Hotel Claridge
| Hotel Claridge | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Location |
1502 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, USA (160 West 44th Street) |
| Coordinates | 40°45′25″N 73°59′08″E / 40.75694°N 73.98556°E |
| Opening | 1911 |
| Closed | 1972 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 16 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | D.H. Burnham & Company |
The Hotel Claridge was a 16-story building on Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, at the southeast corner of Broadway and 44th Street. Originally known as the Hotel Rector, it was built of brick in the Beaux-arts style in 1910-11. It operated for 61 years until the building was demolished in 1972.
History
Built on the former site of the celebrated Rector's restaurant — frequented by the likes of Diamond Jim Brady — Charles E. Rector sued the new hotel's owners to prevent the continued use of his name on the new establishment. The Hotel Rector thus became the Hotel Claridge in 1913. The new name evoked the exclusive Claridge's of London.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was founded at the Hotel Claridge on 13 February 1914.
One of the most enduring images of Times Square is the “Camel Man”, who blew cigarette smoke rings around the clock from 1941 to 1966 from a billboard mounted on the Hotel Claridge.[1]
The building was razed in 1972. The site is currently occupied by ABC's Times Square Studios.
In popular culture
In the film Midnight Cowboy (1969), Joe Buck (Jon Voight) lodges in the Hotel Claridge at the beginning of his stay in New York City (but he is soon expelled due to unpaid stay).
References
- ↑ McKendry, Joe (2012), One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World, Boston: David R. Godine. Several of the excellent drawings in this lavishly illustrated book include the Hotel Claridge.
External links
Coordinates: 40°45′25″N 73°59′08″W / 40.75694°N 73.98556°W