Hotel Pennsylvania

The Hotel Pennsylvania is a hotel located at 401 7th Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City.

History

The Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White, which also designed the original Pennsylvania Station located across the street. (The old Pennsylvania Station was razed in 1963 to make room for Madison Square Garden and the redeveloped below-ground station in use today.)

Statler Hotels, which had managed the Pennsylvania since its construction, acquired the property outright in 1948 and renamed it the Hotel Statler. Following the sale of all 17 Statler hotels to Conrad Hilton in 1954, the hotel became the Statler Hilton. It operated under this name until the early 1980s, when Hilton sold the hotel. It was renamed the New York Statler for a brief period and was operated by Dunfey hotels, a division of Aer Lingus. It was then purchased in 1984 by the Penta Hotels chain, a joint-venture of British Airways, Lufthansa and Swissair, becoming the New York Penta. In 1992 Penta went out of business and the hotel returned to its original name, Hotel Pennsylvania.

Proposed demolition

The threat of the Hotel Pennsylvania's demolition was first introduced in 1997 when Vornado Realty Trust bought the hotel. Vornado announced in 2007 that the hotel was to be demolished to make way for a new office building with Merrill Lynch as its anchor tenant. Owner Vornado Realty Trust intended to build a 2,500,000-square-foot (230,000 m²) building by 2011.

In 2006 the Save Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation (now the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society) was created.

Shortly after the announcement of Vornado's plans, the staff of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a magazine which sponsors biennial HOPE hacker conventions at the hotel, began investigating possible ways to save the hotel from demolition. They were joined by the new Save the Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation, whose members included a number of city organizations and politicians to aid in the landmarking of the hotel, including The Historic District Council, Manhattan Community Board 5, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. In November 2007, Manhattan Community Board 5 voted 21-8 to have New York City Council landmark the historic hotel. However in February 2008 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission denied the request for landmarking.

Preservation efforts have proven difficult. Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600 noted that while people overseas expressed concern over the fate of the hotel, "New Yorkers might not care enough to get involved. The hotel was old; the rooms weren’t as big and luxurious as other more modern facilities; and New Yorkers simply weren’t in a position to grasp the importance of such a place since they normally don’t need cheap and easily accessible hotels if they already live here."

In May 2010 the hotel was again in danger of demolition. Manhattan Borough president Scott Stringer gave a conditional approval overruling Manhattan Community Board 5.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewed the hotel's Cafe Rouge for landmark status based on a request by the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society, but on October 22, 2010 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to designate the cafe as a landmark.

On July 14, 2010 the New York City Department of City Planning voted unanimously in favor of the construction of the tower.

On August 23, 2010 the NYC Council voted to approve the proposed Uniform Land Use Review Procedure submitted by the building owners.

On December 14, 2011 Vornado proposed to delay the demolition of the hotel due to market conditions.

On March 4, 2013 Vornado revealed they are abandoning plans to demolish the hotel and replace it with the office tower. The decision was followed by a statement by chairman Steve Roth: "We're not going to tear down the hotel. In fact, we're going to invest in it aggressively and try to make it into a really profitable, really good hotel for our purposes."

Renovation plans

Other than Vornado confirming they will be renovating and improving the hotel, not much else is known. Preservationists as well as those in the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society (formerly the Save Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation) would like to see the renovations develop into restorations, bringing the hotel back to its 1919 splendor.

Pennsylvania 6-5000

The hotel has the distinction of having the New York phone number in longest continuous use. The number, PEnnsylvania 6-5000, (212-736-5000), is the inspiration for the Jerry Gray composition of the same name (with lyrics later added by Carl Sigman). The most popular version was performed by Glenn Miller, with the Andrews Sisters' version not far behind. Many big band names played in the hotel's Main Dining Room, The Cafe Rouge, including the Dorsey Brothers, Woody Herman, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. One evening in November 1939 while in the midst of a steady long-term engagement at the Cafe Rouge, bandleader Artie Shaw left the bandstand between sets and decided he had enough of the band business and all the hype of having become in year and a half's time the leader of the most popular big band in the country. Shaw essentially quit his own band on the spot; the act obliging even the New York Times to comment in an editorial. From 1940-42 Glenn Miller's band also had repeated long-term bookings in the room during the three years of Miller's great popularity as a major bandleader of the Swing Era. Gray, Shaw's principal orchestrator from 1937â€"39, was immediately hired by Miller as a staff arranger when Shaw deserted his band; it was during Miller's 1940 engagement at the hotel that Gray wrote the popular instrumental tune that immortalized the Hotel's telephone number.

For the last several decades, when callers dialed the hotel they would hear the Glenn Miller recording until an operator answered. This bit of nostalgia was discontinued in 2012, and operators answer all calls.

Notable events

• In December 1925, William Faulkner stayed at The Hotel Pennsylvania while writing one of his many novels. Later he would go on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• The Chef salad may have been created by Hotel Pennsylvania head chef Jacques Roser in the 1920s.
• On November 17, 1935 Herbert Hoover spoke before the Ohio Society of New York at the Hotel Pennsylvania
• In 1940, Glenn Miller and the Glenn Miller Orchestra began the first of several extended engagements at the Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge, often broadcast live on NBC Radio. Recordings of several of these engagements were released by RCA Victor.
• In December 1942 Charlie Chaplin attended a dinner at The Hotel Pennsylvania in New York sponsored by Russian War Relief
• In 1944, Doris Day with Les Brown and his Band of Renown introduced the song "Sentimental Journey" at the Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge.
• On November 28, 1953, U.S. Army biochemist Dr. Frank Olson, who also secretly worked for the CIA, crashed through a window of the hotel Pennsylvania, (then the Statler Hotel) and fell over 150 feet (46 m) to the sidewalk below where he died. The New York City Police Department, U.S. Army, and CIA, reported Olson’s death as a suicide. In 1975, documents released by an American Presidential-appointed commission revealed that, days before his death, the CIA had surreptitiously dosed Olson with LSD. Twenty-years later, further investigation into Olson’s death revealed that there was ample reason to believe that he had been murdered.
• On November 3. 1964, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy addressed his supporters in the hotel (then the Statler Hilton), after capturing the seat of incumbent Kenneth Keating in the United States Senate.
• The first Star Trek convention was held at the hotel in January 1972.
• The character Statler of Statler and Waldorf was named after the hotel, when it was the Statler Hilton.
• The HOPE conferences were held at, and named after the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Film history

• The Hotel Pennsylvania appeared in the 1986 film The Manhattan Project, as the setting of a science fair. Rather than construct a set and populate it with actors, the filmmakers hosted an actual science fair in the hotel, and simply filmed as it was going on.
• In 1997, The grand ballroom became NEP/Image TV Studios and is where the television shows such as Maury, Sally Jessy Raphael, 2 Minute Drill, and The People's Court have taped, and currently houses the production of the The Bill Cunningham Show.
• In 2009, old studios in the hotel were rebuilt and consolidated into a new 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) studio for the sitcom Sherri.

Trivia

Contrary to common floor numbering practice, there is a 13th floor. The hotel states it has 22 floors from street level to the roof, plus three additional levels in the penthouse. The highest penthouse level is numbered as the 21st floor. The discrepancy in floor numbering is due to several mezzanine-type levels that carry names such as "lobby mezzanine" instead of floor numbers.

Vintage photographs

See also

• Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania)

References

External links

• Official website
• Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society
• Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society Blogger Page
• Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society Facebook Page