|According to {{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=|page=35}}, the elevators were made by the Standard Plunger Elevator Company, while the terracotta was manufactured by the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company.}} He was closely involved in the hotel's development, having traveled to France to study other buildings' architecture and floor plans before hiring Paul Emile Duboy, a French architect. The hotel began construction November 15, 1899.

By mid-1900, the ironwork had reached the fourth floor, while the facade had been built to the second floor. At the time, the building was expected to cost $800,000 and rise 14 stories.{{cite news |date=August 26, 1900 |title=Abundant New Homes: The Building Boom on the West Side |page=A6 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570895310}}}} The structure was significantly taller than most of the other buildings in the vicinity, which were generally three to four stories at most. Stokes said in late 1900 that 150 people had applied for apartments at the hotel, although he had not publicly announced the building's name.{{Cite news |date=November 16, 1900 |title=Mr. Stokes's Big Hotel; His Plans for the New Structure at Broadway and 74th Street – To Enlarge Cafe Boulevard. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1900/11/16/archives/mr-stokess-big-hotel-his-plans-for-the-new-structure-at-broadway.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313164943/https://www.nytimes.com/1900/11/16/archives/mr-stokess-big-hotel-his-plans-for-the-new-structure-at-broadway.html |url-status=live}} Sixteen hundred workers were employed in the structure's construction by early 1901, when the hotel's facade was nearly complete. The hotel was known at the time as the Anson-Stokes, after William's grandfather, and was projected to be the world's largest hotel, beating out the old Waldorf-Astoria.

The hotel's construction was delayed by numerous labor strikes, including a six-week strike among bricklayers and a two-month strike among masonry workers.{{Cite magazine |date=June 15, 1903 |title=New York's Building Investigation |magazine=Builder |volume=10 |issue=23 |page=7 |id={{ProQuest|610701033}}}} After the masonry workers went on strike in May 1902,{{Cite news |date=May 18, 1901 |title=Big Shut-Down Of the Mason Builders; Tie-Up Affecting the Largest, Costliest New Structures. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/05/18/archives/big-shutdown-of-the-mason-builders-tieup-affecting-the-largest.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154645/https://www.nytimes.com/1901/05/18/archives/big-shutdown-of-the-mason-builders-tieup-affecting-the-largest.html |url-status=live}} Stokes offered $1,000 to end the strike.{{Cite news |date=June 14, 1901 |title=The Public Library Bids; Several Offers for the Marble Work Received – Protest of the Stone Cutters' Association. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/06/14/archives/the-public-library-bids-several-offers-for-the-marble-work-received.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154647/https://www.nytimes.com/1901/06/14/archives/the-public-library-bids-several-offers-for-the-marble-work-received.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=June 14, 1901 |title=Stokes Offers Strikers Gift: Would Present $1,000 To Families of One of Warring Labor Factions to Settle Dispute |page=2 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|570950300}}}} That August, the Bank for Savings lent the Onward Construction Company $1.5 million to complete the building.{{Cite news |date=August 17, 1901 |title=In the Real Estate Field; Business Building on Cast Twentieth Street Sold – Other Dealings – Big Loan on a New Apartment House. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/08/17/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-business-building-on-cast-twentieth-street.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154643/https://www.nytimes.com/1901/08/17/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-business-building-on-cast-twentieth-street.html |url-status=live}} The hotel's construction was delayed by numerous other labor strikes. For example, plasterers went on strike in July 1902{{cite news |date=July 20, 1902 |title=Ansonia Hotel Plasterers Strike |page=14 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|571247830}}}} for six months. Carpenters and painters, plumbers, gas installers, and marble installers each went on strike for several weeks. As the building was being completed, the plasterers struck again, prompting Stokes to abandon his plans to install Caen stone in the hotel; the painters and decorators also struck after discovering that some tenants had hired decorators from a different labor union. The strikes may have contributed to the cancellation of an 11-story stone tower at the center of the hotel, which had been proposed in early architectural drawings.

The hotel housed 110 families by early 1903, when it was known as the Ansonia, although it had not formally opened.{{cite news |date=February 7, 1903 |title=Fire in the Ansonia: W. E. D. Stokes, In Night Clothes, Gets Occupants Out |work=New-York Tribune |page=2 |id={{ProQuest|571353790}}}}{{Cite news |date=February 7, 1903 |title=Williams Alumni Dinner; President Hopkins Speaks in Favor of Old Standards. " Primal Motive of Education Should Induce the Motive of Becoming Rather Than of Getting." |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/02/07/archives/williams-alumni-dinner-president-hopkins-speaks-in-favor-of-old.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313172004/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/02/07/archives/williams-alumni-dinner-president-hopkins-speaks-in-favor-of-old.html |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The hotel's ground-floor restaurant was formally dedicated on February 13, 1903, although the Broadway entrance was not yet complete. By August 1903, Stokes had leased most of the larger apartments, but many of the smaller units were still vacant.{{Cite news |date=August 23, 1903 |title=In the Real Estate Field; Values Regarded as Well Held and Likely to Rise. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/08/23/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-values-regarded-as-well-held-and-likely-to.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313172001/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/08/23/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-values-regarded-as-well-held-and-likely-to.html |url-status=live}} The hotel was dedicated on April 19, 1904; it had cost $6 million, eight times the original budget. The Ansonia's development coincided with that of other nearby hotels like the Empire, the Majestic, the San Remo, and the Beresford.{{harvnb|Hawes|1993|ps=.|page=160}}

Although it was intended as an apartment hotel with long-term residents (many of whom remained there for decades), the Ansonia had many features characteristic of a transient hotel. When the Ansonia was completed, housekeeping service was offered to each apartment. Each room had 18 table napkins and 18 bath towels.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=174–175}} Servants changed the table napkins and towels three times a day and the bedsheets twice a week.{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=John |date=January 8, 1978 |title=Decay Checks Into the Ansonia Hotel |pages=511 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120603690/decay-checks-into-the-ansonia/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311025317/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120603690/decay-checks-into-the-ansonia/ |url-status=live}} Other objects such as soap, stationery, and light bulbs were cleaned or replaced regularly. Although the apartments were originally priced at $600 to $6,000 a year, some of these suites were rented for $14,000 a year.{{cite journal |last=Waugh |first=W. Wallace |date=March 7, 1903 |title=Personally Conducted on Land and Sea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saA_WHTOxbEC&q=ansonia+hotel&pg=RA9-PA20 |journal=Boston Home Journal: An Illustrated Paper of Society and Travel |volume=59 |issue=10 |pages=20 |access-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226064946/https://books.google.com/books?id=saA_WHTOxbEC&q=ansonia+hotel&pg=RA9-PA20 |url-status=live}} Hawes wrote that the Ansonia, with its massive size, "effectively outdid every apartment building that had preceded it".File:Ansonia Hotel.jpgThe Ansonia's thick walls and large apartment sizes attracted many musicians, particularly opera singers and conductors. It also attracted gamblers, prostitutes, and other "shady characters" in its early years. As early as 1906, Stokes had rented an apartment to gangster Al Adams, who had recently been released from prison; the next year, Adams was found in his room, dead of a gunshot wound. The Ansonia also faced several lawsuits after its completion. For example, contractor Vinton Improvement Company sued Stokes for $68,000 in 1904, claiming that Stokes had failed to pay the company while the labor strikes were ongoing.{{Cite news |date=August 2, 1904 |title=$68,000 Verdict for Delay; Decision Against Contractor in Ansonia Apartment Hotel Case. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/08/02/archives/68000-verdict-for-delay-decision-against-contractor-in-ansonia.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313181944/https://www.nytimes.com/1904/08/02/archives/68000-verdict-for-delay-decision-against-contractor-in-ansonia.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=August 5, 1904 |title=Detroit Firm Won Victory: Vinton Improvement Co.'s Claim Upheld by Court Wan for Amount Due on Work on New York Building |page=5 |work=Detroit Free Press |id={{ProQuest|563632969}}}} Another contractor sued Stokes in 1907 for $90,000.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=August 28, 2005 |title=A West Side Developer's Other Side |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/realestate/a-west-side-developers-other-side.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514002628/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/realestate/a-west-side-developers-other-side.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |date=May 18, 1907 |title=Summary: Contesting a Final Certificate on the Ground of Insanity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I6oDAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA5-PA18 |journal=The American Architect and Building News |location=New York |publisher=James R. Osgood & Co. |publication-date=1907 |volume=91 |page=198 |access-date=September 15, 2018 |number=1628}} Stokes defended himself by claiming that Duboy was in an insane asylum in Paris and that, when Duboy signed the final plans for the hotel in 1903, he was already insane and should not have been making commitments in Stokes's name concerning the hotel. A grillroom opened at the Ansonia Hotel in December 1908.{{cite news |date=December 16, 1908 |title=Hotel Ansonia Grillroom Opened |page=3 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|572110952}}}}

