Park Central Hotel

7th Avenue side

The Park Central Hotel is a 31-story, 935-room hotel located across the street from Carnegie Hall at 870 7th Avenue (between West 55th and West 56th Streets) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

History

Named Park Central because of its close proximity to, but no actual views of, Central Park, it is a historic building in the Renaissance revival style with an extensive history. It has housed such iconic figures as Jackie Gleason, Mae West, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who kept a suite there from 1950 to 1953. Built in the pre-Depression late-twenties, its grand opening took place on June 12, 1927. It occupies the east half of the city block between Seventh Avenue and Broadway. Anchoring the west half is 1740 Broadway, a 26-story, 375 feet (114 m) skyscraper formerly owned by Mutual of New York, with a weather beacon[1] as well as an imposing facade that was renovated in 2007.[1]

The 1600-room Park Central Hotel was built by Harry A. Lanzer and opened on June 12, 1927. Lanzer sold the hotel to Sheraton in 1948 and it became the Park Sheraton Hotel.[2] Sheraton renamed it The New York Sheraton Hotel in 1972,[2] not to be confused with the later Sheraton New York Hotel. In 1983, Sheraton sold the hotel for $60 million[3] to V.M.S. Realty, which contracted with Dunfey Hotels to manage the hotel through their Omni Hotels division, and the hotel was renamed the Omni Park Central in January 1984.[2] The hotel was sold to developer Ian Bruce Eichner in 1995[2] and left the Omni chain, reverting to its original name, Park Central Hotel. Eichner converted half the hotel's 1,450 rooms into the Manhattan Club, a 266-unit, all-suite timeshare development located at the north side of the hotel at 200 West 56th Street.

The Mermaid Room was created as the hotel's cocktail bar and nightclub in the late 1940s. Irving Fields and his trio played there from 1950 to 1966.[2]

It is most infamous as the site of the murder of mobster Albert Anastasia, which took place on October 25, 1957, in the hotel's barber shop. Earlier, in 1928, the Jewish gangster and well-dressed prototype of the modern don, Arnold Rothstein, was shot and fatally wounded inside one of the suites.

In more recent times, it has housed many more modern-day celebrities and celebrity events, such as casting calls and parties. The hotel was the venue for the National Football League Draft from 1980 to 1985. Today, the Park Central is an independent hotel managed by Highgate Holdings.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Dunlap, David W. "No More MONY in the Midtown Skyline," City Room (The New York Times local news blog), February 4, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Park Central Hotel, New York City by Richard Johnson
  3. ↑ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~statler/statler/docs/statlerhotels/statlernyt.html
  4. ↑ Susan Heller Anderson and Maurice Carroll (January 5, 1984). "New York Day by Day". The New York Times.
Preceded by
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel		 Venues of the
NFL Draft
1980–1985 		Succeeded by
New York Marriott Marquis

Coordinates: 40°45′53″N 73°58′52″W / 40.76472°N 73.98111°W / 40.76472; -73.98111

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