Plaza Hotel

Construction on the first Plaza Hotel at this location began in 1883, on the site of the New York Skating Club. The builders ran out of money, and the New York Life Insurance Company foreclosed and hired the most-celebrated architects of the era, McKim, Mead & White, to complete the hotel, which finally opened on October 1, 1890.[7] Prior to 1904, John L. Scherz was in charge of the Plaza Hotel. He also built a hotel casino in Harlem and was later in charge of the Manhattan Beach Hotel in Rockaway Beach, and the Sea Side Hotel.[8]

Plaza Hotel during the early-20th century

It soon became apparent that the first hotel was far too small, and it was demolished in 1905 by new owners, hotelier Fred Sterry, Harry S. Black and German financier Bernhard Beinecke, who envisioned a much larger, new Plaza Hotel, which was designed as an opulent, 19-story, French Renaissance-inspired château-style building by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. The new hotel was constructed in 27 months, at a then-unprecedented cost of $12.5 million, and was opened October 1, 1907.[7][9] When the hotel opened, a room at the Plaza Hotel was only $2.50 per night, the equivalent of $68.6 in 2019. The same room cost over $1,000 per night in 2015.[10] The hotel proved so popular that a huge 300-room annex was added along 58th Street from 1920–1921.[7]

Conrad Hilton bought the Plaza Hotel for $7.4 million in October 1943 (equivalent to $109 million in 2019) and spent $6 million (equivalent to $88.7 million in 2019) refurbishing it. Hilton sold the hotel ten years later, in 1953, to Boston industrialist A.M. "Sonny" Sonnabend for $16 million. Hilton sold the Plaza to raise funds for construction of the Beverly Hilton, but immediately leased the Plaza back for two and a half years, and then another four when that lease expired.[11] Sonnabend became president of The Childs Company, a national restaurant chain, two years later, and Childs purchased The Plaza on November 18, 1955 for $6.2 million in stock (equivalent to $60.4 million in 2019).[12] Childs had partnered in the development of the neighboring Savoy-Plaza Hotel,[13] (now the site of the General Motors Building). Sonnabend created the Hotel Corporation of America (HCA) in 1956,[14] to leverage tax losses from Childs.[11] HCA assumed management of the Plaza from Hilton in January 1960.[11] HCA changed its name to Sonesta International Hotels in 1970.[14] Sonesta sold the Plaza to Western International Hotels in 1975 for $25 million (equivalent to $119 million in 2019).[15] Western International changed its name to Westin Hotels in 1981 and the hotel was renamed soon after, becoming The Westin Plaza.[16]

Westin sold The Plaza to Donald Trump for $390 million on March 27, 1988[17] (equivalent to $843 million in 2019). Trump commented on his purchase in a full-page open letter in The New York Times: "I haven't purchased a building, I have purchased a masterpiece – the Mona Lisa. For the first time in my life, I have knowingly made a deal that was not economic – for I can never justify the price I paid, no matter how successful the Plaza becomes." Trump installed his wife, Ivana Trump, as the hotel's president.[18] After $50 million in renovations, the hotel was earning a healthy operating income, but not enough to make the payments on its heavy debt load.[19] Trump made plans to pay off the hotel's debt by selling off many of its units as condominiums.[20] A deal was instead reached for the Plaza's creditors, a group of banks led by Citibank, to take a 49 percent stake in the hotel in exchange for forgiveness of $250 million in debt and an interest rate reduction.[21] The agreement was submitted as a prepackaged bankruptcy in November 1992.[22]

In 1995, CDL Hotels International and Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal purchased a controlling stake in the Plaza in a deal that valued it at $325 million (equivalent to $545 million in 2019).[23]

The Plaza Hotel turned 100 years old in October 2007, celebrating with ceremonies and fireworks

The hotel was sold in 2004 for $675 million (equivalent to $914 million in 2019) to Israeli-owned Manhattan-based developer, El Ad Properties.[24] El Ad bought the hotel with plans of adding residential and commercial sections. Because the Plaza Hotel is a New York landmark, Tishman Construction Corporation, the construction management company hired to complete the renovations and conversions, had to comply with landmark regulations.[25] El Ad temporarily closed the Plaza Hotel on April 30, 2005, for extensive renovations costing $450 million.[26] Beginning May 2005, the Plaza Hotel's contents were available to the public via a liquidation sale. The hotel reopened on March 1, 2008,[27] offering 282 hotel rooms and 152 private condominium units; it was managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Diamond retailer Lev Leviev put in the first bid for a Plaza apartment at $10 million. Most of the condominium units are usually empty, used as pieds-à-terre by their wealthy owners.[28]