In September 1911, Stokes leased the entire hotel for 30 years to Frank Harriman for $9 million. Stokes also announced that he would transfer the hotel's title to his son, W. E. D. "Weddie" Stokes Jr., but the elder Stokes would still operate the hotel. At the time, the elder Stokes had been shot several months earlier and believed that he would die. Harriman announced plans to convert the Ansonia from an apartment hotel to a transient hotel by dividing the apartments, which typically had up to eighteen rooms, into guestrooms with no more than two rooms. According to Albert Pease, who brokered the sale, the decision to convert the Ansonia into a transient hotel had been influenced by the proximity of the 72nd Street station, which at the time was only one station away from Grand Central Terminal.{{efn|The next station for southbound express trains at the 72nd Street station was Grand Central.{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1904 |title=Exercises in City Hall; Mayor Declares Subway Open – Ovations for Parsons and McDonald. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/10/28/archives/exercises-in-city-hall-mayor-declares-subway-open-ovations-for.html |access-date=December 22, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504023722/https://www.nytimes.com/1904/10/28/archives/exercises-in-city-hall-mayor-declares-subway-open-ovations-for.html |url-status=live}} Trains were rerouted to Times Square after the original subway line was split up in 1918.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/08/02/97011929.pdf |title=Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph |date=August 2, 1918 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=October 4, 2011 |page=1 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221065215/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/08/02/97011929.pdf |url-status=live}}}} Upon taking over the hotel. Harriman spent over $100,000 on renovations, including a new restaurant and restoring the basement swimming pool. Federal and city officials thwarted a 1916 plot by German operatives Franz von Papen and Karl Boy-Ed to detonate a bomb at the Ansonia's ballroom.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=179}}

Unlike his father, Weddie never had any interest in operating the Ansonia, choosing to lease it to more experienced hotel operators instead.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=189}} In May 1918, the Ansonia became part of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain, operated by John McEntee Bowman.{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1918 |title=Bowman Adds Two Hotels to Holdings; Control of the Belmont and Murray Hill Obtained from B. L. M. Bates |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/05/06/archives/bowman-adds-two-hotels-to-holdings-control-of-the-belmont-and.html |access-date=November 7, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107191948/https://www.nytimes.com/1918/05/06/archives/bowman-adds-two-hotels-to-holdings-control-of-the-belmont-and.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=May 6, 1918 |title=5 New York Hotels Combine: Big Hostelries Near Grand Central Station Unite Their Interests |page=2 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|145620527}}}} George W. Sweeney was appointed as the hotel's manager.{{cite news |date=December 14, 1940 |title=G. W. Sweeney, Hotel Man Here 58 Years, Dies: Retired Commodore Manager Fractured Hip in Fall; Began Career at 13 |page=13 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1324140941}}}} Bowman announced plans to renovate the Ansonia for $500,000, converting 300 "non-housekeeping" suites into guestrooms with bathrooms. He also planned to renovate the ground level and add a ballroom there.{{Cite news |date=March 31, 1918 |title=To Rebuild the Ansonia; Improvements Call for an Expenditure of About $500,000. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/03/31/archives/to-rebuild-the-ansonia-improvements-call-for-an-expenditure-of.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313185451/https://www.nytimes.com/1918/03/31/archives/to-rebuild-the-ansonia-improvements-call-for-an-expenditure-of.html |url-status=live}} The hotel began to attract sportsmen like boxer Jack Dempsey, in part because of what writer Steven Gaines described as "the Ansonia's racy reputation as a home to gamblers and spies and deposed dictators". After World War I, many New York Yankees players stayed at the Ansonia, including Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Lefty O'Doul, and Wally Schang.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=179–180}} One resident, Chicago White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil, held a meeting at his apartment in which he told several teammates to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series; in the ensuing Black Sox Scandal, Gandil and his teammates were permanently banned from professional baseball.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=181}}

After the Ansonia was refurbished in the early 1920s, its operators published a promotional booklet for travelers who "expect more of a hotel than just a place to sleep and leave their luggage".{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=September 11, 1994 |title=Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side; His Home, His Castle And His Obsession |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-his-home-his-castle-and-his-obsession.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314182311/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-his-home-his-castle-and-his-obsession.html |url-status=live}} By 1922, the hotel was worth $6.5 million, of which the land was worth $2.65 million and the building was worth $3.85 million. At the time, Stokes's wife Helen sought to divorce him, and Helen's lawyer claimed that Stokes was intentionally undervaluing the Ansonia and was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in annual rent.{{Cite news |date=May 17, 1922 |title=Ansonia Worth $6,500,000; Realty Expert Testifies at Hearing of Mrs. Stokes's Alimony Application |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/05/17/archives/ansonia-worth-6500000-realty-expert-testifies-at-hearing-of-mrs.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153205/https://www.nytimes.com/1922/05/17/archives/ansonia-worth-6500000-realty-expert-testifies-at-hearing-of-mrs.html |url-status=live}} The same year, federal agents raided the Ansonia after discovering that its operators were selling alcoholic beverages in violation of Prohibition-era restrictions.{{cite news |date=June 13, 1922 |title=Dry Agents Raid The Astor and Ansonia Hotels: Registering as Guests, They Entice Bellboys to Procure Whisky and Then Serve Them Summonses Find Gin in Latter Bar Visits Follow Protest of Bonifaces Against Cafes; Mouquin's in Dragnet |page=5 |work=New-York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|576637808}}}}{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1922 |title=Dry Agents Accuse Three Big Hotels; Summonses Are Served at the Astor, The Ansonia and the McAlpin |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/06/13/archives/dry-agents-accuse-three-big-hotels-summonses-are-served-at-the.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153207/https://www.nytimes.com/1922/06/13/archives/dry-agents-accuse-three-big-hotels-summonses-are-served-at-the.html |url-status=live}} Although the Stokeses did not divorce, W. E. D. Stokes moved out of his apartment at the Ansonia in 1925, less than a year before his death. Edward Arlington subleased the upper levels of the hotel in January 1926.{{Cite news |date=January 2, 1926 |title=Far-Away Friends Aid Neediest Fund; Gifts Received From Holland, Porto Rico, California and Florida. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/01/02/archives/faraway-friends-aid-neediest-fund-gifts-received-from-holland-porto.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313185454/https://www.nytimes.com/1926/01/02/archives/faraway-friends-aid-neediest-fund-gifts-received-from-holland-porto.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=January 2, 1926 |title=Stokes's Ansonia Hotel Is Leased to Arlington: Owner of the Claridge Takes 11-Year Freehold on Property at 73rd Street |page=1 |work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112693716}}}} At the time, the hotel had 1,218 rooms; Arlington planned to add eight stories to the hotel, with another 1,000 rooms, but this never happened.{{cite news |date=January 7, 1926 |title=Eight Stories To Be Built Atop of Hotel Ansonia: Improvement Will Add 1,000 Rooms to Building. More Stores on Street Floor |page=37 |work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112696742}}}} When W. E. D. Stokes died that May, Weddie inherited the hotel, which was estimated to be worth $4.5 million.{{cite news |date=May 20, 1926 |title=Hotel Ansonia Believed Chief Holding of Stokes: On Tax Rolls at $4,500,000; His Fortune Put at $7,500,000 At Time of Second Wife's Suit |page=8 |work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112921126}}}}

