188-465: The Ritz Tower is a luxury residential building at 465 Park Avenue on the corner of East 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . It was built from 1925 to 1926 as an apartment hotel and was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings for journalist Arthur Brisbane , who was the developer. The Ritz Tower is about 541 feet (165 m) with 41 stories, making it
376-482: A pediment . The south and north facades are very similar to the Park Avenue facade, except that both facades are twelve bays wide; the north facade adjoins a 15-story building. The east facade is also similar, but with nine bays, and adjoins a six-story building. On all four sides, a terracotta string course runs above the 17th story. At the double-height 18th story, all four facades are similar to each other, aside from
564-558: A 60- to 65-story tower with an 18-story base, and space underneath for Park Avenue and 43rd Street to run through the building. Copies of Burnham's proposal no longer exist, but it followed the lines of the City Beautiful movement . The railroad ultimately chose the design offered by Reed and Stem, experienced railway-station designers who proposed vehicular viaducts around the terminal and ramps between its two-passenger levels. Warren and Wetmore were also selected to co-design
752-471: A New York City office, with a restaurant and boutique shop at the Ritz Tower's base. The company initially leased 10,000 square feet (930 m) from the Ritz Tower. By 1980, the Ritz Tower contained 136 co-op units and several short-term units. Brisbane's old duplex was occupied by Mitsukoshi president Shigeru Okada. The other units ranged from between $ 17,000 and $ 20,000 for a studio apartment to $ 100,000 for
940-414: A banking office. The main hallway, designed as a "Roman promenade", led from 57th Street to the dining room and tearoom. The floor was clad in travertine stone while the ceiling featured colorful groin arches, atop which were large bronze lanterns. The main restaurant, which no longer exists, had tapestries and murals. For the ceiling, Willy Pogany decorated a set of murals that depicted various icons around
1128-544: A car house, and a stable and horseshoeing shop for the horses that pulled Harlem Railroad carriages from 42nd Street to Madison Square. Vanderbilt developed a proposal to unite the three railroads at a single central station, replacing the separate and adjacent stations that created chaos in baggage transfer. The three lines would meet at Mott Haven, then run on the Harlem Railroad's tracks along Park Avenue in Manhattan to
1316-449: A continuation of those on Fourth Avenue; for example, 225 Park Avenue South was originally known as 225 Fourth Avenue. Above 32nd Street, for the remainder of its distance, it is known as Park Avenue, a 140-foot-wide (43 m) boulevard. The address numbers for Park Avenue are reset above 32nd Street; for example, the address 1 Park Avenue would ordinarily have been numbered 461 Fourth Avenue. Between 33rd Street and 40th Street ,
1504-453: A cost of $ 3 million, and opened in February 1930. In 1913 when the terminal opened, J. P. Carey leased 12 square feet (1.1 m ) and opened a shop adjacent to and one level below the terminal's waiting room (now Vanderbilt Hall). Carey's business expanded to include a barbershop, laundry service, shoe store, and haberdashery , all under the name J. P. Carey & Co. In 1921, Carey also ran
1692-460: A department store across the building's lowest four stories during 1993. Ownership of the Ritz Tower was split into two condominiums . Mitsukoshi bought one condominium, consisting of 40,000 square feet (3,700 m) within the basement and most of the lowest three stories, for $ 17.25 million. The residents' cooperative took over the other condominium, consisting of two cellars, the residents' lobby, and all residential stories. The following year, with
1880-432: A dining service on every floor. The building contained three elevators as well. Two were for apartment hotel tenants, while Brisbane's apartment had its own elevator. Unlike in earlier developments, where residents could hire their own servants, staff worked for all tenants at the Ritz Tower on a cooperative basis. The ground floor contained the elevator hall, main entrances, stores, a residents' restaurant and tearoom, and
2068-532: A durable stone to use on Grand Central's facade, and thus pillars made of a different varieties of stone were installed in the woods (now by the John Kieran Nature Trail, which opened in 1987 ).The variety eventually chosen was Indiana limestone . Meanwhile, Wilgus, who had been tapped to lead the project, started to figure out ways to build the new terminal efficiently. To prevent interrupting railroad service, he decided to demolish, excavate, and build
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#17331041511552256-465: A full terrace on the 19th-story setback. Brisbane was the only resident with his own domestic staff; they lived with him on the 20th floor rather than with the other servants on the second and third floors. A semicircular, leaded-glass solarium led from the dining room to the terrace. The units above Brisbane's duplex each had one to four bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms. The 21st through 24th stories each contained two simplex apartments per floor; by
2444-555: A gas explosion . Eight people were killed and many others were injured. In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided funding for repairs to the roof of the Grand Central Terminal train shed. The train shed is located under Park Avenue and surrounding streets from 43rd to 57th Street, and the repairs to the train shed's roof involved reconstructing parts of Park Avenue. In August 2024,
2632-488: A gold ball atop it, and the corners also had smaller obelisks with gold balls. The Ritz Tower was legally classified as a hotel to circumvent zoning restrictions that prevented new apartment buildings from being taller than 150 percent of the width of the adjacent street. The building did not have individual kitchens, as the lack of kitchens allowed Brisbane to claim it was legally a hotel. The Ritz Tower instead had five dumbwaiters, which were electrically heated and allowed for
2820-436: A law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan beginning on July 1, 1908. By December 1902, as part of an agreement with the city, New York Central agreed to put the approach to Grand Central Station from 46th to 59th Streets in an open cut under Park Avenue, and to upgrade the tracks to accommodate electric trains. Overpasses would be built across the open cut at most of the cross-streets. All this prompted Wilgus—who had become
3008-458: A limousine service using Packard cars, and in the 1930s, he added regular car and bus service to the city's airports as they opened. The businesses were very successful due to their location and show windows that Carey installed. Terminal shops were known to inflate prices, so the Carey businesses displayed affordable items with visible price tags in its show windows, as opposed to the norm of displaying
3196-414: A lintel. The 20th story has rectangular windows with their own sills, and it is surmounted by a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 21st through 24th stories are similar to each other, but with a string course and stone band above the 24th story. The north and south facades are wider on these respective stories than the west and east facades. The 25th through 32nd stories are plain brick and are topped by
3384-460: A little more than a year, its appraised valuation increased by about $ 500,000. Brisbane sold the Ritz Tower to Hearst, his longtime colleague, in January 1928. The sale occurred in spite of the fact that Hearst's financial advisors had suggested against it. When Hearst had bought the Ritz Tower, he also owned the lot directly to the north, which extended to 58th Street. In 1929, one year after purchasing
3572-413: A median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates, and renamed Park Avenue. Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th streets; vehicles crossed on overpasses at 45th and 48th streets. Traffic at Grand Central Depot grew quickly, filling its 12 tracks to capacity by the mid-1880s, not the late 1890s or early 1900s as expected. In 1885, a seven-track annex with five platforms
3760-501: A net loss, with a deficit of about $ 592,000 in 1935 and $ 458,000 in 1936. Concurrently, his own media ventures were losing large amounts of money, leading Hearst to place the building for sale. Hearst forfeited ownership of the building in April 1938 after failing to make payments on the first mortgage loan, and he moved to California from his home in the Ritz Tower. The interior furnishings remained under Hearst ownership, but operations passed to
3948-428: A new hub station at 42nd Street. By 1869, Vanderbilt had commissioned John B. Snook to design his new station, dubbed Grand Central Depot , on the site of the 42nd Street depot. The site was far outside the limits of the developed city at the time, and even Vanderbilt's backers warned against building the terminal in such an undeveloped area. Snook worked with engineers Isaac Buckhout and R.G. Buckfield to design
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#17331041511554136-620: A new station beneath the terminal, was completed in January 2023. Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for the Hudson River Railroad , the New York and Harlem Railroad , and the New York and New Haven Railroad in what is now Midtown Manhattan. The Harlem Railroad was the first of these railroads to operate, having been incorporated in 1831. The railroad had been extended to Harlem , in upper Manhattan, by 1837. The first railroad structure of any kind on
4324-506: A penthouse. During that decade, Paul Goldberger described the building as "the ideal pied-à-terre building in New York". The Ritz Tower stopped allowing short-term rentals in 1987. Within the same time period, Henry Hart Rice bought the corner lot along Park Avenue. Mitsukoshi closed its boutique and restaurant at the base in 1991, and the bank at the building's base moved out the same year. With these closures, Mitsukoshi announced plans to open
4512-489: A pretty good building up to and including the eighteenth floor; in fact it would have been quite pleasing. The top works, however, appear to be rather incoherent." Roth regarded North's criticism in particular as unwarranted, saying that he used the Renaissance style due to its "domestic" character. Other critics praised the detail, as well as the tower's impact on the development of residential apartments. Will Irwin wrote that
