Plaza Hotel

The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 19-story hotel on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South in Manhattan, currently closed and undergoing renovations. Its main entrance faces the southern portion of Grand Army Plaza— commemorating the Army of the Union in the Civil War. Grand Army Plaza is in two sections, bisected by Central Park South. The section in front of the Plaza Hotel is centered by the Pulitzer Fountain, of Abundance by Karl Bitter, funded by the will of the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer: the statue in the fountain is actually Pomona, Roman goddess of fruits and nuts. The north side of Grand Army Plaza, a cutout from Central Park, has the glorious Augustus Saint-Gaudens part-gilded bronze equestrian statue of General Sherman. Grand Army Plaza provided the original main entrance to the carriage drives of Central Park.

Related Topics:
New York City - Hotel - Fifth Avenue - Manhattan - Civil War - Karl Bitter - Joseph Pulitzer - Pomona - Central Park - Augustus Saint-Gaudens - General Sherman

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On the south side of the Plaza (between 57th and 58th Streets) once stood the French Renaissance château of William H. Vanderbilt, designed by William Morris Hunt; rising behind its gated front court, it was the grandest of the Fifth Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age.

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William H. Vanderbilt - William Morris Hunt - Gilded Age

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The Plaza is the second hotel of that name on the site. The French Renaissance château-style building was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and opened to the public in October 1907.

Related Topics:
French Renaissance - Château - Henry Janeway Hardenbergh - 1907

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The Plaza was accorded landmark status by New York City's Landmark Commission in 1969 and is the only New York City hotel to be designated as a National Historic Landmark. In the 1950s it was the setting for Kay Thomspson's series of Eloise books, Eartha Kitt and Peggy Lee played the Persian Room, unaccompanied ladies were not permitted in the Oak Room bar and the Palm Court was favored for luncheons and teas.

Related Topics:
1969 - National Historic Landmark - Kay Thomspson - Eloise - Eartha Kitt - Peggy Lee

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