Childs Restaurants leased the hotel's Fountain Room and ground-level bank for use as a restaurant in 1927,{{cite news |date=January 22, 1927 |title=Childs Leases Large Space in the Hotel Ansonia |page=26 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1130292814}}}}{{Cite news |date=July 31, 1927 |title=Two Restaurant Leases; Keen's Chop House and Childs Company to Open Near-By Branches. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/07/31/archives/two-restaurant-leases-keens-chop-house-and-childs-company-to-open.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153208/https://www.nytimes.com/1927/07/31/archives/two-restaurant-leases-keens-chop-house-and-childs-company-to-open.html |url-status=live}} and Keens Chop House leased the main dining room the same year.{{cite news |date=July 31, 1927 |title=Buy Realty To Assure Future Home: Dealers in Hospital Supplies, For Years on Warren Street, Take Building on Mercer Street William Street Corner in Deal Trading in Bronx Plots; Demand Continues for Space in Mid-Town Zone |page=C1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113560838}}}} The Onward Construction Company then leased the hotel to the Ansonia Hotel Corporation until November 1928.{{Cite news |date=August 27, 1929 |title=Ansonia Corporation Sued in Bankruptcy; Not Connected With the Hotel Now—Creditors' Attorney Says Petition Is to Be Withdrawn. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/27/archives/ansonia-corporation-sued-in-bankruptcy-not-connected-with-the-hotel.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153210/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/27/archives/ansonia-corporation-sued-in-bankruptcy-not-connected-with-the-hotel.html |url-status=live}} Zue McClary,{{Efn|McClary's name has also been spelled "Sue".}} proprietor of the Ansonia Hotel Corporation,{{cite news |date=August 27, 1929 |title=Creditors Seek Funds of Old Ansonia Lessee: Bankruptcy Petition Filed Against Corporation That Formerly Operated Hotel May Be Withdrawn Today New Management to Spend $500,000 For Changes |page=19 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1112034491}}}} then operated the hotel on a monthly lease from November 1928 to April 1929.{{Cite news |date=April 26, 1929 |title=Woman Proprietor to Quit the Ansonia; Mrs. Zue McClary Ousted as W.E.D. Stokes Estate Ends Lease, Effective April 30 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/26/archives/woman-proprietor-to-quit-the-ansonia-mrs-zue-mcclary-ousted-as-wed.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313154642/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/26/archives/woman-proprietor-to-quit-the-ansonia-mrs-zue-mcclary-ousted-as-wed.html |url-status=live}} McClary reportedly spent $160,000 on renovating the hotel.{{Cite news |last=Albelli |first=Alfred |date=December 31, 1929 |title=Woman Financier Bankrupt After a Meteoric Rise |pages=199 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120842221/woman-financier-bankrupt-after-a/ |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153205/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120842221/woman-financier-bankrupt-after-a/ |url-status=live}} Although McClary claimed to have given up the hotel's lease of her own volition.{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1929 |title=Mrs. M'Clary Denies 'Ousting' at Ansonia; Declares That She Is Leaving as Proprietor of Hotel of Her 'Own Free Will.' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/27/archives/mrs-mclary-denies-ousting-at-ansonia-declares-that-she-is-leaving.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153205/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/27/archives/mrs-mclary-denies-ousting-at-ansonia-declares-that-she-is-leaving.html |url-status=live}} her company filed for bankruptcy several months afterward. Ansco Hotel Systems Inc. took over the hotel at the beginning of May 1929, with Paul Henkel in charge.{{Cite news |date=May 2, 1929 |title=New Management Takes Hotel Ansonia; Plans Announced Include Swimming Pool and Indoor Golf Links—Paul Henkel in Charge. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/02/archives/new-management-takes-hotel-ansonia-plans-announced-include-swimming.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313185453/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/02/archives/new-management-takes-hotel-ansonia-plans-announced-include-swimming.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=May 2, 1929 |title=Hotel Ansonia Leased By Keen's Chop House: Will Alter Big Broadway Building to Meet Demands |page=45 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1111965840}}}} The new operators, a group of men who operated Keens Chop House, agreed to lease the hotel for 20 years for a total of $5.5 million. Walter S. Schneider was hired to design a renovation of the building costing $500,000.{{cite news |date=May 20, 1929 |title=Hotel Ansonia Taken by Chop House People: Will Pay $5,500,000 Net for Lease Until 1950 of Old Broadway Structure |page=38 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1111704270}}}}{{Cite news |date=May 20, 1929 |title=To Spend $500,000 On Hotel Ansonia; Ansco Hotel System, The Lessee, Plans to Modernize West Side Property. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/20/archives/to-spend-500000-on-hotel-ansonia-ansco-hotel-system-the-lessee.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313185453/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/20/archives/to-spend-500000-on-hotel-ansonia-ansco-hotel-system-the-lessee.html |url-status=live}} The plans included a gymnasium, swimming pool, ballroom, and indoor golf course. The golf course on the second floor, as well as handball courts on the roof, were unpopular and were removed shortly thereafter. The Stokes family continued to own the hotel, refusing a $14.3 million offer for the building in October 1929.{{cite news |date=October 2, 1929 |title=$14,300,000 Refused For Hotel Ansonia |page=40 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1111673627}}}}

With the onset of the Great Depression, the kitchens and restaurants were shuttered permanently in the 1930s, and the Ansonia stopped offering traditional hotel services such as food service and housekeeping.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=190}} Musicians stopped performing on the roof, the lobby fountain's seals were relocated, and the rugs and furniture were sold off.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|pages=35–36}} In addition, the apartments themselves were subdivided and rearranged. The operators removed partition walls, sinks, and kitchens from 114 suites, converting them to "non-tenements", and they sold the awnings that had been mounted outside the windows. The Broadway entrance was closed, additional storefronts were created on the ground level, the gates in front of the elevators were replaced with doors, and fireproof partitions were installed around the elevator shafts.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|page=36}} The Ansonia Hotel Corporation signed a new ten-year lease for the hotel in 1936 and announced that it would add a more modern air-cooling system to the Ansonia.{{Cite news |date=August 15, 1936 |title=Ansonia Will Get Air-Cooling System; Alterations Costing $500,000 Will Be Made in Hotel Constructed in 1904. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/08/15/archives/ansonia-will-get-aircooling-system-alterations-costing-500000-will.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314162751/https://www.nytimes.com/1936/08/15/archives/ansonia-will-get-aircooling-system-alterations-costing-500000-will.html |url-status=live}}

During World War II, the apartments were placed under rent control, a measure that was intended to be temporary but remained in place for half a century. In September 1942, workers began removing the Ansonia Hotel's ornamental copper cartouches and copper cornices to provide scrap metal for the U.S. military during World War II.{{Cite news |date=September 23, 1942 |title=Vacant Buildings to Go for Scrap; $5,000,000 Structure Is Doomed |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/09/23/archives/vacant-buildings-to-go-for-scrap-5000000-structure-is-doomed-part.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314162751/https://www.nytimes.com/1942/09/23/archives/vacant-buildings-to-go-for-scrap-5000000-structure-is-doomed-part.html |url-status=live}} This effort produced {{Cvt|100,000|lb}} of scrap metal. The hotel's manager Louis Zuch had said of the copper decorations, "Before we start taking off the metal railings around parks, we should collect all our useless junk"; at the time, city officials had considered removing metal railings in Central Park.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=190–191}} In addition, the brine pipes and pneumatic tubes were removed from the walls, and the skylight at the top of the building's main staircase was blacked out. A piece of the hotel's masonry cornice fell to the ground in 1944, killing an employee.{{Cite news |date=May 28, 1944 |title=Brooklyn Woman Killed as Cornice Falls 16 Floors |pages=1 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120846141/brooklyn-woman-killed-as-cornice-falls/ |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314162747/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120846141/brooklyn-woman-killed-as-cornice-falls/ |url-status=live}}

File:Ansonia 2011 (4).JPG

The Stokes family's Onward Construction Corporation agreed in August 1945 to sell the building to a client of attorney Abraham Traub for $2.5 million.{{Cite news |date=August 12, 1945 |title=Hotel Ansonia Sold by Stokes Family |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/08/12/archives/hotel-ansonia-sold-by-stokes-family.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312184042/https://www.nytimes.com/1945/08/12/archives/hotel-ansonia-sold-by-stokes-family.html |url-status=live}} The client, Rexby Realty, announced plans to spend $200,000 on renovating the property. That October, Louis Schleiffer agreed to buy the purchase contract for the Ansonia, as well as take over the hotel's $2.17 million mortgage.{{Cite news |date=October 26, 1945 |title=The Hotel Ansonia Sold to Schleifer; Broadway Landmark at Seventy-Third St. BoughtFrom Stokes Family |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/10/26/archives/the-hotel-ansonia-sold-to-schleifer-broadway-landmark-at.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312184040/https://www.nytimes.com/1945/10/26/archives/the-hotel-ansonia-sold-to-schleifer-broadway-landmark-at.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=October 26, 1945 |title=Building Firm Buys Leasehold On West 42d St.: Thompson-Starrett Closes $8,250,000 Deal for Woolworth Store Sites |page=33 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1322153396}}}} The Ansonia Realty Corporation, headed by Edwin S. Lowe, took title to the building in February 1946.{{Cite news |date=February 24, 1946 |title=Hotel Ansonia Conveyed; West Side Landmark Passed From Stokes Family Control |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/02/24/archives/hotel-ansonia-conveyed-west-side-landmark-passed-from-stokes-family.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312184043/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/02/24/archives/hotel-ansonia-conveyed-west-side-landmark-passed-from-stokes-family.html |url-status=live}} That April, Lowe announced that he would convert the second floor into the Ansonia Professional Center, with 42 offices for doctors and dentists.{{Cite news |date=May 4, 1946 |title=Veterans to Get Offices; Hotel Ansonia Readying Suites for Doctors and Dentists |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/04/archives/veterans-to-get-offices-hotel-ansonia-readying-suites-for-doctors.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312184040/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/04/archives/veterans-to-get-offices-hotel-ansonia-readying-suites-for-doctors.html |url-status=live}} The Dajon Realty Corporation bought the Ansonia in October 1946, paying $750,000 in cash and taking over a $1.8 million mortgage. Dajon immediately announced plans to spend $300,000 on renovations, including installing kitchenettes and refrigerators in every apartment.{{Cite news |date=October 27, 1946 |title=Hotel Ansonia Is Sold; Kitchenettes, Refrigerators to Be Installed by New Owners |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/10/27/archives/hotel-ansonia-is-sold-kitchenettes-refrigerators-to-be-installed-by.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312184041/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/10/27/archives/hotel-ansonia-is-sold-kitchenettes-refrigerators-to-be-installed-by.html |url-status=live}}