4700-442: A rectangular doorway with an elaborate stone entablature at ground level. To the east are three rectangular storefronts alternating with three double-height round-arched openings. The seventh bay from the west, a round arched opening, is a service entrance with a suspended awning; it was originally an alternate entrance to the interior. The eighth bay, the easternmost, contains a rectangular service entrance. Similarly to on Park Avenue,
4888-419: A representation of the tower. The tearoom, leading off the main hallway and accessible through brass and wrought-iron gates, was meant to resemble a "Pompeian patio". The walls of the tearoom were decorated with landscapes, while the ceiling was meant to depict "a sunlit sky". The cellar and basement levels had vaults, a grill room, a kitchen, and a barbershop. The kitchen served the hotel's three restaurants and
5076-428: A setback at the 19th floor to serve as a terrace for Brisbane's duplex on the 19th and 20th floors. The 21st through 24th floors would have contained two- and three-room units; the 25th through 28th floors, duplex studios; the 29th floor, a duplex apartment; and the 30th floor, a penthouse apartment. The Diana sculpture from Madison Square Garden was to be placed on the roof. At some point afterward, Thomas Hastings
5264-463: A shallow open cut , while the segment between 56th and 97th streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over. The improvements were completed in 1874, allowing trains approaching Grand Central Depot from the north to descend into the Park Avenue Tunnel at 96th Street and continue underground into the new depot. As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with
5452-437: A single room to $ 43,200 for five rooms. Most of the cooperative units were two-bedroom apartments with four total rooms. There were also studio units and one- to three- bedroom apartments with a varying number of rooms. The old 19th and 20th story duplex was retained as one unit. The Ritz Tower was one of several New York City apartment hotels that had converted to cooperative operation in the mid-20th century. Le Pavillon , one of
5640-406: A smaller lot for commercial and office use. The bulk of the building is on an L-shaped lot with an area of 10,247 square feet (952.0 m), a frontage of 112.5 feet (34.3 m) along 57th Street to the south, and a maximum depth of 100 feet (30 m). The corner lot at Park Avenue and 57th Street has an area of 1,401 feet (427 m), a frontage of 17.42 feet (5.31 m) along 57th Street to
5828-430: A southbound train overran signals in the smoky Park Avenue Tunnel and collided with another southbound train, killing 15 people and injuring more than 30 others. A week later, New York Central president William H. Newman announced that all of the railroad's suburban lines to Grand Central would be electrified, and the approach to the station would be put underground. The New York state legislature subsequently passed
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6016-431: A string course and balustrade. On the 33rd and 34th floors, the window bays are separated vertically by pilasters and horizontally by recessed spandrels . A string course, balustrade, and central pediment runs above the 34th story. The windows on the 35th story are connected by lintels and topped by a string course. The 36th and 37th stories contain plain openings. On the 38th story, there are three windows on all sides, with
6204-461: A study of the feasibility of electric trains. The building's construction started in 1903 and it was opened on February 2, 1913. The terminal continued to grow until after World War II, when train traffic started to decline. In the 1950s and 1970s, there were two separate proposals to demolish Grand Central, though both were unsuccessful. The terminal was given several official landmark designations during this period. Minor improvements occurred through
6392-408: A temporary station during construction. The construction project was enormous. About 3.2 million cubic yards (2,400,000 m ) of the ground were excavated at depths of up to 10 floors, with 1,000 cubic yards (760 m ) of debris being removed from the site daily. Over 10,000 workers were assigned to put 118,597 short tons (107,589 t) of steel and 33 miles (53 km) of track inside
6580-494: A terminal with separate levels for commuter and intercity railroads; a main concourse with ramps to the lower concourse and the IRT subway station ; an expansive waiting room; a hotel on Madison Avenue; and a viaduct surrounding the 12-story building above the station building. New York Central also planned to eliminate railroad crossings in the Bronx, as well as straighten out and add tracks to
6768-457: A time could be taken out of service. Despite the scale of the project, no pedestrians were hurt during construction. The first bite, which covered the area along Lexington Avenue, required the demolition of more than 200 buildings — and the eviction of hundreds of people from their homes — on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) plot of land bounded by Madison and Lexington avenues between 50th and 45th streets. O'Rourke soon fell behind schedule, and soon it
6956-513: A transitional era of architecture in New York City, where architects were moving away from classical designs favoring Art Deco or modern classical designs. The building's lowest three stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone . The other stories are clad in tan brick, with Italian Renaissance -style terracotta ornament and articulation on all four sides. The design of the base was influenced mostly by Hastings's involvement, while Roth
7144-577: A whole declined slightly during the Great Depression . Regulations from the Interstate Commerce Commission and competition from automobile traffic were cited as factors in this decline. The railroad's finances were also put in danger because of the large amounts of debt incurred during the construction of Grand Central Terminal and Terminal City. New York Central's debt had grown from $ 299 million in 1911 to $ 377 million in 1914. By 1932,
7332-683: Is continued on the other side of the river in the Bronx . In the Bronx, Park Avenue begins at East 135th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood. The entire avenue is divided by Metro-North's own right of way in the borough. Between East 135th Street to East 173rd Street, Park Avenue is one way only in either direction in most sections. North of East 173rd Street it is a two way avenue continuing to Fordham Plaza where it ends. The following institutions are either headquartered or have significant business presences on Park Avenue: In north-south order: Metro-North Railroad 's Grand Central Terminal , serving
7520-463: Is located at the northern end of the road. Explanatory notes Citations Further reading Construction of Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan , New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad 's Harlem , Hudson and New Haven Lines . It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on
7708-451: Is now Hudson Yards . When the city banned steam trains below 42nd Street c. 1857–1858 , the Harlem and New Haven Railroads' southern terminal was moved there. The Hudson River Railroad, meanwhile, was limited to the west side of Manhattan, away from the development that was concentrated on the east side. The business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt , who operated steamboats along
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7896-434: Is variously characterized as 40, 41, or 42 stories tall, depending on whether the building's pinnacle is counted. The building has a height of 478 feet (146 m) to the roof above the highest story and 541 feet (165 m) to its pinnacle. According to architecture writer Robert A. M. Stern , the building "pinpointed the nexus of fashionable apartment house living". The Ritz Tower contains numerous setbacks to conform to
8084-579: The 7 and <7> trains, opened in 1915, two years after Grand Central Terminal's opening. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms, served by the 4 , 5 , 6 , and <6> trains, opened in 1918. The Grand Central Art Galleries opened in the terminal in 1923. The space was operated by the Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, founded by artists John Singer Sargent , Edmund Greacen , Walter Leighton Clark , and others. At its opening,
8272-498: The 1916 Zoning Resolution . There are setbacks on the fourth, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 33rd stories, as well as a pyramidal hip roof topped by an obelisk above the 40th floor. The fourth-story setback overlooks the three-story-tall corner lot on Park Avenue, which was leased from the Roome family. If the Roomes had ever taken back ownership of that lot, they could detach the setback section from
8460-410: The 6 and <6> trains, while the 14th Street-Union Square station is served by the 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , L , N , Q , R , and W trains. The following bus routes serve Park Avenue: No buses run along Park Avenue in the Bronx, although Fordham Plaza Bus Terminal
8648-686: The Chrysler Building and other prestigious office buildings; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels that included the Marguery , Park Lane, and Waldorf Astoria . In 1929, New York Central built its headquarters in a 34-story building (now called the Helmsley Building ), straddling Park Avenue north of the terminal. The Park Avenue Viaduct reroutes Park Avenue around Grand Central Terminal between 40th and 46th Streets, allowing Park Avenue traffic to traverse around
8836-468: The Chrysler Building ; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels. The Commodore Hotel , built on the east side of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1919. Terminal City was mostly complete by the late 1920s with the completion of the Graybar Building in 1927 and the Helmsley Building in 1929. The development of Terminal City also included the construction of
9024-498: The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 . From 14th Street to 17th Street , it forms the eastern boundary of Union Square and is known as Union Square East ; its southbound lanes merge with Broadway south of 15th Street, and the thoroughfare divides into two distinct portions in the one-block section between 14th and 15th Streets. From 17th Street to 32nd Street , it is known as Park Avenue South . Address numbers on Park Avenue South are
