AKA Hotel Central Park (New York City, New York)

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166-foot, 15-story Renaissance-revival extended-stay hotel completed in 1929. It opened as the Wyndham Hotel (a separate entity from the Wyndham chain of hotels), and operated under that name until being sold and rebranded into an AKA extended-stay hotel in 2007.

The 7-bay facade is clad in beige brick above a 2-story limestone base with a grey granite water table. The central entrance has glass double-doors flanked by sleek, modern light fixtures, below a modest cornice; a glass canopy covers the entry. It is flanked by fluted pilasters on each side, with Corinthian capitals at the 2nd floor, surmounted by square panels with lion's heads from which extend the cables suspending the glass canopy. Above these are are short, dentiled bases (also with egg-and-dart moldings) of a broken pediment that tops the segmental-arched window (in a beveled molding) at the 2nd floor. An elaborate cartouche fills the break in the pediment. On the ground floor there is a narrow window to either side of the entrance, followed by wide outer bays. There have large plate-glass windows, except for the west end bay, which is divided into a secondary entrance with glass double-doors, and a metal service door. The three bays on either side of the center window at the 2nd floor have similarly-sized windows with stone sills and rounded, notched upper corners. Vertical banners are mounted to the piers between each bay. The base is capped by a stone band course, interrupted by metal vents at each bay.

The upper floors have double-windows in each bay, with black metal mullions and stone sills. Black metal air-conditioning vents have been cut below each window. The edges of the upper floors are lined with stone quoins. The two outer bays set back above the 9th floor, where there are stone bands decorated with various geometric patterns. The middle three bays are flanked by similarly-decorated stone pilasters at the 9th floor, extending up through the 11th floor, where the middle bays set back. The center bay at the 10th & 11th floors has paired windows instead of a double-window. The 11th-floor setback has a carved band course like that at the outer bays on the 9th floor. There is another setback, decorated at the middle bays, above the 13th floor.

The top floor has four single-windows at the center bays, with round-arches above them. There are tall finials at the ends of the center section, between which the facade is crowned by an ornamented, rounded pediment. The hotel contains 62 studios, 68 one-bedrooms, 2 two-bedrooms and 2 penthouses.

www.hotelaka.com/