Dajon resold the building in April 1948 to a group of investors known as Ansonia House Inc.{{Cite news |date=April 9, 1948 |title=Syndicate Buys the Old Hotel Ansonia, West Side Landmark Valued at $3,646,000 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/04/09/archives/syndicate-buys-the-old-hotel-ansonia-west-side-landmark-valued-at.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231448/https://www.nytimes.com/1948/04/09/archives/syndicate-buys-the-old-hotel-ansonia-west-side-landmark-valued-at.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=April 9, 1948 |title=Ansonia Apartments Bought by Syndicate |page=36 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1326793714}}}} At the time, the Ansonia was cited as containing 476 apartments and ten stores. The building was operated by Samuel Broxmeyer, president of Ansonia House Inc., until January 1949, when Abraham I. Menin was appointed as receiver for Broxmeyer's company.{{Cite news |last=Conklin |first=William R. |date=January 26, 1949 |title=Ansonia Is Target of Dual Attack; Tenants and Employes Open War; Residents Charge Excessive Rents, While the Workers Issue Ultimatum on Wages – Bankruptcy Petition Is Filed |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/01/26/archives/ansonia-is-target-of-dual-attack-tenants-and-employes-open-war.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231504/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/01/26/archives/ansonia-is-target-of-dual-attack-tenants-and-employes-open-war.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=January 27, 1949 |title=Ansonia Owner Accused of Plan To Escape Debt: Receiver Takes Over Chain of 11 Houses; Broxmeyer Said to Have Disappeared |page=32 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1327121395}}}} Residents claimed that Broxmeyer was significantly increasing their rent, while employees alleged that they could not cash the checks that they had received as salary. Federal officials also investigated claims that Broxmeyer was collecting advance rent from tenants and failing to pay his creditors;{{cite news |date=January 30, 1949 |title=Ansonia Owner Puts Holdings At $22,000,000: Broxmeyer Appears, Denies Creditor's Charge He Is 'Milking' Properties |page=31 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325338827}}}}{{Cite news |last=Conklin |first=William R. |date=January 30, 1949 |title=U. S. Court Accepts Broxmeyer Pledge; Warrant for Real Estate Man's Appearance in Bankruptcy Case Is Withdrawn |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/01/30/archives/u-s-court-accepts-broxmeyer-pledge-warrant-for-real-estate-mans.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231451/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/01/30/archives/u-s-court-accepts-broxmeyer-pledge-warrant-for-real-estate-mans.html |url-status=live}} instead, he used the money to buy more apartment buildings.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=191}} That February, tenants formed a committee to fight Broxmeyer's management of the building,{{Cite news |date=February 2, 1949 |title=Ansonia Tenants Vote 'War Chest'; Spokesmen for Committees in Other Broxmeyer Properties Join Fight on Management |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/02/archives/ansonia-tenants-vote-war-chest-spokesmen-for-committees-in-other.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231503/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/02/archives/ansonia-tenants-vote-war-chest-spokesmen-for-committees-in-other.html |url-status=live}} and state and federal judges signed separate orders preventing the Ansonia's furnishings from being sold off.{{Cite news |date=February 4, 1949 |title=Court Orders Stay Sheriff at Ansonia; Receiver and Mortgagee Get Federal, State Jurists' Aid to Bar Sale of Chattels |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/04/archives/court-orders-stay-sheriff-at-ansonia-receiver-and-mortgagee-get.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231454/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/04/archives/court-orders-stay-sheriff-at-ansonia-receiver-and-mortgagee-get.html |url-status=live}} Menin was appointed as trustee of Ansonia House Inc. the same month.{{Cite news |date=February 18, 1949 |title=Broxmeyer Gets Ansonia Trustee; Menin, Receiver in Bankruptcy, Named by Judge Goddard to Operate Apartments |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/18/archives/broxmeyer-gets-ansonia-trustee-menin-receiver-in-bankruptcy-named.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231452/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/02/18/archives/broxmeyer-gets-ansonia-trustee-menin-receiver-in-bankruptcy-named.html |url-status=live}} Some tenants refused to pay rent after Menin took over the Ansonia, prompting him to begin evicting these tenants that June.{{Cite news |date=June 25, 1949 |title=33 Evictions Asked by Ansonia House; Bankruptcy Trustee Says Some Tenants Had Paid No Rent for Months |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/06/25/archives/33-evictions-asked-by-ansonia-house-bankruptcy-trustee-says-some.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231450/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/06/25/archives/33-evictions-asked-by-ansonia-house-bankruptcy-trustee-says-some.html |url-status=live}} Broxmeyer was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison, and his assets were sold off.

In April 1950, a federal judge approved Menin's recommendation that the hotel be sold to a syndicate that had placed a $1.021 million mortgage on the property.{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1950 |title=Interest in Hotel Sold; Ansonia House Was One of the Broxmeyer Holdings |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/04/27/archives/interest-in-hotel-sold-ansonia-house-was-one-of-the-broxmeyer.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313001856/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/04/27/archives/interest-in-hotel-sold-ansonia-house-was-one-of-the-broxmeyer.html |url-status=live}} The buyers, led by Jacob Starr, bought the hotel for $40,000 or $50,000 in cash and assumed a $1.623 million mortgage.{{Cite news |date=May 8, 1950 |title=The Hotel Ansonia to Be Modernized; West Side Landmark Passes to New Control—Downtown A.C. Gets Club Title |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/05/08/archives/the-hotel-ansonia-to-be-modernized-west-side-landmark-passes-to-new.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214025006/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/05/08/archives/the-hotel-ansonia-to-be-modernized-west-side-landmark-passes-to-new.html |url-status=live}} The new owners then announced that they would renovate the Ansonia.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=192–193}} However, the renovations never took place. When Starr submitted alteration plans to the Department of Buildings, he discovered that the hotel had never received a proper certificate of occupancy; before he could obtain one, he had to repair several building-code violations that the DOB had issued over the years. The issues included rattling windows, a leaky roof, and rusted ducts and pipes, as well as balconies that were on the verge of falling off the facade. Starr refused to rectify any of these building-code violations, claiming that they were too expensive to resolve, so he did not receive a certificate of occupancy. General neglect continued to characterize the Ansonia in subsequent years.

Following a series of robberies at the hotel, its managers added CCTV systems to the elevators in 1960,{{Cite news |date=September 4, 1960 |title=TV Guard for Elevator Is Installed by Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/04/archives/tv-guard-for-elevator-is-installed-by-hotel.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313145111/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/04/archives/tv-guard-for-elevator-is-installed-by-hotel.html |url-status=live}} and vigilante groups of residents began patrolling the top floors. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) began collecting photographs and other documents for several buildings, including the Ansonia, in 1963 after Fortune magazine published an article titled "Vanishing Glory in Business Buildings". At the time, the LPC did not have the power to designate buildings itself.{{Cite news |last=Ennis |first=Thomas W. |date=September 15, 1963 |title=Architectural Treasures Give Way to Stark Boxes; Buildings Listed Sea Horses Rampant |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/15/archives/architectural-treasures-give-way-to-stark-boxes-buildings-listed.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313145111/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/15/archives/architectural-treasures-give-way-to-stark-boxes-buildings-listed.html |url-status=live}} The nonprofit organization American Music Center was headquartered at the Ansonia in the 1960s.{{Cite news |last=Ericson |first=Raymond |date=April 11, 1965 |title=25 Years, Four Homes |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/11/archives/25-years-four-homes.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313145108/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/11/archives/25-years-four-homes.html |url-status=live}} To earn money from the hotel, Starr converted its long-abandoned basement pool to a gay bathhouse, the Continental Baths, during 1967 or 1968. The Continental Baths also hosted cabaret shows, and Bette Midler provided musical entertainment there early in her career, with Barry Manilow as her accompanist.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=193–194}}{{cite news |last=Golubski |first=Suzanne |author2=Kappstatter, Bob |title=Swinging Doors Shut: City Probe KO's Plato's |work=Daily News |url=http://www.wmob.com/artpages/platos1.html |url-status=dead |access-date=November 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927043031/http://www.wmob.com/artpages/platos1.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007}} The Continental Baths' cabaret performances attracted large crowds, especially during the weekends.

Meanwhile, the Ansonia had been reclassified as a residential hotel after the city's zoning codes were modified in 1968. Harry Garland, one of many voice coaches who lived at the Ansonia, established the building's first tenants' association, the Ansonia Residents Association (ARA). Members of the ARA petitioned a state judge to freeze the Ansonia's rents until Starr had made the repairs.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=194–195}} After the judge ruled in the ARA's favor, Garland said that "people were concerned for my safety" because Starr was furious at him.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=195}}

File:Theansoniajeh.JPG

Unable to raise rents at the Ansonia, Starr announced plans to demolish it and build a 40-story tower in its place. The ARA first tried to find a rich buyer for the building, without success. Residents then asked the LPC to designate the building as a city landmark.{{harvnb|Alpern|1992|ps=.|pages=36–37}} At a public hearing in April 1970, a lawyer for Starr testified that the structure lacked "any particular historic significance".{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=195–196}} According to the lawyer, it would cost between $4 million and $5 million to repair the building, so it was easier to tear it down.{{Cite news |last=Gelman |first=David |date=April 3, 1972 |title=The Right to Demolish |pages=6, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120607029/ansonia/ 10] |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120606911/the-right-to-demolishdavid-gelman/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311025313/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120606911/the-right-to-demolishdavid-gelman/ |url-status=live}} This prompted concerns from residents who believed that the building would be demolished. Garland advocated for the building to be designated as a New York City landmark. In an attempt to avert the Ansonia's demolition, its residents created a petition advocating for the building to be designated as a city landmark; the petition attracted 25,000 signatures.{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1971 |title=Old Landmark Has Pen Pals |pages=5 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120647239/old-landmark-has-pen-pals/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201519/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120647239/old-landmark-has-pen-pals/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Gansberg |first=Martin |date=October 10, 1971 |title=Stars Aid Drive to Save a Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/10/archives/stars-aid-drive-to-save-a-hotel-hope-to-prevent-demolition-of.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313145110/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/10/archives/stars-aid-drive-to-save-a-hotel-hope-to-prevent-demolition-of.html |url-status=live}} They also hosted a five-hour gala in October 1971 to raise awareness for the Ansonia. The LPC received numerous petitions in support of the landmark designation, signed by 25,770 people, and a petition in opposition to the designation, signed by 11 people. With support from U.S. Representative Bella Abzug, who represented the neighborhood,{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=196}} the LPC designated the building as a city landmark on March 15, 1972, preventing the facade from being modified or demolished without the LPC's approval.{{Cite news |date=March 16, 1972 |title=Ansonia Hotel Wins Official Designation As a City Landmark |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/16/archives/ansonia-hotel-wins-official-designation-as-a-city-landmark.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311025317/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/16/archives/ansonia-hotel-wins-official-designation-as-a-city-landmark.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=March 16, 1972 |title=Ansonia a Landmark |pages=273 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120637463/ansonia-a-landmark/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201528/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120637463/ansonia-a-landmark/ |url-status=live}}

