| The Michelangelo Hotel | |
|---|---|
| The historic Taft Hotel building in 2009 | |
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Address | 152 West 51st Street |
| Hotel chain | Starhotels |
| Opening date | 1926 |
| Architect | H. Craig Severance |
| Management | Starhotels |
| Rooms | 178 |
| Floors | 22 |
| Total height | 226 ft |
The Taft Hotel building is a historic 22-story pre-war Spanish Renaissance structure that occupies the entire eastern-facing block of 7th Avenue between 50th and 51st Street and Seventh Avenue, just north of Times Square, in New York City. In its modern configuration, it features two separate and distinct uses, each with their own entrance on 51st St. The first and largest portion of building is devoted to the residential condominium called Executive Plaza, with each of its 440 units being privately owned. Sharing a smaller portion of the building is The Michelangelo, a Starhotels hotel.
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The building is 69 m /226 ft tall and was designed by H. Craig Severance and opened in 1926.[1] It was connected to the famous Roxy Theatre movie palace which was built at the same time. The theater's entrance and signage occupied the hotel's southwest corner.
When the hotel opened, it had 2,250 rooms and was the largest hotel in Times Square. The development cost of the Manger Hotel was more than $10 million in 1925, an enormous amount money at the time. At the time, Madison Square Garden was a block to the west at 8th Avenue and 50th Street. It originally opened as the Manger Hotel (named for the Manger Hotel chain that owned 18 hotel properties in New York City and was founded by brothers Julius and William Manger)[2]
It was renamed for William Howard Taft in 1931 after being sold.[3]
One of the hotel's most famous features was the Taft Grill.
The George Hall Orchestra (sometimes called the George Hall Taft Hotel Orchestra) performed from the hotel on Monday through Saturday at noon on CBS Radio, starring Dolly Dawn.[4] The band's signature song was "Love Letters in the Sand".
Other big band performances were by Artie Shaw, Xavier Cugat, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Tony Pastor.[5]
Vincent Lopez performed in residency for 20 years and broadcast a radio show from the hotel, with Gloria Parker, Shake the Maracas. Lopez later broadcast a TV show from the Taft on the DuMont network, Dinner Date, from January to July 1950.
On May 26, 1933, Jimmie Rodgers (The Father Of Country Music) died here at the age of 35 from a long battle with tuberculosis. This occurred just two days after completing what was his final recording session for Victor Records.
In 1954, a woman leapt to her death from the hotel's rooftop before a crowd of 5,000 people.[6]
In 1955, Philip Loeb died from an overdose of sleeping pills at the hotel in the Hollywood blacklist scandal.
A scene from the 1967 film How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, in which Finch follows a rival executive to a football pep party, was shot at the hotel.
The closing of Madison Square Garden, the tearing down of the Roxy, and the increasing presence of neighborhood pornographic theaters contributed to the early 1980s closing of the Taft Hotel. In 1988, following construction of 787 Seventh Avenue office tower, across 51st Street to the north, the building was converted to mixed use. The eighth through the 21st floors were rebuilt as condominiums and the first seven floors were occupied by the Grand Bay Hotel. The hotel and the condominiums had separate entrances side by side on 51st Street.[3]
In 1990, hotel chain Park Lane International acquired the hotel portion and renamed it Parc Fifty-One. In 1992, Starhotels acquired it for $42 million and renamed the hotel The Michelangelo.[3]
The mixed use of the structure includes a Ruth's Chris restaurant facing 51st st., and a T.G.I. Friday's with 7th Avenue frontage, located in the old Roxy Theatre lobby location and which has a sign in the window proclaiming it to be the largest Friday's in the chain.