9212-776: The Harlem Line , Hudson Line , and New Haven Line , is at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. The MNR's Park Avenue main line runs along Park Avenue in both boroughs between Grand Central and Fordham station , with stations in between at 125th Street , 162nd Street , and Tremont Avenue . The New York City Subway 's adjacent Grand Central–42nd Street station serves the 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , 7 , <7> , and S trains. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line additionally runs under Park Avenue and its extensions from 41st to 8th Streets. The 33rd Street , 28th Street , 23rd Street , and Astor Place stations are served by
9400-695: The Helmsley Building (also referred to as the New York Central Building or 230 Park Avenue). The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street. Once the line reaches Grand Central–42nd Street , it shifts east to Lexington Avenue . As Park Avenue enters Midtown north of Grand Central Terminal, it is distinguished by many glass-box skyscrapers that serve as headquarters for corporations and investment banks such as Société Générale , JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue and 277 Park Avenue , UBS at 299 Park Avenue , Citigroup at 399 Park Avenue , Colgate-Palmolive , and MetLife at
9588-534: The Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The building faces west toward Park Avenue and south toward 57th Street. It is near the Fuller Building and the Four Seasons Hotel New York to the west, 500 Park Avenue to the northwest, and 432 Park Avenue and 450 Park Avenue to the southwest. The Ritz Tower occupies two land lots : a larger lot for residential and commercial use and
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#17331041511559776-691: The New York City Rapid Transit Commission was planning to give the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) the right to construct an underground subway route around Grand Central Station, which would preempt New York Central's rights to build underground. Wilgus' letter also proposed replacing the two-year-old station with a new two-level electric train terminal, which would allow a larger yard to be built. The terminal would include balloon loops to allow trains to turn around without changing direction. To offset
9964-464: The Park Avenue Viaduct , surrounding the station; one leg of the viaduct opened in 1919, and another part of the viaduct opened in 1928. The electrification of the commuter lines and subsequent completion of Grand Central Terminal contributed to the development of affluent suburbs in the lower Hudson Valley and southwestern Connecticut. This trend had been observed as early as 1907, following
10152-465: The Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad . Concurrently, the Harlem Railroad expanded in the area around the 42nd Street depot, which at the time was still sparsely developed. By the mid-1860s, the railroad owned 11 parcels bounded by 42nd and 48th streets on either side of Fourth Avenue, between Lexington Avenue and Madison Avenue . The structures on these parcels included two locomotive sheds,
10340-406: The early 1990s recession , Mitsukoshi indefinitely postponed its plans to open a department store in the base. The Borders Group leased the retail condominium unit in early 1997 and opened a bookstore there the same year. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark on October 29, 2002. The same year, Borders was looking to close its bookstore at
10528-415: The 1950s, these had been divided into four apartments per floor. Above the 25th floor were the building's "tower apartments". The 25th through 32nd stories each contained two duplex apartments, one for every pair of floors. Each duplex contained a double-height, 16-by-40-foot (4.9 by 12.2 m) living room with an entrance foyer on its lower level and a balcony on its upper level. There were also terraces at
10716-583: The 1970s and 1980s, followed by an extensive rehabilitation in the mid- and late 1990s. From 1913 to 1991, Grand Central was also a major intercity terminal. In its latter years as an intercity station, all trains traveling along Amtrak 's Empire Corridor —the former main line of the New York Central—originated and terminated at Grand Central. In 1991, Amtrak consolidated its New York City services at nearby Penn Station . The East Side Access project, which brought Long Island Rail Road service to
10904-451: The American setting of magnificent Park Avenue". According to Fiske Kimball, structures such as the Ritz Tower "have emboldened imagination to conceive a city with lance-like towers set in open plots of greenery". Georgia O'Keeffe also depicted the building in her 1920s painting Ritz Tower, Night. The building continued to be critically appraised in later years. Elizabeth Hawes wrote that
11092-565: The Apperson Realty Corporation to the Park Fifty-seventh Realty Corporation, both of which were under his control. A fire broke out in the tower's basement on August 1, 1932, causing an explosion that killed eight firemen. Seven died immediately, while one died later at the hospital. A Chrysler automobile salon opened at the base of the tower in 1937. By the mid-1930s, Hearst was operating the Ritz Tower at
11280-521: The Galleries extended over most of the terminal's sixth floor, 15,000 square feet (1,400 m ), and offered eight main exhibition rooms, a foyer gallery, and a reception area. The official opening on March 22, 1923, was attended by 5,000 people. A year after it opened, the galleries established the Grand Central School of Art , which occupied 7,000 square feet (650 m ) on the seventh floor of
11468-703: The Hearst corporations leased the corner lot from the Roome family in August 1922. Twelve months later, he bought two private houses at 107 and 109 East 57th Street. This gave him a site measuring 80 feet (24 m) on Park Avenue and 90 feet (27 m) on 57th Street. Brisbane acquired 111 and 113 East 57th Street in November 1924 in a roundabout transaction that involved the structure at 117 East 57th Street. This transaction rounded out Brisbane's frontage on 57th Street to 130 feet. Brisbane hired Emery Roth to design an apartment hotel on
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#173310415115511656-501: The Hudson Division. Excavations were only performed if there were available tracks to accommodate the work trains. Although construction continued around the clock, workers often halted every few minutes to allow trains to pass, and a smaller crew worked during the day than in the night. In addition, since Grand Central Station saw 800 trains per day, rock-blasting for excavation could only be performed at night, and only one track at
11844-579: The Hudson River Railroad's move to Grand Central. In 1872, shortly after the opening of Grand Central Depot, New York Central owner Cornelius Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. The tracks between 48th and 56th Streets were to be moved into a shallow open cut , while the segment between 56th and 97th Streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over. After the improvements were completed in 1874,
12032-556: The Hudson River, started buying the Harlem Railroad's stock in 1863. By the next year, he also controlled the Hudson River Railroad. Vanderbilt attempted to get permission to merge the railroads in 1864, but Daniel Drew , a one-time competitor in the steamboat industry, bribed state legislators to scuttle the proposal. Drew unsuccessfully attempted to short-sell Harlem and New York Central stock, and Vanderbilt made large profits after buying stock in both companies. Vanderbilt became
12220-650: The MetLife Building. From 47th to 97th Streets, the tracks for Metro-North Railroad 's Park Avenue main line run in the Park Avenue Tunnel underneath Park Avenue. At 97th Street, the tracks come above ground, rising onto the other Manhattan structure known as the Park Avenue Viaduct. The first street to pass under the viaduct is 102nd Street; from there to the Harlem River the railroad viaduct runs down
12408-620: The New Haven Railroad arrived on October 16; and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad on November 1, eight days later than planned. The terminal consisted of a three-story head house as well as a train shed to the north and east of the head house. The head house was an L-shaped structure with a short leg running east–west on 42nd Street and a long leg running north–south on Vanderbilt Avenue. It contained passenger service areas at ground level and railroad offices on
12596-528: The Ritz Tower became a housing cooperative in 1956. The retail space at the base has contained several restaurants and stores over the years, including Le Pavillon , one of the first authentic French restaurants in the U.S. In 2002, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Ritz Tower as a New York City landmark . The Ritz Tower is at 465 Park Avenue, on the northeastern corner with 57th Street , in
12784-592: The Ritz Tower until 1972. The restaurant's Ritz Tower location had been less popular than its 55th Street location because of the difficulty of dropping off and picking up passengers at such a congested area. In 1975, the basement space was taken by the First Women's Bank, the first bank in the United States to be operated by women for female patrons. The bank branch operated within the former Le Pavillon space. The year afterward, Japanese department store Mitsukoshi opened
12972-498: The Ritz Tower was constructed, it received critical acclaim from architectural writers. After the Ritz Tower opened on October 15, 1926, Brisbane contracted with the Ritz-Carlton Company to manage the building and the restaurants in it. Brisbane was soon unable to pay off the debt load and sold it to William Randolph Hearst , his longtime colleague and friend, in 1929. Hearst gave up the building to his bondholders in 1938 and
13160-403: The Ritz Tower's construction "changed the direction of residential architecture" with its vertical emphasis. Carter Horsley described the building as having a "somewhat odd" setback on Park Avenue, although the building was "still very impressive" despite being overshadowed by taller structures in the area. In 1986, Steven Ruttenbaum wrote that the Ritz Tower was not "just an exemplary building from
13348-456: The U.S. to measure up to those in Europe. Construction started on September 1, 1869, and the depot was completed by October 1871. The project included the creation of Vanderbilt Avenue , a service road along the depot's western border. To reduce confusion, the railroads staggered their inaugural runs to the new station. The Harlem Railroad switched from its Madison Square depot on October 9, 1871;