Despite the landmark designation, the Ansonia continued to suffer from what the Times called "steadily deteriorating mechanical systems and a warren-like layout". In addition, the designation only applied to the facade, as interior-landmark designations did not yet exist.{{efn|The first interior landmark was designated in 1975.{{cite web |title=New York City Landmarks Law – |website=NYPAP |date=May 7, 1964 |url=https://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/new-york-city-landmarks-law/ | access-date=March 14, 2023 | archive-date=January 29, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129233133/https://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/new-york-city-landmarks-law/ | url-status=live}}}} By the early 1970s, dozens of crimes were being reported at the Ansonia every year, and Starr agreed to hire security guards to protect the building 16 hours a day and install alarms and taller gates.{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Michael |date=July 11, 1970 |title=Ansonia Tenants Fight Crime in Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/11/archives/ansonia-tenanst-fight-crime-in-hotel-residents-of-the-ansonia-hotel.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518221858/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/11/archives/ansonia-tenanst-fight-crime-in-hotel-residents-of-the-ansonia-hotel.html |url-status=live}} Increasing crime had prompted tenants to patrol the corridors themselves. Residents filed multiple lawsuits against the Ansonia Holding Corporation, the building's legal owner, in an attempt to force Starr to fix the hotel's many issues. The tenants only won one lawsuit through 1978, which blocked the landlord from raising the rent by 13 percent between 1976 and 1977. One tenant claimed the pipes were so dirty that she had to run her faucet for half an hour before taking a bath. while another tenant said that constant flooding had damaged a light socket in her apartment.

The Continental Baths in the basement had closed by 1973. When Starr died, his heirs also sought to sell the building, but they could not do so without first fixing the building-code issues. The New York City Conciliation and Appeals Board (CAB) placed a rent freeze on 500 rent-regulated apartments at the Ansonia in 1976, having received multiple complaints from tenants.{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Joan |date=March 12, 1984 |title=A Landmark Struggle |pages=272 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652701/a-landmark-strugglejoan-shepard/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221315/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652701/a-landmark-strugglejoan-shepard/ |url-status=live}} The Plato's Retreat club opened at the hotel in late 1977. The club routinely attracted over 250 couples per night{{Cite news |last=Lowry |first=Tom |date=August 10, 1994 |title=Tower Records Making Scene at Ansonia Retreat |pages=755 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120527768/tower-records-making-scene-at-ansonia/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309232648/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120527768/tower-records-making-scene-at-ansonia/ |url-status=live}} but did not allow single men to enter.{{Cite news |date=February 16, 1978 |title=Metropolitan Briefs |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/16/archives/metropolitan-briefs-liquor-sale-is-barred-court-bars-interview.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201519/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/16/archives/metropolitan-briefs-liquor-sale-is-barred-court-bars-interview.html |url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=197}} As a result, men began loitering outside a pornographic shop at the building's base, which prompted the owners to close the 74th Street entrance to the building for security reasons. In addition, during the late 1970s, many psychics, fortune tellers, and mediums began moving into the building.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=197–198}}

In 1978, the building was acquired by Ansonia Associates, a consortium of three partnerships, for $2.5 million.{{Cite news |last=Hinds |first=Michael Decourcy |date=November 8, 1987 |title=A Conversion Plan Roils the Ansonia |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/08/realestate/a-conversion-plan-roils-the-ansonia.html |access-date=March 10, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310014849/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/08/realestate/a-conversion-plan-roils-the-ansonia.html |url-status=live}} The consortium, headed by Herbert Krasnow, Albert Schussler, and Stanley Stahl,{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Shawn G. |date=April 29, 1990 |title=A Troubled Transition for the Ansonia |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/29/realestate/a-troubled-transition-for-the-ansonia.html |access-date=March 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231050/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/29/realestate/a-troubled-transition-for-the-ansonia.html |url-status=live}} collectively represented 21 individuals.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=199–200}} The group began considering converting the building into residential condominiums, devising about 30 distinct floor plans. The building's exterior had remained relatively unchanged over the years, other than modifications to the storefronts. By contrast, in 1980, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times characterized the interior as having "gone from Beaux-Arts grandeur to near dereliction", with unreliable elevators clad in false wood and a lobby that resembled "the vestibule of a skid row hotel".{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=June 26, 1980 |title=Design Notebook; Rescuing the Ansonia from Its Rescuers. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/06/26/archives/design-notebook-rescuing-the-ansonia-from-its-rescuers.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311025313/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/06/26/archives/design-notebook-rescuing-the-ansonia-from-its-rescuers.html |url-status=live}} Over the following decades, one of the co-owners, Jesse Krasnow, began to collect hundreds of documents, photographs, building plans, and decorations.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=199}}

Almost immediately after acquiring the hotel, Jesse Krasnow sought to evict Plato's Retreat, since the club's presence made it difficult for Krasnow to obtain financing for a planned renovation of the Ansonia. Krasnow paid the club's operator Larry Levenson $1 million to break his lease, and Plato's Retreat moved out of the basement in 1980,{{Cite news |last=Schmalz |first=Jeffrey |date=November 23, 1985 |title=City Shuts Heterosexual Club for Prostitution |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/23/nyregion/city-shuts-heterosexual-club-for-prostitution.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201528/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/23/nyregion/city-shuts-heterosexual-club-for-prostitution.html |url-status=live}} The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year, at which point it had been divided into approximately 540 apartments. Krasnow began to remedy the Ansonia's building-code violations,{{cite web |last1=Corsillo |first1=Liza |last2=Pardilla |first2=Ambar |last3=VanArendonk |first3=Kathryn |last4=Willmore |first4=Alison |date=April 11, 2019 |title=The Ups and Downs of The Ansonia, The Building That Made the Upper West Side |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/realestate/features/1871/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=New York |archive-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004070913/http://nymag.com/nymetro/realestate/features/1871/ |url-status=live}} and the owners spent $2 million on a waterproof flat roof and renovating vacant apartments. The LPC had approved repairs to the mansard roof, although the repairs to the flat roof did not require LPC approval. Residents claimed that Ansonia Associates were only conducting spot repairs and that the roof still leaked even after its renovation.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=201–202}} By one account, the owners spent $3.5 million to repair the roof, which still leaked. The masonry facade had also started to fall apart and was being repaired.

Krasnow had spent $21 million on renovations by 1980; he had created a $4 million reserve fund for the building, and he opened a 100-space parking garage in the basement to provide income for the Ansonia. Even so, Krasnow continued to face considerable opposition from residents.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=203}} The owners had renovated the 12th-floor hallway with dropped ceilings and two types of wallpaper and carpeting, intending to extend these design features to the rest of the interior. Existing residents disliked these changes so much that they asked the LPC to designate the building's interior as a city landmark.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=202}} An article in The Village Voice, documenting the changes, was published under the headline "Barbarians Rape the Ansonia". Residents and officials also raised concerns that the Ansonia was being classified as a residential hotel despite no longer providing hotel services.{{Cite news |last=Chadwick |first=Bruce |date=November 18, 1981 |title=City Urged to Redefine 'Residential' in Hotel Code |pages=125, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652061/ask-for-new-definition-of-residential-h/ 127] |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652004/city-urged-to-redefine-residential-in/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221311/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120652004/city-urged-to-redefine-residential-in/ |url-status=live}} As such, residents requested that the city's CAB recategorize the building as an apartment house.

