Jumeirah Essex House
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The Jumeirah Essex House is a luxury hotel located on Central Park South in Manhattan. Built in 1931 as the Park Tower hotel, it is situated across the street from the southern border of Central Park and is convenient to both the stylish shops on Fifth Avenue and the nightlife of both Broadway and the Upper West Side. The 43-story hotel has 515 Art Deco style rooms and an in house spa, and it is immediately recognizable by its original rooftop sign.
The hotel has had several owner/operators over the years, including Japan Air Lines/Nikko hotel (1984), Strategic Hotel Capital/Marriott (1999), and is currently under the direction of the Jumeirah Group, who is undertaking extensive improvements, including the conversion of some of the hotel rooms into condominiums.
The hotel was formerly the home of a five star restaurant, Alain Ducasse at Essex House. However, Ducasse moved the restaurant from Essex House in January of 2007.
In popular culture, the Essex House is known for its relationship with the American television program Saturday Night Live. In the early years of the show, Don Pardo would announce that "guests of Saturday Night Live stay at the Essex House!"
Angelina Jolie owns the penthouse apartment at the top.
On January 13, 1979, R&B singer Donny Hathaway was found dead from an apparent suicide on the sidewalk in front of the Essex House in New York City, after a leap from his 15th floor room in which he had been living.
In the autumn of 1969, the famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky lived in the Essex House for a period of time.[1]
In the famous 1932 photograph Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper, the Essex House sign can be seen in the background.
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[edit] References
- ^ Eric Walter White, 1979; Stravinsky, the Composer and His Works, Second Edition. University of California Press, ISBN 0520039858
