Lotte New York Palace Hotel
Coordinates: 40°45′28.92″N 73°58′30.1″W / 40.7580333°N 73.975028°W
| Lotte New York Palace Hotel | |
|---|---|
 The Lotte New York Palace Hotel, with the historic Villard Mansion at foreground | |
| General information | |
| Address |
455 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 U.S. |
| Owner | Lotte Hotels & Resorts |
| Management | Lotte Hotels & Resorts |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | McKim, Mead, and White (The Villard Mansion), Emery Roth & Sons (The Helmsley Palace Hotel) and Lee S Jablin, Harman Jablin Architects (The Palace Hotel) |
| Website | |
|
www | |
The Lotte New York Palace Hotel is a luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan, at the corner of 50th Street and Madison Avenue. The property is housed in the historic landmark Villard Mansion and a modern 55-story tower.
History
In 1882, Henry Villard, a well-known railroad financier, hired McKim, Mead, and White to create six private brownstone townhouses surrounding a courtyard on Madison Avenue. The prominent architectural firm created the houses in the neo-Italian Renaissance tradition, after the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome.
In the spring of 1974, the developer Harry Helmsley proposed a 55-story hotel for the site of the Villard Houses called The Helmsley Palace Hotel. To construct his hotel tower, Helmsley hired Emery Roth & Sons, who created its design of dark bronze reflective glass and anodized aluminum to blend with the Villard Houses and the surrounding skyline of Manhattan. The Helmsley Palace Hotel opened in 1981 and was operated by Helmsley until 1992, when the hotel came under the management of a private New York limited partnership owned by the family of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, changing its name to The New York Palace.[1]
During Helmsley's ownership Harry's wife Leona Helmsley maintained a strict and intolerant management style which involved her firing staff members for trivial mistakes, an act which gave her the nickname, "Queen of Mean." The hotel reverted to its bond holders from Leona Helmsley and was ultimately purchased by the Sultan of Brunei with the concurrence of the US Bankruptcy Court. The Sultan of Brunei, through its development company, Amedeo Limited, hired Lee Jablin of Harman Jablin Architects for the complete renovation of the hotel and Villard Houses.
Northwood Investors bought the hotel from the Sultan of Brunei in 2011.[2]
Lotte Hotels & Resorts, an owner and operator of luxury hotels based in Seoul, South Korea, agreed to a deal acquiring the hotel for $805 million from real estate management firm Northwood Investors at the end of May 2015. Lotte Hotels & Resorts completed the acquisition on August 28, 2015.[3] The hotel was afterwards renamed the Lotte New York Palace Hotel.
Hotel description
The courtyard and lobby
What was once The Villard Mansion’s carriage entrance on Madison Avenue is now Lotte New York Palace’s Courtyard. During the restoration of the hotel, the Courtyard was redesigned to incorporate motifs from the flooring of several 15th-century Italian cathedrals, a nod to its original styling after Rome’s Palazzo della Cancellaria. A two-story lobby joins The Villard Mansion with the newer section of the hotel.
Guest rooms
Lotte New York Palace Hotel has 822 guest rooms and 87 suites, as of March 2016 rates range from $380 to $25,000 per night.
The Towers
The Towers at Lotte New York Palace are a subset of 176 accommodations at the hotel. The Towers rooms and suites are located on floors 41 and above.[4]
In 2015, The Towers earned a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence. The Towers was ranked #10 on Tripadvisor's Top 25 Luxury Hotels in the United States.[5]
In popular culture
- A rooftop residence is used for the opening scene of Mr. Robot episode "eps1.7_wh1ter0se.m4v".
- The hotel is featured prominently on the CW series Gossip Girl.
- The hotel's courtyard has played host to numerous events such as the Tony Award Party for cast and crew of Cinderella on Broadway, annual holiday tree lighting with Miss America, and New York Fashion Week events.
- In 1994, the hotel was used for the popular Dutch children's show Bassie & Adriaan.
References
Notes
- ↑ From the Vault: New York Palace Hotel, 455 Madison Avenue Commercial Observer, Jan. 13, 2014,
- ↑ Brandt, Nadja (2011-05-18). "New York Palace Hotel to Be Sold to Kukral’s Northwood". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
- ↑ Brandt, Nadja (2015-05-30). "South Korea's Lotte Group buys New York hotel for $805 million". reuters.com. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
- ↑ "The Towers at Lotte New York Palace". lottenypalace.com. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
- ↑ "Top 25 Luxury Hotels — United States". Tripadvisor.com. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
Bibliography
- "The New York Palace Hotel: the History Behind a New York" (press release)
- Gray, Christopher (2003-12-21). "Madison Avenue Between 50th and 51st Street; A Landmark 6-Home Complex in Dark Brownstone". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
- Lessard, Suzzannah. "Stanford White Runs Away and Joins the Circus" The New York Times (May 1, 1997)
- Staff. "Playing The Palace: The Good Old Days" The New York Times (June 9, 1996)
- von Pressentin Wright, Carol. Blue Guide New York. Somerset Books, 2008.
- White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5.