The CAB unfroze rents for 333 apartments in early 1980 after the owners had announced their intentions to repair these apartments. The CAB unfroze each apartment's rent after that unit had been repaired. Krasnow then notified each tenant of the rent increase, to which the tenants had 72 hours to respond.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=200}} The owners indicated that they would raise these apartments' rents by 46 percent, to make up for rent increases that had been deferred during the rent freeze, but some tenants received a 300 percent rent increase. This prompted the ARA to begin a rent strike in March 1980, making their rent payments to an escrow account.{{Cite news |date=February 19, 1981 |title=The City; Rent Strike Settled At Ansonia Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/19/nyregion/the-city-rent-strike-settled-at-ansonia-hotel.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201521/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/19/nyregion/the-city-rent-strike-settled-at-ansonia-hotel.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Howell |first=Ron |date=February 18, 1981 |title=Tenants Win Ansonia Fight |pages=87 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120647915/tenants-win-ansonia-fightron-howell/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201524/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120647915/tenants-win-ansonia-fightron-howell/ |url-status=live}} Some of the tenants were unable to pay the increased rates, as they were retired and lived on Social Security payments. The owners and the ARA settled their dispute in February 1981. The settlement limited the extent to which the rents could be raised, provided tenants with rent abatements and concessions, and placed restrictions on the scope of the renovations. A group of dissenting residents, led by Thomas Soja, formed the Ansonia Tenants Coalition (ATC). Members of the ATC also paid rent into an escrow account, then sued Krasnow using the interest collected from that account.

File:The Ansonia entrance 03.jpg

The Ansonia's owners planned to convert the 471 apartments on the 15 upper stories to residential condos, while retaining ownership of the ground-level storefronts and basement garage. The condos were to cost about $48,500 per room, whereas residents typically paid $150 per month per room. The Attorney General of New York could approve the Ansonia's condo-conversion plan if five percent of tenants bought condos, but tenants alleged that the building still had significant issues. By the late 1980s, the Ansonia was involved in so many lawsuits, one New York City Housing Court judge spent nearly all of his time reviewing lawsuits and settlements related to the Ansonia. In what was then the longest lawsuit in the New York City Civil Court's history, a judge denied Soja's request that the city government appoint him as the Ansonia's manager; the case involved 22,000 pages of testimony and lasted four months.{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=September 11, 1994 |title=Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side; See You in Court – or at the Ansonia |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-see-you-in-court-or-at-the-ansonia.html |access-date=March 10, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310014851/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-see-you-in-court-or-at-the-ansonia.html |url-status=live}} In another lawsuit filed by several tenants, a state judge ruled that the owner could temporarily raise rents to pay for capital improvements, but that the owner had to undo the rent increases when the project was finished.{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |date=October 9, 1988 |title=Perspectives: The J-51 Changes; Abatements Broaden for Co-Ops And Condos |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/09/realestate/perspectives-the-j-51-changes-abatements-broaden-for-co-ops-and-condos.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221314/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/09/realestate/perspectives-the-j-51-changes-abatements-broaden-for-co-ops-and-condos.html |url-status=live}} The latter decision was later overturned.{{Cite news |last=Benenson |first=Joel |date=November 22, 1989 |title=Landlords Win Big Rent Battle |pages=89 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120851149/landlords-win-big-rent-battlejoel/ |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314182306/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120851149/landlords-win-big-rent-battlejoel/ |url-status=live}}

The New York City Department of Sanitation fined the Ansonia's owners $400,000 in 1988 for failing to remove asbestos from the building, as was required under city law.{{cite news |date=May 18, 1988 |title=$400,000 Penalty Levied on Ansonia Hotel Owners Over Asbestos |page=B3 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|110517540}}}} Ansonia Associates had completed several aspects of the renovation by early 1990. These included a new boiler room; upgraded telephone and wiring systems; repairs to the roof; and addition of storm windows. The building also experienced several major incidents during this time. For example, a resident died in a fire in January 1990.{{Cite news |last=Holloway |first=Lynette |date=May 7, 1996 |title=Fire Damages Apartments in Historic Building |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/07/nyregion/fire-damages-apartments-in-historic-building.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012209/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/07/nyregion/fire-damages-apartments-in-historic-building.html |url-status=live}} That March, one person was killed and 16 others were injured after the plaster ceiling of a croissant shop at the Ansonia's ground level collapsed.{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=James |date=March 13, 1990 |title=Woman Killed as Ornate Ceiling Collapses in Ansonia Hotel Shop |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/13/nyregion/woman-killed-as-ornate-ceiling-collapses-in-ansonia-hotel-shop.html |access-date=March 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309232645/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/13/nyregion/woman-killed-as-ornate-ceiling-collapses-in-ansonia-hotel-shop.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last1=Santangelo |first1=Mike |last2=Kappstatter |first2=Bob |date=March 13, 1990 |title=Fatal Ceiling Cave-In |pages=5 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120527938/fatal-ceiling-cave-inmike-santangelo/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309232645/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120527938/fatal-ceiling-cave-inmike-santangelo/ |url-status=live}} An investigation found that the collapsed ceiling had supported the weight of a false ceiling and mechanical equipment that had been installed in the 1980s;{{Cite news |last=Marzulli |first=John |date=March 14, 1990 |title=Accident Waiting to Happen |pages=20 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120665912/accident-waiting-to-happenjohn-marzulli/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120665912/accident-waiting-to-happenjohn-marzulli/ |url-status=live}} the original ceiling had been further weakened when contractors drilled holes to install pipes and wiring.{{Cite news |last=Barbanel |first=Josh |date=March 14, 1990 |title=Weights on Old Ceiling Are Blamed for Collapse |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/14/nyregion/weights-on-old-ceiling-are-blamed-for-collapse.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221312/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/14/nyregion/weights-on-old-ceiling-are-blamed-for-collapse.html |url-status=live}}

Meanwhile, Krasnow began buying out the tenants who had most strongly opposed the condo-conversion plan.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=203–204}} In 1990, the tenants and Ansonia Associates finally agreed on a condo offering plan, wherein they could either buy or continue to rent their apartments.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=204}} Tenants who wished to buy their apartments would pay 60 percent below market rates; for a one-bedroom apartment, this equated to $125,000, although many tenants could not afford even the discounted price. Ansonia Associates initially proposed selling 50 condos for between $101,000 and $939,000, and they planned to spend between $9 million and $11 million on further renovations. The proposed renovations included restoration of the lobby, sitting rooms, and elevators; adding kitchens; adding ventilation ducts and fans to 250 units; and replacing the electrical distribution system, The main entrance on 73rd Street, a porte-cochère, would be restored. The Ansonia Tenants Association agreed to the proposal, but the Ansonia Tenants Coalition did not want the conversion to proceed until the building-code violations had been fixed.

The Ansonia's condo offering plan went into effect in 1992. Frank Farinella was hired to design the condos and restore a porte-cochère on 73rd Street, and the owners replaced signage for the ground-level stores. The owners also established a $4 million capital reserve fund for the building. By 1993, Ansonia Associates had restored much of the facade, but they had yet to restore the windows, lobby, or storefronts. The owners eventually pared back the signage above the storefronts on Broadway. Tower Records announced plans to temporarily relocate to the Ansonia's basement in 1994, while its main store was being renovated,{{Cite news |date=December 11, 1994 |title=Tower Records and Video To Be Displaced by Renovation |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/nyregion/new-yorkers-co-062588.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/nyregion/new-yorkers-co-062588.html |url-status=live}} and opened a store at the Ansonia the next year.{{Cite news |last=Bloom |first=Jennifer Kingson |date=May 20, 1995 |title=Serenade for Music Shoppers; Buyers Flock to 2 Big Stores, 1 1/2 Blocks Apart, On West Side |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/20/nyregion/serenade-for-music-shoppers-buyers-flock-2-big-stores-1-1-2-blocks-apart-west.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012205/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/20/nyregion/serenade-for-music-shoppers-buyers-flock-2-big-stores-1-1-2-blocks-apart-west.html |url-status=live}} Also in 1994, the New York Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that the building could not be called a hotel. By then, The New York Times called the Ansonia "one of the most litigious buildings in the city"; at the time, the Ansonia's tenants and landlords were involved in about 60 lawsuits, which were still pending in the city's court system. In addition, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection issued the owners a building-code violation in 1995 after finding that the walls retained high amounts of asbestos.{{Cite news |last=Bloom |first=Jennifer Kingson |date=April 23, 1995 |title=Neighborhood Report: Clinton/Upper West Side; Asbestos Alert at the Ansonia Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/nyregion/neighborhood-report-clinton-upper-west-side-asbestos-alert-at-the-ansonia-hotel.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012207/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/nyregion/neighborhood-report-clinton-upper-west-side-asbestos-alert-at-the-ansonia-hotel.html |url-status=live}}

Condo sales lagged until the late 1990s.{{cite web |last=Fons |first=Mary K. |date=Sep 2005 |title=Inside the Ansonia |url=https://cooperatornews.com/article/inside-the-ansonia |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=CooperatorNews New York, The Co-op & Condo Monthly |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231047/https://cooperatornews.com/article/inside-the-ansonia |url-status=live}} Ansonia Associates had sold 60 apartments by 1996, at which point it had hired Zeckendorf Realty to market the building; Zeckendorf opened a sales office with three employees. The American Society of Interior Designers' New York City chapter was also hired to design four model apartments for the Ansonia,{{cite magazine |last=Geran |first=Monica |date=Sep 1996 |title=Super Models: The New York Chapter of ASID Demonstrates Ways of Home Improvement at the Ansonia Condominium |journal=Interior Design |volume=67 |issue=11 |pages=54 |id={{proQuest|234944229}}}}{{Cite news |last=Louie |first=Elaine |date=May 2, 1996 |title=Currents;4-Apartment Show House Has Big Design Solutions |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/02/garden/currents-4-apartment-show-house-has-big-design-solutions.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/02/garden/currents-4-apartment-show-house-has-big-design-solutions.html |url-status=live}} each of which was designed for a specific buyer. The Tower Records store at the Ansonia's base had closed by 1997, when Ansonia Associates was negotiating with The Food Emporium to open a store at the building.{{Cite news |last=Foderaro |first=Lisa W. |date=March 14, 1997 |title=Another Food Emporium |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/nyregion/another-food-emporium.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012205/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/nyregion/another-food-emporium.html |url-status=live}} Some of the building's apartments were combined over the years after tenants had died or relocated. By the late 1990s, the building had 410 apartments, compared with 520 before the condominium conversion had started. The Food Emporium store at the building's base opened in late 1998.{{Cite news |last=Moynihan |first=Colin |date=November 22, 1998 |title=Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side; To Some, Food Store Cornucopia Looks Like a Glut |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/22/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-some-food-store-cornucopia-looks-like-glut.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012212/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/22/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-some-food-store-cornucopia-looks-like-glut.html |url-status=live}}