13536-478: The United States, and thus additional ticket offices were opened. Mary Lee Read, an organist playing in the terminal from 1928 to the late 1950s, brought commuter traffic to a standstill during the war while playing the U.S. national anthem, and was subsequently asked by the stationmaster not to play the anthem and delay commuters. Also during the war, retired employees rejoined the terminal's staff, and women first began being trained as ticket agents, both to make up for
13724-570: The address numbers of Park Avenue South continued from those on the remaining section of Fourth Avenue. The Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building), in between the Park Avenue Viaduct's legs north of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1963. In September 2007, the Metro-North Railroad reached an agreement with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to install pedestrian traffic signals along Park Avenue between 46th Street and 56th Street. The two sides had feuded over
13912-434: The adjacent street. Apartment hotels had less stringent regulations on sunlight, ventilation, and emergency stairs but had to contain communal spaces like dining rooms. As a result, developers could provide up to 30 percent more space in an apartment hotel than in a conventional apartment building. The Ritz Tower was one such apartment hotel, developed by Arthur Brisbane, a prominent columnist for Hearst Communications during
14100-407: The arts. Many of the residential structures on 57th Street were replaced with offices, shops, and art galleries by the 1920s. The building was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings and opened in 1926. Roth was the original architect; Hastings, a partner in the firm Carrère and Hastings , became involved in the project later on. Alexander S. Deserty was the consulting engineer. The Ritz Tower
14288-523: The building after visiting Ace's apartment. George Gustav Heye , who founded the Museum of the American Indian , lived in the Ritz Tower until his 1957 death. Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his 1987 book New York 1930 that Roth's original design had an "ingenious" organization, but that "the massing was clumsy, with abrupt setback transitions. More important, the articulation of the facade was conventional and
14476-458: The building and over 42nd Street without encumbering nearby streets. The western (now southbound) leg of the viaduct was completed in 1919, but congestion developed soon after the viaduct's opening, so an eastern leg for northbound traffic was added in 1928. The developer Henry Mandel acquired the lots on the eastern side of Fourth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Street in 1923 under the name "One Park Avenue Corporation". To ensure his corporate name
14664-408: The building lacked not only a consistent image but a distinct sense of verticality." Eric Nash wrote that Roth "seems to have done everything in his power to disguise the building's height", which resulted in a design that was "easy to find fault with". One architect, Arthur T. North, ridiculed the Ritz Tower as a "sky-puncture" because of the design of its upper section. North wrote: "It would have been
14852-414: The building was "a genuine tower building as comely as any in Manhattan" and suggested that visitors would "lose the sense of exclusiveness and exclusion" while looking at the building. Another critic wrote: "Its easy proportionate narrowings bear spikes and fleches; it leaps upward like a flame." In a book published in 1932, W. Parker Chase wrote that the building was "'just a little bit of Paris' fitted into
15040-466: The building would be converted to a housing cooperative . As part of this plan, the interior would be redecorated by Dorothy Draper . A group of tenants challenged this proposal in the New York Supreme Court. By that October, the building's lobby had been completely redesigned with mixed Chinese and French motifs, and the corridors of the upper stories were being redesigned as well. The building
15228-459: The building, The design also incorporated air rights above the tracks, as had Wilgus's original proposal. Nepotism may have played a role in the selection of Reed & Stem—one partner, Charles A. Reed, was Wilgus's brother-in-law, and the official reason for their selection was that Reed & Stem's plan contained "an elevated driveway around the Terminal". Family ties definitely accounted for
15416-529: The building, as its other Manhattan location at the World Trade Center had been destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks . Ultimately Borders remained in the space until 2011. Businessman Charles S. Cohen bought the retail condominium for $ 22 million in 2009, but after Borders' closure, was unable to lease the space until 2017, when fashion retailer Richard James and shoe store Harrys of London occupied
15604-511: The building. They installed ramps of different angles and watched as people of a variety of ages, heights, and weights walked up and down them, in unblinded and blind trials . The incline chosen was 8 degrees, reportedly gentle enough for a child to toddle from a train to 42nd Street. One additional test took place in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, where 13 stone pillars were erected and allowed to weather. The architects wanted to choose
15792-429: The center window on each side being ornately decorated. There is a partial hip roof above the 38th story, surmounted by a square tower with rounded corners. The 39th story has one window on each side while the 40th story has three small openings on each side. Above this is the hipped copper roof of the square tower, with finials at the corners and a limestone lantern and a pinnacle at the center. The pinnacle initially had
15980-558: The city government began soliciting bids for the reconstruction of Park Avenue's median between 46th and 57th Streets. The project was to include additional plantings, benches, and concessions. The road that becomes Park Avenue originates at the Bowery . From Cooper Square at 8th Street to Union Square at 14th Street , it is known as Fourth Avenue , a 70-foot-wide (21 m) road carrying northbound traffic. At 14th Street, it turns slightly northeast to align with other avenues drawn up in
16168-467: The city. Apartment hotels in New York City became more popular after World War I, particularly among wealthy people who wanted to live luxuriously but also wanted to do some of their own housework, such as cooking. Developers of apartment hotels sometimes constructed developments to bypass the Tenement House Law, which prevented new apartment buildings from being taller than 150 percent of the width of
16356-489: The completion of electrification. Well-to-do passengers were likely to travel to destinations served by electric trains that ran directly from Grand Central, such as Greenwich or Larchmont , while less wealthy passengers were likely to get off at stops that were further away, such as Stamford or New Rochelle . New York Central promoted new private suburban developments through its “Four-Track Series" magazine. Following Grand Central Terminal's completion, traffic to and from
16544-415: The construction of Depew Place, a marginal road on the east side of the annex named for longtime Vanderbilt lawyer Chauncey Depew and meant to complement Vanderbilt Avenue on the station's west side. The train yards were also expanded, and various maintenance sheds were moved to Mott Haven. Grand Central Depot reached its capacity again by 1897, when it saw 11.5 million passengers a year. To accommodate
16732-590: The construction of Grand Central Terminal alone was expected to cost $ 100 million. The New York Central Railroad tested third-rail-powered electric trains in 1904, using a fleet of new MU Sprague-GE cars from the General Electric Company , and found that their speeds were adequate for service into Grand Central. Over the next few years, the New York Central and New Haven Railroads electrified their tracks, allowing trains to enter Grand Central Terminal upon its completion. The first electric train departed for
16920-473: The corners of the tower. The 33rd to 37th stories each contained one apartment. The apartments on the 25th through 34th floors were divided into three units in the 1950s. During the early 19th century, apartment developments in the city were generally associated with the working class, but by the late 19th century, apartments were also becoming desirable among the middle and upper classes. Between 1880 and 1885, more than ninety apartment buildings were developed in
17108-488: The corridor led to a bathroom, living area, and pantry. Living rooms were usually 15 by 24 feet (4.6 by 7.3 m). Bedrooms were 13 by 17 feet (4.0 by 5.2 m) and all had their own small closets and bathrooms. Despite the lack of a kitchen, the apartments did have sinks, electric refrigerators, and cabinets, which were legal in apartment hotels. The 19th and 20th floors of the building were taken up by an 18-room duplex apartment designed for Arthur Brisbane. Brisbane's unit
17296-438: The costs of construction and of acquiring the expensive new land that would be required—Grand Central proper only covered three blocks—he proposed to superimpose over the terminal a 12-story, 2,300,000-square-foot (210,000 m ) building whose rents would bring in gross annual income of either $ 1.35 million or $ 2.3 million. In March 1903, Wilgus presented a more detailed proposal to the New York Central board, describing
17484-523: The crowds, the railroads expanded the head house from three to six stories, enlarged the concourse at a cost of $ 2.5 million to connect the three railroads' separate waiting rooms, and increased the combined areas of the waiting rooms from 12,000 to 28,000 square feet (1,100 to 2,600 m ). Foyers were added to the west, south, and east sides of the station; women's waiting rooms, smoking rooms, and restrooms were also added. The tracks that previously continued south of 42nd Street were removed. The train yard
17672-514: The decision to hire Warren and Wetmore as co-designers: Cornelius Vanderbilt's grandson William insisted upon employing the firm co-founded by his cousin Whitney Warren . Warren was an alumnus of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts , which influenced his final design for the building. The two firms entered an agreement to act as the associated architects of Grand Central Terminal in February 1904. Reed and Stem were responsible for
