Smith & Wollensky Restaurant (New York City, New York)

 restaurant, interesting place, movie / film / TV location

2-story commercial building, housing a restaurant, completed in 1893. Before Smith & Wollensky, it was occupied by Manny Wolf's 49th Street Chop House. The exterior is clad primarily in wood and iron, painted dark-green and white. The ground floor along the avenue is five bays wide, with double-doors in the center bay, covered by a peaked, green canvas canopy extending over the sidewalk. Black iron pillars separate the bays, which have white-painted infill with thin green grid patterns. The northern bay has a green metal service door. A signboard caps the ground floor, surmounted by a sloped metal cornice. The 2nd floor has nine narrow bays alternating panels of white-painted, projecting moldings featuring notched corners with metal vents (at the outer bays) and tight grids of small squares articulated by white lines (the inner bays). Each of the bays is separated by a slender, white-painted iron colonnette with a tiny Ionic capital. A white-and-green cornice caps the roof line, with a wooden lattice around the roof deck.

The south facade on 49th Street has a similar design on the west end. A central bay is flanked by white-painted iron piers with decorative patterns and curved, projecting capitals; above it are two sets of French doors at the 2nd floor, framed by projecting piers and a projecting cornice section. At the east end, the ground floor has a projecting seating section enclosed by green metal-and-wood framing with plate-glass windows, topped by a sloping green roof.

Smith and Wollensky opened in October 1977, created by Alan Stillman, one of the founders of the restaurant chain TGI Friday's. The names Smith and Wollensky were chosen at random from the New York City telephone directory. At the east end of the building is Wollensky's Grill, with its entrance on 49th Street; it is open from 11:30AM till 2:00AM but does not accept reservations. When Mr. Stillman sold the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group he retained ownership of the New York restaurant, although all locations share promotional and marketing efforts.

The interior was used as a filming location for "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006) and a news segment on Wall Street traders.

www.smithandwollenskynyc.com/


www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7KpISwdIAI&feature=youtu.b...