File:Southern Facade of the Ansonia Hotel.jpg

By the 2000s, apartments were routinely selling for several million dollars, although Steven Gaines characterized the lobby as still being "a little dowdy".{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=204–205}} Apparel company The North Face renovated the ground-floor retail space at 73rd Street in the early 2000s, restoring some windows that had been hidden behind a masonry wall for several decades. By 2005, most of the rent-controlled tenants had moved out, and their units had been converted to condos. Only one-quarter of the units were rent-controlled or rent-stabilized; the remaining three-quarters of the building was composed of condominiums. According to Ansonia Realty sales director Bernie Gelb, the building had between two and five vacant apartments at any given time. Due to the building's landmark status, condo owners could not replace the windows when renovating their apartments; in addition, Ansonia Realty had to approve all subleases of the condos. A Loehmann's store opened in the building's basement in 2007, within the space formerly occupied by the Continental Baths and Plato's Retreat.

The building continued to face lawsuits over the years, and it had been the subject of more than 800 lawsuits by 2014.{{Cite news |last=Chaban |first=Matt A. V. |date=May 13, 2014 |title=Long Fight to Keep a Grand Address on the Upper West Side |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/nyregion/long-fight-to-keep-a-grand-address-on-the-upper-west-side.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314191902/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/nyregion/long-fight-to-keep-a-grand-address-on-the-upper-west-side.html |url-status=live}} For instance, a resident sued the Ansonia's managers in 2007, alleging that the building was infested with cockroaches,{{Cite news |last=Hartocollis |first=Anemona |date=October 10, 2007 |title=The Ansonia Is Plagued by Cockroaches, A Lawsuit Says |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/nyregion/10ansonia.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231050/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/nyregion/10ansonia.html |url-status=live}} and a family sued their neighbor over cigarette smoke the next year.{{Cite news |last=Hartocollis |first=Anemona |date=February 9, 2008 |title=Suing the Smoker Next Door |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/nyregion/09ansonia.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312193725/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/nyregion/09ansonia.html |url-status=live}} Nonetheless, by 2011, the Times reported that prices at the Ansonia, and at other condominiums on the Upper West Side, were higher than at housing cooperatives along Central Park.{{Cite news |last=Mooney |first=Jake |date=April 8, 2011 |title=The Suburbs of Manhattan |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/realestate/10living.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314191902/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/realestate/10living.html |url-status=live}} Apartments continued to be sold for millions of dollars,{{cite web |last=McMullen |first=Troy |date=November 20, 2015 |title=New York Property: Broadway Typifies City's Booming Real Estate |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e8736678-8896-11e5-90de-f44762bf9896 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=Financial Times |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314192135/https://www.ft.com/content/e8736678-8896-11e5-90de-f44762bf9896 |url-status=live}} although 27 apartments were sold between 2009 and 2014 for less than $500,000.{{Cite news |last=Finn |first=Robin |date=November 28, 2014 |title=Getting a Foothold |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/realestate/the-cheapest-listings-in-famous-new-york-buildings.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314192133/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/realestate/the-cheapest-listings-in-famous-new-york-buildings.html |url-status=live}} Some rent-regulated tenants also remained in the building.{{cite web |last=Rosenberg |first=Zoe |date=May 13, 2014 |title=Inside One Ansonia Resident's Battle to Keep Her Stabilized Pad |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2014/5/13/10100594/inside-one-ansonia-residents-battle-to-keep-her-stabilized-pad |access-date=March 14, 2023 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314191901/https://ny.curbed.com/2014/5/13/10100594/inside-one-ansonia-residents-battle-to-keep-her-stabilized-pad |url-status=live}}

The Ansonia was nicknamed "The Palace for the Muses" because many of its residents were musicians and artists.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=183}} In general, these residents were not also members of high society; Hawes wrote that many residents "represented elements still considered alien or unsavory to old-fashioned society people". The Ansonia was particularly popular in the opera community, leading Opera World magazine to write in 1963: "In short, scarcely anyone in the opera business has not, at one time or another, lived in the Ansonia, where residence was regarded as the first step toward success in a precarious and overcrowded field". It is unknown why the Ansonia attracted so many opera performers, but several factors, including the hotel's thick walls and air-cooling system, have been cited. Many of the residents were also musicians or music students. Some residents had clauses in their leases that allowed them to play music without restrictions from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. This privilege did not extend to hosting music classes in the apartments, which led to a lengthy lawsuit in the mid-1990s.{{Cite news |last=Allon |first=Janet |date=January 25, 1998 |title=Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side—In Rental Discords, Landlords Call the Tune; Housewares Mecca To Close in March |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/25/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-rental-discords-landlords-call-tune.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012210/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/25/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-rental-discords-landlords-call-tune.html |url-status=live}}

After the building was converted to condominiums in the 1990s, it began to attract lawyers, doctors, and financiers. One writer for the Times wrote in 1985 that the "Ansonia has probably gotten as much panache from the names who have lived there as it has gained from its own name".{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=March 22, 1985 |title=A Walker's Guide to the Titled West Side |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/22/arts/a-walker-s-guide-to-the-titled-west-side.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312231450/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/22/arts/a-walker-s-guide-to-the-titled-west-side.html |url-status=live}} Over the years, residents have included:

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Frances Alda, soprano
• Martin C. Ansorge, U.S. representative{{Cite news |date=February 6, 1967 |title=Martin Ansorge, Was in Congress; Co-Author Of Bill to Create Port Authority Is Dead |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/06/archives/martin-ansorge-was-in-congress-coauthor-of-bill-to-create-port.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309181834/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/06/archives/martin-ansorge-was-in-congress-coauthor-of-bill-to-create-port.html |url-status=live}}
• 'Abdu'l-Bahá, son and chosen successor of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith{{Cite web |date=April 13, 2012 |title=A Modern Man from the Middle East? |url=https://239days.com/2012/04/13/a-modern-man-from-the-middle-east/ |access-date=August 12, 2021 |website=239 Days in America |language=en-US |archive-date=August 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812152901/https://239days.com/2012/04/13/a-modern-man-from-the-middle-east/ |url-status=live}}
• Sarah Bernhardt, actress
• Billie Burke, actress; lived with her husband Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
• Enrico Caruso, tenor
• Feodor Chaliapin, bass{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=185}}
• Fausto Cleva, conductor
• Richard and John Contiguglia, concert pianists
• Royal S. Copeland, U.S. senator{{Cite news |date=October 3, 1929 |title=Copeland Leases Suite; Senator to Live at the Ansonia-- Tumulty Rents Apartment. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/03/archives/copeland-leases-suite-senator-to-live-at-the-ansonia-tumulty-rents.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153206/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/03/archives/copeland-leases-suite-senator-to-live-at-the-ansonia-tumulty-rents.html |url-status=live}}
• Jack Dempsey, boxer
• Theodore Dreiser, writer
• Richard Dreyfuss, actor{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Jon |date=September 22, 2002 |title=New York Observed; Fantasy Island |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/nyregion/new-york-observed-fantasy-island.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921114944/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/nyregion/new-york-observed-fantasy-island.html |url-status=live}}
• Geraldine Farrar, soprano and actress
• Sam Franko, conductor{{Cite news |date=May 7, 1937 |title=Sam Frako Killed in Fall on Steps; Noted Musician, 80, Fractures Skull in Accident in Lobby of a Hotel Here |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/07/archives/sam-frako-killed-in-fall-on-steps-noted-musician-80-fractures-skull.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314162747/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/07/archives/sam-frako-killed-in-fall-on-steps-noted-musician-80-fractures-skull.html |url-status=live}}
• Chick Gandil, baseball player
• Giulio Gatti-Casazza, opera manager{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=184}}
• Anna Held, actress; lived with her husband Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|p=182}}
• Victoriano Huerta, Mexican dictator{{harvnb|Gaines|2005|ps=.|pp=178–179}}{{Cite news |date=April 13, 1915 |title=Gen. Huerta Here; Has 'Bomb' Scare; Mysterious Box Given to Him at Pier Is Sent to Police and Found Harmless |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/04/13/archives/gen-huerta-here-has-bomb-scare-mysterious-box-given-to-him-at-pier.html |access-date=March 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313181946/https://www.nytimes.com/1915/04/13/archives/gen-huerta-here-has-bomb-scare-mysterious-box-given-to-him-at-pier.html |url-status=live}}
• Sol Hurok, impresario
• Angelina Jolie, actress
• Andre Kostelanetz, conductor; lived with his wife, Lily Pons
• Lillian Lorraine, actress
• Gustav Mahler, composer and conductor
• Lauritz Melchior, tenor{{cite book | last=Salwen | first=Peter | title=Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide | publisher=Abbeville Press | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-89659-894-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pZ4AAAAMAAJ | page=142}}
• Yehudi Menuhin, violinist
• Bob Meusel, baseball player
• Mae Murray, actress
• Lefty O'Doul, baseball player
• Charles Henry Parkhurst, clergyman
• Ettore Panizza, composer
• Roberta Peters, soprano
• Ezio Pinza, bass
• Lily Pons, soprano; lived with her husband, Andre Kostelanetz
• Ashley Putnam, soprano
• Elmer Rice, playwright
• Isaac L. Rice, businessman; lived with wife Julia Barnett Rice{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=August 24, 1997 |title=A Fading Reminder of Turn-Of-The-Century Elegance |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/24/realestate/a-fading-reminder-of-turn-of-the-century-elegance.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/24/realestate/a-fading-reminder-of-turn-of-the-century-elegance.html |url-status=live}}
• Julia Barnett Rice, activist; lived with husband Isaac L. Rice
• Babe Ruth, baseball player{{Cite news |last1=Speranza |first1=John |last2=George |first2=Tara |date=August 14, 1998 |title=The Bambino Lives on in Gotham |pages=812 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120665305/the-bambino-lives-on-in-gothamjohn/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012204/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120665305/the-bambino-lives-on-in-gothamjohn/ |url-status=live}}
• Bidu Sayão, soprano
• Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, bullfighter
• Wally Schang, baseball player
• Tito Schipa, tenor
• Antonio Scotti, baritone
• Eleanor Steber, soprano
• Teresa Stratas, soprano
• Igor Stravinsky, composer
• Arturo Toscanini, conductor
• Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., impresario; lived with his wives