In November 2008, the Plaza Hotel unveiled its retail collection, an underground mall featuring luxury brands such as Vertu and Demel Bakery (closed as of March 2010), an Austrian-owned business. In 2010, the Plaza Food Hall opened in the underground mall, anchored by The Todd English Food Hall in collaboration with Chef Todd English.[29] The Plaza Food Hall was the first American Food Hall concept. The concept was designed for Mr. English by restaurateur, Brian Crawford, in collaboration with El Ad CEO, Miki Naftali and famed architect Jeffery Beers.[30][31][32][33][34] On July 31, 2012, India's business group Sahara India Pariwar agreed to buy a 75 percent controlling stake for $570 million from El Ad Properties. On September 4, 2012, Kenneth Bordewick of Beverly Hills Luxury Interiors was hired to redesign Several of The Penthouse Suites, The Palm Court, The Rose Club, and The Champagne Bar at a cost of $145 million. The stake included 100 of the Plaza's 150 hotel-condominium units and a retail portion that included the Oak Room bar.[35] In August 2014, Sahara's Subrata Roy announced he was seeking a buyer for his company's majority stake in the Plaza, along with similar stakes in the Dream Hotel in New York and the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. A $4 billion price tag was placed on the Plaza stake. Speculation that Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei would be the buyer was quashed by the sultan.[35]

In 2016, Saudi businessman Al-Waleed bin Talal, who already controlled a 50 percent stake in the building's hotel, restaurant, and retail portion through his Kingdom Holding Company, partnered with the Qatar Investment Authority to purchase the hotel, but the deal fell through. He partnered again in 2017 with Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation in another attempt to purchase control of the structure.[36] In May 2018, the Sahara Group announced it had finalized a deal with Shahal M. Khan, founder of Dubai-based White City Ventures, and Kamran Hakim of the Hakim Organization to buy a majority share of the hotel for $600 million. That deal was expected to close on June 25, 2018. In October 2018, Qatar's Katara Hospitality's chairman Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani, announced the expansion of its global portfolio with the acquisition of The Plaza.[37]

1941 letter from Mina Edison, Thomas Edison's wife, on Plaza Hotel stationery

Long the site for notable performers and guests, it has also been the meeting place for important political meetings. The internationally known singers Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt, Liza Minnelli, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, Kay Thompson, Sandler and Young, Ethel Merman, Shirley Bassey, Andy Williams, The Mills Brothers, Patti Page and Peggy Lee played the Persian Room. Miles Davis recorded a live album in the Persian Room in 1958.

The Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel during their first visit to the United States in February 1964.[10]

On November 28, 1966, in honor of the publisher Katharine Graham, the writer Truman Capote hosted his acclaimed "Black and White Ball" in the Grand Ballroom. The ballroom was also the site, in 1993, of Donald Trump's wedding to Marla Maples in front of 1,500 guests.[38]

In September 1985, ministers of developed countries met at the Plaza Hotel to consult on finance issues and affirmed their agreement by signing the Plaza Accord. It served as an agreement among the finance ministers of the United States, Japan, West Germany, France, and Britain to bring down the price of the U.S. dollar against their currencies.

In 2016, The Plaza Hotel launched "The Plaza Hotel Finishing Program" teaching modern manners and etiquette to all ages, as taught by Myka Meier of Beaumont Etiquette, who has been named "America's Queen of Good Manners", by The Times in 2018.[39] In the summer of 2018, The Plaza launched a national tour of the course.[40]

The Plaza Hotel offers its guests and residences many services including a butler on every floor, baby-sitting and concierges, a shopping mall, the Palm Court under the restored stained glass ceiling, the Champagne Bar located in the hotel lobby with views of Grand Army Plaza, the Edwardian Room, the Terrace Room, the Rose Club, the Grand Ball Room, The Plaza Food Hall and The Todd English Food Hall Restaurant and Marketplace, as well as meeting rooms and conference rooms. The Grand Ballroom, Terrace Room and meeting spaces are currently managed by CPS Events, a joint venture between Delaware North Companies and the high end caterer Great Performances. The Oak Room, now closed, was another restaurant in the Plaza. Unaccompanied ladies were not permitted in the Oak Room; women favored the Palm Court for luncheons and tea.

• The WPA Guide to New York City, 1939 (reprinted 1982) (ISBN 0-394-71215-3)
• The Plaza Hotel, from the website of a former New York Post architecture critic
• The Plaza Says It'll Be History After April 30, a March 2005 New York Times article (registration required)
• The Plaza Lives!, an oral history of the Plaza Hotel that appeared in New York magazine in May 2005.
• Fairmont to manage New York City's Plaza Hotel, CBC News report
• "Hidden Details of The Plaza Hotel, From Lobby to Penthouse". Architectural Digest. October 30, 2018.