17860-562: The developers of that building sued to reverse the appellate ruling. The New York Court of Appeals , the state's highest court, reversed the appellate ruling in February 1928. Bacon contemplated bringing up the matter with the United States Supreme Court , but she ultimately relented, changing her address to "Park Avenue at 34th" by 1930. In 1927, the medians on Park Avenue north of Grand Central were trimmed to add one lane of traffic in each direction. This project eliminated
18048-408: The early 1850s. A section of this "park" was later renamed Park Avenue in 1860. Park Avenue's original southern terminus was at 34th Street, and the newly renamed Park Avenue was given its own house-numbering system separate from that of Fourth Avenue. The address 1 Park Avenue was assigned to a house at 101 East 34th Street, at the northeast corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street. The Harlem Railroad
18236-406: The early 1920s. He worked under newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst starting in 1897, and the two men later became close friends. Brisbane developed several buildings in New York City starting in the early 20th century, having been inspired by Hearst's precedent. While the men developed several projects together, only Brisbane was involved in the Ritz Tower's construction. When the Ritz Tower
18424-558: The east wing of the terminal. The school was directed by Sargent and Daniel Chester French . The Grand Central School of Art remained in the east wing until 1944. In 1958, the Grand Central Art Galleries moved out of the terminal, to the Biltmore Hotel . A power and heating plant had been built in conjunction with the terminal, on the east side of Park Avenue between 49th and 50th streets. The plant provided power to
18612-476: The eleven intersections and the renovation of the sidewalks and streets around Grand Central to prevent rainwater from seeping into the tunnel. Car traffic in this area had been controlled by traffic lights on a pole at each intersection in the middle of the median, instead of the usual four from each direction, resulting in a relatively high rate of pedestrian injuries. Additional traffic lights and pedestrian signals had not been added because this area of Park Avenue
18800-400: The equivalent of 42 stories. That May, the news media reported that the building was nearly complete and was projected to cost $ 5–6 million, excluding furnishings. According to The New York Times , the Ritz Tower had "already attracted the attention of architects, artists and building engineers" across the United States. The New York Herald Tribune labeled it as the "tallest apartment hotel in
18988-556: The final structure. The excavation produced too much spoil for horse-drawn wagons, which at the time could carry 3 or 4 cubic yards (2.3 or 3.1 m ) apiece, so a 0.5-mile-long (0.80 km), 6-foot-wide (1.8 m) drainage tube was sunk 65 feet (20 m) under the ground to the East River. O'Rourke also carried waste away by train, using hopper cars to transport rock and earth to a landfill in Croton-on-Hudson, New York , via
19176-465: The first Madison Square Garden . The New Haven Railroad was chartered in 1849 and had trackage rights to operate on the Harlem Railroad's tracks from Wakefield, Bronx , to Manhattan. The Hudson River Railroad did not have any trackage rights with the Harlem Railroad, so it ran in Manhattan separately along what would become the West Side Line , terminating at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in what
19364-531: The first authentic French restaurants in the U.S., moved to the Ritz Tower from 55th Street in 1957, after the renovation was completed. The New York Savings Bank placed a ten-year, $ 2.74 million mortgage on the building in September 1958. The New York Bridge Whist Club and the Cavendish Club , two contract bridge clubs, were among the groups housed in the Ritz Tower at this time. Le Pavillon operated within
19552-542: The golden age of New York apartment-houses; it was a prestigious apartment hotel, the symbol of an elegant and conservative life-style that came of age just before the Great Crash". Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx . For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to
19740-473: The hotel was hosted on November 16, 1926. The guests at the hotel's opening included Harris; Jimmy Walker , the city's mayor; Joseph V. McKee , president of the New York City Board of Aldermen ; and various prominent citizens and journalists. Brisbane quickly found that he was unable to manage the payments for the tower's mortgage loan. The Ritz Tower was valued at $ 6 million when it was completed; within
19928-585: The issue since 1982, when Penn Central controlled the Park Avenue Tunnel. In 1997, the NYCDOT commissioner stated that signals would be installed during an upcoming phase of reconstruction in the Grand Central area. The $ 35 million project, whose cost was split between Metro-North and the city, was approved by the MTA Board later that month. It called for the installation of 12 pedestrian signals and 8 traffic signals at
20116-455: The late 1890s and early 1900s, so did the problems of smoke and soot produced by steam locomotives in the Park Avenue Tunnel, the only approach to the station. In 1899, William J. Wilgus , the New York Central's chief engineer, proposed electrifying the lines leading to the station, using a third rail power system devised by Frank J. Sprague . Railroad executives approved the plan, but shelved it as too expensive. On January 8, 1902,
20304-519: The late 19th century, the Park Avenue railroad line ran in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue. The line was covered with the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century, spurring development in the surrounding area, Terminal City . The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, East 57th Street largely contained homes and structures built for
20492-644: The leftmost northbound lane descends into the Murray Hill Tunnel . North of 40th Street, the center lanes of Park Avenue rise onto an elevated structure that goes around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building (formerly the Pan Am Building), carrying each direction of traffic on opposite sides of the buildings. The bridge, one of two structures in Manhattan known as the Park Avenue Viaduct , returns to ground level at 46th Street after going through
20680-426: The magnate Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt created Grand Central Depot for the New York Central & Hudson River, New York and Harlem Railroad , and New Haven railroads. Due to rapid growth, the depot was reconstructed and renamed Grand Central Station by 1900. The current structure, designed by the firms Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore , was built after a 1902 crash between two steam trains had prompted
20868-542: The median and lit up on the first Sunday in December at Brick Presbyterian Church . On May 5, 1959, the New York City Council voted 20–1 to change the name of Fourth Avenue between 17th and 32nd Streets to Park Avenue South. The renaming, along with a ban on overhanging signs along the newly renamed Park Avenue South, was intended to improve the character of the avenue. Unlike with the earlier renamings of Park Avenue,
21056-534: The middle of Park Avenue. Park Avenue in Manhattan ends north of 132nd Street, with connections to the Harlem River Drive . The flowers and greenery in the median of Manhattan's Park Avenue are privately maintained, by the Fund for Park Avenue. The begonia was specifically chosen by the Fund's gardeners because there is no automatic watering system and the floral variety is resilient under hot sun rays. The avenue
21244-520: The modern-day site of Grand Central Terminal was a maintenance shed for the Harlem Railroad, built c. 1837 on the west side of Fourth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets. Since the Harlem Railroad had the exclusive right to operate along the east side of Manhattan south of the Harlem River , it originally ran as a steam railroad on street level along Fourth (now Park) Avenue . After the passage of laws prohibiting steam trains in Lower Manhattan,
21432-446: The most expensive and luxury items. Carey would store his merchandise in an unfinished, underground two-story section of the terminal, which railroad employees and maintenance staff began calling "Carey's Hole". The name has remained even as the space has been used for different purposes, including currently as a lounge and dormitory for railroad employees. During World War II , the terminal became heavily used by troops moving across
21620-460: The most expensive real estate in the world. Real estate at 740 Park Avenue , for example, sells for several thousand dollars per square foot. In October 1937, a part of the Murray Hill Tunnel was reopened for road traffic. Efforts to promote a Grand Park Avenue Expressway to Grand Concourse in the Bronx were unsuccessful. A tradition was introduced in 1945 as a memorial to American soldiers killed in action, whereby Christmas trees are placed in
21808-471: The name change, but Mayor John Hylan vetoed the move in April 1925. This prompted Bacon to appeal the decision to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division , which overturned Hylan's veto in November 1927, on the basis that the extension of Park Avenue to 32nd Street had been made for the benefit of a developer. Mandel's development at 32nd Street was thus known as 461–477 Fourth Avenue, and
21996-738: The national commander of the American Legion . In the building's early years, the restaurant and other ground-floor spaces were used for events and entertainment. These included fundraisers; dinners for foreign guests, including the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland ; and art shows. The Ritz Tower was particularly popular as a residence for those in the media. The building's tenants have included actresses Greta Garbo , Kitty Carlisle , Paulette Goddard , Deborah Kerr , and Arlene Francis , as well as Francis's husband, actor Martin Gabel . William Randolph Hearst Jr. ,
22184-560: The need for ultra-strong columns to support the upper level. The upper level was covered over in 1910. The second and third bites were harder to construct than the first bite, as these were located over the most active sections of track on the west and center sides of Grand Central. North of the station site, Park Avenue and surrounding streets were raised onto bridges above the tracks. The first and second bites had been completed by 1910. The last train left Grand Central Station at midnight on June 5, 1910, and workers promptly began demolishing