{{Div col end}}

When the building was being developed, in 1902, the New-York Tribune characterized the Ansonia as "an up-to-date specimen of apartment architecture". A reporter for The New York Times wrote in 1980 that the Ansonia "looks from midtown like a turreted fortress in the middle of upper Broadway".{{Cite news |date=November 21, 1980 |title=Smoky Fire Erupts in Ansonia Hotel |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/21/archives/smoky-fire-erupts-in-ansonia-hotel.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311201522/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/21/archives/smoky-fire-erupts-in-ansonia-hotel.html |url-status=live}} Christopher Gray wrote in 1987 that the Ansonia, along with the Apthorp and the Belnord, "gave a cosmopolitan electricity to" the section of Broadway north of 59th Street.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=August 9, 1987 |title=Streetscapes: The 81st Street Theater; The Curtain Falls, But Preservation Is in the Wings |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/realestate/streetscapes-81st-street-theater-curtain-falls-but-preservation-wings.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311221311/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/realestate/streetscapes-81st-street-theater-curtain-falls-but-preservation-wings.html |url-status=live}} In the 1983 book New York 1900, Robert A. M. Stern and his coauthors wrote that the building "transformed Parisian prototypes into a veritable skyscraper". A representative for the Municipal Art Society said that, had the Ansonia been demolished, "our city would have suffered far more than the loss of a Beaux-Arts masterpiece".{{Cite news |date=June 20, 2004 |title=Neighborhood Report: New York in Focus; A Grande Dame With a Lively Past |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/neighborhood-report-new-york-in-focus-a-grande-dame-with-a-lively-past.html |access-date=March 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309231050/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/neighborhood-report-new-york-in-focus-a-grande-dame-with-a-lively-past.html |url-status=live}}

The presence of the building influenced David Childs's design of the Alexandria, constructed at Broadway and 72nd Street in 1990. That development contains an illuminated octagonal cupola as a homage to the Ansonia's turrets.{{Cite news |last=Peterson |first=Iver |date=January 21, 1990 |title=What Shapes a New Apartment House? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/21/realestate/what-shapes-a-new-apartment-house.html |access-date=March 11, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311231558/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/21/realestate/what-shapes-a-new-apartment-house.html |url-status=live}} The Laureate condominium building at Broadway and 76th Street, completed in the 2000s, also contains balconies, curved corners, and rusticated blocks inspired by those of the Ansonia.{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=C. J. |date=November 12, 2010 |title=On the West Side, New Condos with an Old Look |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/realestate/14posting.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320205621/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/realestate/14posting.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Karmin |first=Craig |date=April 14, 2011 |title=Laureate Wins in Sales |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983104576263270210457168.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=January 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103122106/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983104576263270210457168.html |url-status=live}}

The building has been depicted in several media works. The facade was used as a set for the 2012 TV show 666 Park Avenue,{{cite web |last=Chung |first=Jen |date=May 16, 2012 |title=Video: ABC Turns The Ansonia Into 666 Park Avenue |url=https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/video-abc-turns-the-ansonia-into-666-park-avenue |access-date=March 11, 2023 |website=Gothamist |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311231559/https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/video-abc-turns-the-ansonia-into-666-park-avenue |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Kamping-Carder |first=Leigh |date=September 13, 2012 |title=New TV Drama '666 Park' Takes Sketchy NYC Landlords to a Whole New Level: VIDEO |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2012/09/13/new-tv-drama-666-park-takes-horrible-nyc-landlords-to-a-whole-new-level/ |access-date=March 11, 2023 |website=The Real Deal |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311231559/https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2012/09/13/new-tv-drama-666-park-takes-horrible-nyc-landlords-to-a-whole-new-level/ |url-status=live}} whose producer David Wilcox said he had been attracted by the building's "absolutely fascinating" history.{{cite web |last=Dollar |first=Steve |date=September 29, 2012 |title=Architecture Stars in '666' |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443389604578024471377747316.html |access-date=March 14, 2023 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103122531/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443389604578024471377747316.html |url-status=live}} Its facade was also depicted in the TV show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, standing in for the fictional "Dansonia".{{cite web | title=We've Determined Pop Culture's Most Iconic New York Apartment | website=House Beautiful | date=June 2, 2023 | url=https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/real-estate/a44078339/pop-cultures-most-iconic-new-york-apartment/ | access-date=August 16, 2023}} In addition, the Ansonia has been used as a setting or filming location for movies such as The Sunshine Boys (1975),{{cite book |last=Lynch |first=Geoffrey |title=Manhattan Classic: New York's Finest Prewar Apartments |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61689-267-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJauAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 |page=163 | access-date=March 14, 2023 | archive-date=March 15, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315143841/https://books.google.com/books?id=TJauAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 | url-status=live}} Three Days of the Condor (1975), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Life and Nothing But (1989),{{cite book |last=Alleman |first=Richard |title=New York: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie New York |publisher=Crown |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8041-3778-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_0Z5SxTKLkC&pg=PA349 |pages=350–351 | access-date=March 14, 2023 | archive-date=March 15, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315143855/https://books.google.com/books?id=f_0Z5SxTKLkC&pg=PA349 | url-status=live}} Single White Female (1992),{{harvnb|ps=.|Gaines|2005|p=116}} Uptown Girls (2003), and Perfect Stranger (2007).{{cite news |last=Hunter |first=Stephen |date=April 13, 2007 |title='Perfect Stranger': Not Thrilled To Meet You |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201718.html?nav=emailpage |access-date=May 25, 2010 |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104115113/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201718.html?nav=emailpage |url-status=live}} Rod McKuen included a song titled "Full Moon Over the Ansonia Hotel" on his 1977 album Slide... Easy In.{{Cite book |last=Luciani |first=Luca Locati |title=Crisco Disco: Disco Music & Clubbing Gay Negli Anni '70 – '80 |publisher=Vololibero |isbn=8897637221 |publication-date=February 27, 2013 |language=it |trans-title=Crisco Disco: Disco music & gay clubbing in the 70s - 80s}}

• List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan
• List of former hotels in Manhattan
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
• Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Manhattan), also co-designed by DuBoy

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Alpern |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9dPPEk7FUs8C |title=Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History |date=1992 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-27370-9 |language=en}}
• {{cite report |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002665.pdf |title=The Ansonia |date=January 10, 1980 |publisher=National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service |ref={{harvid|National Park Service|1980}}}}
• {{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0285.pdf |title=The Ansonia |date=March 14, 1972 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |archive-url= |archive-date= |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1972}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Gaines |first=Steven |url=https://archive.org/details/skyslimitpassion00gain |title=The Sky's the Limit Passion and Property in Manhattan. |date=2005 |publisher=Little Brown & Company |isbn=978-0-7595-1388-4 |publication-place=New York |oclc=1314616338 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Hawes |first=Elizabeth |title=New York, New York: How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City (1869-1930) |publisher=A.A. Knopf |series=A Borzoi book |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-394-55641-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwTWAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{Cite New York 1900}}

• {{commons category-inline|The Ansonia}}

{{Upper West Side}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York}}

{{Broadway (Manhattan)}}

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