22372-438: The new Grand Central Terminal's architecture to match the grand design of Penn Station. In 1903, New York Central invited four well-known firms and architects to compete for the job: Daniel H. Burnham ; McKim, Mead & White; Reed and Stem ; and Samuel Huckel Jr. All four proposed a station topped by a tower, though Huckel did not seem to have participated significantly in the competition. McKim, Mead & White suggested
22560-612: The new station. The building was nearly finished by this point, although some additions would take place later, including the installation of Glory of Commerce in 1914. The terminal spurred development in the surrounding area, particularly in Terminal City , a commercial and office district created above where the tracks were covered. Land values along Park Avenue and in Terminal City more than tripled from 1904 to 1926. Terminal City would eventually include office buildings such as
22748-754: The new terminal increased considerably. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, Grand Central handled 22.4 million passengers. By 1920, a total of 37 million passengers used the station. However, Grand Central was not the most-used station in New York City after 1919, because Penn Station consistently saw more passengers than Grand Central. Even so, Grand Central's development led to the rapid growth of New York City's northern suburbs. The Bronx's population nearly quadrupled between 1900 and 1920, while Westchester's population more than doubled. In 1918, flags were hung in Grand Central Terminal, honoring railroad employees who were fighting in World War I . One flag read 4,976 for
22936-401: The new terminal proved problematic. Accidents began immediately at the grade crossings along Fourth Avenue from 42nd and 59th streets; seven people died within 12 days of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad's move to Grand Central. The following year, in 1872, Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. The tracks between 48th and 56th streets were to be moved into
23124-466: The north end of the station. The structure measured 695 feet (212 m) along Vanderbilt Avenue and 530 feet (160 m) along 42nd Street. It was considered the largest railroad station in the world, with 12 tracks that could accommodate 150 train cars at once. It also had the largest interior space in North America. The storage yard stretched north to 58th Street. Because of the complexity of
23312-503: The number of New York Central employees serving, another read 1,412 for New York, New Haven & Hartford employees, and a third read 104 for Grand Central Terminal employees. In 1918, New York Central proposed expanding Grand Central Terminal. Three tracks would be built on the outside of the suburban level, new platforms would be built, and the ramps to the platforms would be widened. A power plant would also be constructed at 43rd Street. Passenger numbers continued to grow, and by 1927,
23500-442: The number of bays. On each facade, the outermost bays are flanked by brick piers, and they contain broken pediments with cartouches at their centers. The center bays on each side consist of rectangular windows, above which is a continuous lintel and several rectangular terracotta ventilation openings. Above the 18th story is a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 19th story is set back on all sides and has rectangular windows topped by
23688-531: The old station. A large scaffold, as high and wide as the trusses of the train shed, was erected at the rear of the shed. The scaffold was built on rollers, and as each section was demolished, the scaffold was moved to the next section. The design of the new station was not finalized until 1910 because certain design elements of the new terminal, such as the Main Concourse , were not decided until most of Grand Central Station had been demolished In January 1911,
23876-440: The overall design of the station, while Warren and Wetmore worked on designing the station's Beaux-Arts exterior. Charles Reed was appointed the chief executive for the collaboration between the two firms, and he promptly appointed Alfred T. Fellheimer as head of the combined design team. New York Central submitted its final proposal for the terminal to the New York City Board of Estimate later that year. The proposed station
24064-402: The pedestrian path on the medians, as they became much narrower. The median was extended by one block from 96th Street to 97th Street in 1941, creating the only remaining median on Park Avenue with a pedestrian path and seating. In the 1920s the portion of Park Avenue from Grand Central to 96th Street saw extensive apartment building construction. This long stretch of the avenue contains some of
24252-413: The perceived sharpness of the setbacks. Facing west on Park Avenue, the limestone base is divided vertically into five bays . The center three bays contain double-height round arches while the outer two bays contain rectangular doorways with elaborate stone entablatures . The northern doorway is the building's main entrance and the southern doorway contains an entrance to the ground-level retail space. On
24440-571: The platforms. There were four restaurants, a billiards room, stores, and a police station. Its design was similar to that of other major railroad stations, such as St Pancras station in London and Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon in Paris. In particular, Snook took inspiration for the train shed's roof from St Pancras and London's Crystal Palace , as well as from the Louvre museum in Paris. The tracks laid to
24628-564: The portion of the base on Park Avenue. The reorganization proceedings concluded the next month. A new corporation, New York Towers Inc., acquired the Ritz Tower and issued ownership shares to bondholders. In 1945, the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company placed a ten-year, $ 1.07 million mortgage loan on the building. A.M. "Sonny" Sonnabend bought the rights to manage the Ritz Tower in 1952 for $ 17 million. In February 1955, Harry J. Riker of Riker & Co. announced
24816-466: The president of the Hudson River and New York Central railroads in 1867, and merged them into the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad two years later, on November 1, 1869. He then built a connecting line along the Harlem River's northern and eastern bank, running from the Hudson River Railroad in Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx , to the junction with the Harlem Railroad in Mott Haven, Bronx , as part of
25004-550: The project's cost, also objected to the tower's removal because it would deprive the railroad of revenue, and objected to Warren's elaborate design because it would cost more to build than Wilgus's and Reed and Stem's. The New Haven refused to approve the final design until December 1909, when the two railroads and agreed to include foundations to support a future building above Grand Central Terminal. The elevated viaducts were also restored, as were several of Reed and Stem's other design elements, but Warren's elaborate headhouse design
25192-399: The railroad could not pay dividends to its stockholders, though this financial deficit was somewhat ameliorated by the end of the decade. When Grand Central Terminal opened, it contained a direct connection to the adjacent IRT subway station . The current 42nd Street Shuttle platforms were part of the original IRT subway , which opened in 1904. The IRT Flushing Line platform, served by
25380-428: The railroad filed 55 blueprints for the new station building with the New York City Department of Buildings , among the most comprehensive sets of plans that had ever been submitted to the department. The last tracks from the former Grand Central Station were decommissioned on June 21, 1912. On December 19, 1910, a gas explosion at an electrical substation near Grand Central killed 10 people and injured 117 more. It
25568-446: The railroad lines leading to Grand Central, as part of the Grand Central improvement. The railroad's board of directors approved the $ 35 million project in June 1903; ultimately, almost all of Wilgus's proposal would be implemented. The entire building was to be torn down in phases and replaced by the current Grand Central Terminal . It was to be the biggest terminal in the world, both in
25756-469: The railroad's southern terminal was moved northward from 14th Street in Union Square to 26th Street near Madison Square . In 1857, the New Haven Railroad built a terminal adjacent to the Harlem Railroad's; their rail lines turned into a rail yard shared by both terminals, which was the beginning of the idea of a central terminal, shared by different rail companies. The building was later converted into
25944-481: The railroads, approaching Grand Central Depot from the north, descended into the Park Avenue Tunnel at 96th Street and continued underground into the new depot. As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with a median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates. Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th Streets, and there were also vehicular overpasses at 45th and 48th Streets. The boulevard north of Grand Central
26132-475: The residential apartments. The grill room was split across two basement stories and had an "informal" decorative scheme with brass and wrought-iron steelwork and colorful tile work and plaster work. The second to fifth floors were used largely for transient guests, staff rooms, and administrative offices. Particularly, the second and third floors were used for maids' and servants' rooms, as well as individual vaults for each tenant. There were about 400 hotel rooms on
26320-408: The rest of the building, then install a staircase and elevator for their own use. The corner lot was never reverted to the Roome family, which sold the lot in the late 20th century. The other setbacks are mostly placed on all four sides of the building. The setbacks doubled as balconies for residents of the stories at which each setback was positioned. The exterior of the Ritz Tower was designed during
26508-475: The rest of the facade. The fourth-story windows are surrounded by stone quoins , with a stone disk above each window, as well as a terracotta string course above the entire fourth story. The fifth through 17th story windows are largely identical to each other, consisting of rectangular openings, with air conditioning units underneath some windows. The exception is the two outermost bays on the fifth floor, which are each flanked by stone pilasters and surmounted by
26696-480: The same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad , though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad . Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads. Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for three railroads in present-day Midtown Manhattan. In 1871,
26884-469: The segments of the lines into Grand Central were electrified by 1907, full electrification on the remaining parts of these lines was not completed until 1913. Subsequently, as Grand Central Terminal was being completed, all three commuter rail lines moved their operations to Grand Central Palace. Work on the yard progressed slowly, due to the small size of each individual bite, as well as the difficulty of designing two levels with separate track layouts, and
27072-431: The site in 1924. That September, Roth publicized plans for a residential structure at 465 Park Avenue, which would be taller than any other building north of 42nd Street . The plans called for a 30-story building with 358 rooms, 165 bathrooms, 135 kitchens, a restaurant, a bank, and art galleries and exhibition space. The apartment tower would have had 144 two- and three-room units on the third through 18th floors, as well as
27260-528: The site. Roth filed building plans with the New York City Department of Buildings in January 1925, at which the building was projected to cost $ 2.4 million. The same month, the Ritz-Carlton Company signed a 21-year, $ 10 million operating lease, and it formed a subsidiary, the Ritz Tower Corporation, to manage the building under the name "Ritz Tower". The building was to operate as a residential hotel, with short-term suites as well as long-term units. At
27448-455: The size of the building and in the number of tracks. The Grand Central Terminal project was divided into eight phases, though the construction of the terminal itself comprised only two of these phases. The current building was intended to compete with the now-destroyed Pennsylvania Station , a high-end electric-train hub being built on Manhattan's west side for the arch-rival Pennsylvania Railroad by McKim, Mead & White . Wilgus wanted
27636-491: The son of the publisher, also had a suite in the building. Other tenants have included music producer Clive Davis ; radio comedian Goodman Ace ; English author Elinor Glyn ; TV producer Norman Lear , the creator of All in the Family ; and William Hays , the head of the " Hays Office " which censored Hollywood movies. Playwright Neil Simon also occupied the Ritz Tower from the 1980s until he died in 2018; he had vowed to live in
27824-710: The soon-to-be-demolished Grand Central Station, to the Harlem Division's Highbridge station in the Bronx, on September 30, 1906. Electrification was eventually extended to Croton–Harmon station , the Hudson Line's northern terminus. By late 1906, Harlem Division trains were also electrified, and its operations moved to the basement of Grand Central Palace; Harlem Line electrification would ultimately stretch as far north as Southeast station . New Haven Division electric trains started running to Grand Central in October 1907. Though
28012-445: The south, and a frontage of 80.42 feet (24.51 m) along Park Avenue to the west. This arrangement exists because the developer, journalist Arthur Brisbane , never purchased the lot at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. This lot contained a brownstone occupied the Roome family, who were loath to sell and instead leased the lot for $ 15,000 a year. The site is at the intersection of two historically fashionable thoroughfares. By
28200-585: The space. During the early 21st century, the roof was renovated to plans by Howard L. Zimmerman Architects. In late 2020, luggage retailer T. Anthony leased space in one of the 57th Street storefronts. Upon the Ritz Tower's completion, Brisbane was one of the first tenants in his own building. After Hearst bought the building from Brisbane, he lived in a suite with actress Marion Davies until Hearst forfeited ownership in 1938. Other early tenants included Arthur G. Hoffman , vice president of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company , as well as Edward E. Spafford,
28388-406: The structure, Hearst filed plans for a 55-story annex on the adjacent lot, to be designed by F. M. Andrews and J. B. Peterkin if it had been built. Hearst took over the adjacent lot at 110 to 114 East 58th Street in 1931 for the proposed annex. The structure was never built and the site to the north was subsequently acquired by Alcoa . In early 1932, Hearst transferred ownership of the Ritz Tower from
28576-521: The structure. Its train shed was designed by either Joseph Duclos or R. G. Hatfield, both of whom were employed by the fabricators, the Architectural Iron Works . Although Vanderbilt was inspired by French Classical architecture , Snook's final design was in the Second Empire style . Its design, materials, and convenience rivaled European train stations; it was considered the first in
28764-399: The switches in the yard, New York Central employed several shunting locomotives to shunt empty passenger cars to and from the storage sidings . Grand Central Depot contained three innovative features of note: high-level platforms, level with train cars' floors; a balloon roof for the train shed, enabling a clear span over the tracks; and inspectors who allowed only ticketed passengers on
28952-476: The tallest residential building in New York City upon its completion. Because it was initially classified as an apartment hotel, the building was constructed to a greater height than was usually permitted. Its classically-inspired design contains numerous setbacks with balustrades , as well as windows with pilasters and pediments . The lower floors are highly ornamented, featuring sculpted putti and urns , as well as rusticated limestone blocks . The top of
29140-455: The terminal in sections. The project was to contain three phases or "bites" in total, moving from east to west. As originally planned, the first new bite was supposed to be completed in December 1905, and the last bites would be completed two or three years afterward. Construction on Grand Central Terminal started on June 19, 1903, though official construction plans were not submitted to the city until December 1904. A contract for depressing
29328-568: The terminal saw 43 million annual passengers. Minor improvements were made to Grand Central Terminal during the 1920s and 1930s, such as the 1926 opening of the Graybar Passageway, as well as the 1937 opening of Grand Central's newsreel theater. In 1938, two lower-level platforms were extended to allow commuters to board more easily. By that year, the terminal was regularly accommodating 100,000 passengers and at least 300,000 visitors on an average weekday. The ridership of New York Central as
29516-419: The third floor windows are largely grouped in pairs, though three of the outer bays are single windows. There are three cartouches on the third story, which correspond to the arched window openings below. A stone band with a cornice, atop the third story, is a continuation of the balustrade along Park Avenue. On Park Avenue, the fourth story is eight bays wide, with the two outermost bays projecting slightly from
29704-465: The third story, the center three bays each contain two rectangular windows, separated by cartouches and flanked by flat panels, while the outer two bays each contain a single opening within flat panels. A balustrade runs above the third story. In the center three bays, the balustrade contains an ornamented parapet with putti and urns . Facing south on 57th Street, the limestone base is eight bays wide. The westernmost bay, closest to Park Avenue, contains
29892-526: The time, the Ritz-Carlton name was so highly regarded that it was synonymous with luxury. In July 1925, Brisbane's Parkab Corporation leased the building to Ritz Tower Corporation for $ 1,000 a day. The general management of the building was contracted to the Brown Wheelock Harris Vought and Company's vice president, Duncan G. Harris. By 1926, the plans had been changed, so the building would be
30080-407: The tower has a pyramidal roof with a tall obelisk . The interior of the building uses rich material, such as parquet floors and wood-paneled walls, all part of Brisbane's desire to make the Ritz Tower the most sought-after apartment hotel in the city. The tower had no individual kitchens in any of the 400 units. Residents over the years have included many personalities associated with the media. When
30268-530: The tracks and the station, as well as to nearby buildings. By the late 1920s, the power and heating plant had become largely unnecessary, as most power and heating services were contracted out to Consolidated Edison . The power plant was torn down starting in 1929 and replaced by the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel. A new substation was built 100 feet (30 m) under the Graybar Building at
30456-458: The tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad built in the 1830s, just a few years after the adoption of the Manhattan street grid . The railroad's right-of-way at ground level forced foot and carriage traffic onto either side of the tracks. Later on, the railroad was run through an open cut tunnel under Murray Hill , which was then covered with grates and grass between 34th and 40th Street in
30644-505: The tracks on Park Avenue south of 57th Street, as well as for excavating the storage yards, was awarded to the O'Rourke Construction Company in August 1903. The following year, New York Central bought two additional blocks of land east of the future terminal, bounded by Lexington Avenue, Depew Place, and 43rd and 45th streets. This land acquisition included the Grand Central Palace Hotel, an exhibition hall that would be used as
30832-493: The tracks to accommodate electric trains. Overpasses would be built across the open cut at most of the cross-streets. The new electric-train terminal, Grand Central Terminal , was opened in 1913. After the electric trains were buried underground, the area around Park Avenue in the vicinity of Grand Central was developed into several blocks worth of prime real estate called Terminal City . Stretching from 42nd to 51st Streets between Madison and Lexington Avenues, it came to include
31020-486: The trustee, the Continental Bank and Trust Company . Shortly afterward, a group called 103 East Fifty-seventh Street Inc. was created to operate the Ritz Tower. The operators filed documents with the New York Supreme Court in December 1938, in which they proposed that the bondholders take over ownership. Continental Bank and Trust bought the majority of the Ritz Tower at a foreclosure auction in January 1940, excluding
31208-518: The tunnel roof, the project was delayed for several years. The project had been estimated to cost $ 200,000 per intersection in 1994. As part of the new agreement, Metro-North designed a way to anchor the traffic signals in the deck and tunnel roof. Pedestrian signals and gantry-mounted traffic signals were installed at these intersections in July 2010. On March 12, 2014, two apartment buildings near 116th Street , 1644 and 1646 Park Avenue, were destroyed in
31396-430: The upper floors, subdivided into suites with one to five rooms. The interior used luxurious materials such as walls with wood paneling and floors with parquetry . Most apartments had between two and four rooms in a studio or duplex layout. The fourth through 18th floors each had apartments and a central kitchen with dumbwaiter and pantry access. A corridor led from the elevators to each suite, where an entrance foyer off
31584-417: The upper levels. The train shed was a generally cylindrical-shaped glass structure about 530 feet (160 m) long by 200 feet (61 m) wide, with a height of 100 feet (30 m) at the crown. The train shed's roof was composed of thirty-two trusses that arched above the platforms. There were three waiting rooms, one for each of the three railroads, and a metal-and-glass screen with metal doors closed off
31772-505: The vice president of New York Central—to write a fateful letter to Newman. Dated December 22, 1902, it argued that the Park Avenue open cut should be electrified because electric trains were cleaner, faster, and cheaper to repair. Electrification would also remove the issue of smoke and soot exhaust; as such, the open cut could be covered over, and the railroad would benefit from enabling new real estate to be built along sixteen blocks of Park Avenue. The tunnel had to be approved soon because
31960-430: The west and Lexington Avenue to the east. Park Avenue's entire length was formerly called Fourth Avenue ; the title still applies to the section between Cooper Square and 14th Street . The avenue is called Union Square East between 14th and 17th Streets , and Park Avenue South between 17th and 32nd Streets . Because of its designation as the widest avenue on Manhattan's East Side, Park Avenue originally carried
32148-505: The world". During that October, the city's tenement house commissioner Walter C. Martin issued an order that deemed about 150 "apartment hotels" citywide to be in violation of height restrictions, including the new Ritz Tower. According to Martin, the buildings were not exempt from the law because some units had their own pantries where people could cook on their own. The law was not changed until 1929, though this effectively eliminated any subsequent apartment hotels. A formal opening dinner for
32336-428: Was accurate, Mandel asked the New York City Board of Aldermen to move Park Avenue's southern terminus to 32nd Street. The change went into effect on December 1, 1924, and address numbers along Park Avenue were changed accordingly. The previous house numbered 1 Park Avenue was occupied by Martha Bacon, widow of diplomat Robert Bacon , who led the opposition to the renumbering. The Board of Aldermen summarily overturned
32524-437: Was added to the east side of the existing terminal. Designed in the same style as the original station, with a 90-foot-high (27 m) mansard roof , it handled passengers disembarking to New York City, while the original building handled outbound traffic. If the annex had been a standalone station, it would have been the country's fourth-largest at the time, The New York Sun wrote just before it opened. The project included
32712-433: Was being proposed, there were few high-rise residential buildings in Manhattan. When planning for the Ritz Tower started in 1924, the tallest residential building that had been proposed in Manhattan was 28 stories high. In March 1920, Brisbane acquired the first land lot at the site of Ritz Tower from Henry Anderson. Within two months, he had purchased 103 and 105 East 57th Street, just east of Park Avenue. A representative of
32900-402: Was converted to a cooperative in December 1955. Of the 150 tenants at the time of the cooperative conversion, 35 declined to join the cooperative. Ritz Associates Inc., the tenant cooperative, formally took ownership of the building in February 1956. The Ritz Tower provided maid service and room service for its cooperative tenants. The Ritz Tower's units were sold at rates ranging from $ 7,200 for
33088-407: Was described as being largely complete the same year. The section-by-section building process doubled the cost of construction; at first the project was supposed to cost $ 40.7 million, but the cost jumped to $ 59.9 million in 1904 and to $ 71.8 million in 1906. The total cost of improvements, including electrification and the development of Park Avenue, was estimated at $ 180 million in 1910. Of that,
33276-431: Was designed to contain a double-height living room and a wood-burning fireplace. The 19th-floor living room had iron chandeliers, a multicolored ceiling painting, and stained-glass and was designed similarly to a Renaissance-era palazzo. On the 20th floor, three balconies overlooked the living room. The unit had a full kitchen and a servants' living area, features that were not present in any other individual suite, as well as
33464-661: Was hired for reasons that were not clearly publicized. Hastings was known for his designs of numerous classical buildings in New York City, such as the New York Public Library Main Branch and Henry Clay Frick House . He recommended that the Ritz Tower be designed in a classical style, a suggestion with which Roth agreed. S. W. Straus & Co financed the construction of 465 Park Avenue with an issue of $ 4 million first mortgage gold bonds in November 1924. The same month, main contractor Todd and Robertson Engineering Corporation started demolishing existing buildings on
33652-587: Was later discovered that a motorman had accidentally broken a gas storage tank, causing a leak. A jury later declined to find the motorman guilty of wrongdoing. On February 2, 1913, the new terminal was opened. Passengers boarded the first train at one minute past midnight. The opening had been celebrated one day prior with a private dinner for Warren and Wetmore and 100 guests at the Grand Central Terminal Restaurant . Within 16 hours of its opening, an estimated 150,000 people had passed through
33840-586: Was later incorporated into the New York Central Railroad , and a terminal for the New York Central at 42nd Street, the Grand Central Depot , opened in 1871. But the tracks laid to the new terminal proved problematic. There were originally no grade-separated crossings of the railroads between 42nd and 59th Streets. As such, they required railroad crossings along Fourth Avenue, which resulted in frequent accidents; seven people died within 12 days of
34028-506: Was located directly atop the roof of the Park Avenue Tunnel, with the street being 8 inches (20 cm) above the roof in some locations. Because the roof was 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) thick, there was not enough room to provide a foundation for the traffic poles without puncturing the structure. Due to the high cost of making these upgrades, and the lack of cooperation between the New York City Department of Transportation and Metro-North, which had opposed any solution that would modify
34216-471: Was massive, containing two track levels, a large main concourse, a post office, several entrances, and a construction footprint spanning 19 blocks. The design team, called Associated Architects of Grand Central Terminal, had a tense relationship due to constant design disputes. Over Wilgus' objections, Warren and Wetmore removed the 12-story tower and vehicular viaducts that had been part of Reed and Stem's plan. The New Haven Railroad, which bore one-third of
34404-457: Was more responsible for the upper stories. Steven Ruttenbaum described the upper stories' decoration as a "bolder and more aggressive type of ornament" than was used on the base, since the fine detail on the base would not have been noticed on higher stories. The ornament is largely clustered around the base, setbacks, and top of the building, while the middle stories are comparatively bare. The setbacks contain finials and obelisks , which soften
34592-452: Was much criticism of the station's filthiness. In 1899, The New York Times published an editorial that began, "Nothing except the New York City government has been so discreditable to it as its principal railroad station […] at 42nd Street." The architect Samuel Huckel Jr. was commissioned to make further modifications to the terminal's interior. A nearby post office was also proposed to ease mail handling. As train traffic increased in
34780-555: Was reconfigured and a pneumatic switch system was added in an effort to reduce congestion and turn-around time for trains. Finally, the renovation added a new facade in the Neo-Renaissance style, based on plans by railroad architect Bradford Gilbert . The reconstructed building was renamed Grand Central Station . The new waiting room, located between 42nd Street and the concourse, opened in October 1900. By this time, Grand Central had lost its impression of grandeur, and there
34968-484: Was renamed Park Avenue in 1888. A fatal collision between two trains occurred under Park Avenue in 1902, in part because the smoke coming from the steam trains obscured the signals. The New York state legislature subsequently passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan. By December 1902, as part of an agreement with the city, New York Central agreed to put the approach to Grand Central Station from 46th to 59th Streets in an open cut under Park Avenue, and to upgrade
35156-452: Was retained. Reed died in 1911; the day after his funeral, Wetmore and New York Central met secretly. The railroad then entered a contract solely with Warren and Wetmore, who took full credit for the station's design. Allen H. Stem of Reed and Stem subsequently sued Warren and Wetmore, which was ordered to pay restitution after a protracted legal battle. Before construction, the architects tested several aspects that were to be included in
35344-417: Was unable to excavate the first bite before the deadline of July 1, 1906. The construction company blamed New York Central for not making tracks available, thereby preventing its trains from hauling out debris, but was loath to hire more workers because it would cost more money. This considerably slowed construction progress. In May 1907, O'Rourke and New York Central terminated their contract. The first bite
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