JW Marriott Essex House New York (New York City, New York)

 hotel, skyscraper, condominiums, Art Deco (architecture), 1931_construction

461-foot, 42-story Art-Deco hotel completed in 1931. Designed by Frank Grad & Sons, it was originally planned to be known as the Park Tower, and then the Seville Towers, but finally opened as the Essex House Hotel. The enormous, 6-story, red-lettered sign on the roof, spelling out "ESSEX HOUSE", was installed in 1932. The building was converted into the city’s first condominium hotel by Marriott Corporation in 1974, and in 1985 it was taken over by Nikko Hotels. In 2006 Jumeirah took over the management of the hotel after a $500 million buyout by Dubai Investment Group from Strategic Hotel Capital in September 2005. It was sold back to Strategic in 2012, who rebranded it as a JW Marriott, retaining the Essex House name. It contains 515 rooms and suites, and includes 149 condominium units as well.

The building was home to show business types long before it became the official hotel of Saturday Night Live. George Burns and Gracie Allen lived here in 1934, Betty Grable and Milton Berle were residents in the 1940s, and Igor Stravinsky made his home here from 1969 until his death in 1971. David Bowie and Iman lived here in the 1990s until 2002. Opera singer Lily Pons used to keep a jaguar here that had free run of her suite. Other famous residents have included Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Telly Savalas. Soul singer Donny Hathaway threw himself from the 15th floor here on January 13, 1979.

The symmetrical facade is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story limestone base with a grey granite water table. There is a 7-bay middle section, flanked by 2-bay sections on either side that are recessed above the ground floor (actually organized as three bays at the base), and non-recessed 2-bay end sections. The main entrance spans the three center bays, with a bronze-and-glass revolving door in the center and bronze-and-glass double-doors in the other two bays, all covered by a bronze, glass, and aluminum canopy. The main panels of the canopy have horizontal ribs of black metal framed in bronze, overlaid on each of the three sides by bronze panels bearing the hotel name. A glass-and-bronze skirt hangs down from the main panels all along the bottom edge, and the top edge is lined with black pentagon shapes jutting upward, with larger shell-like shapes at the corners and middle of the main panel. The lobby extends through to 58th Street in a narrow but handsome corridor along which are located the elevators that have handsome Art Deco-style cab doors. Flanking the main entrance are two windows on either side, with curved cut-out notches at the upper corners. The inner window on both sides is flanked by a pair of white-and-bronze wall sconces. Farther out, below the recessed bays, the east side of the ground floor has a trio of square-headed windows extending down lower, while the west side's trio of openings includes a revolving door at the center, and glass double-doors at the west (all with transoms). There are two more end bays with glass double-doors at the west end, and the east end has a tall window paired with a set of glass double-doors below a small stainless-steel canopy. This space is occupied by South Gate bar & restaurant.

The 2nd floor has a tripartite windows with notched upper corners in the center bay; the bays on either side have paired windows. All three of these bays are framed by projecting stone pilasters, and have bronze ornament below them in the form of spiraling geometric shapes. Vertical, fluted bronze bars frame the center window, expanding into abstract capitals at their tops, which rise slightly higher than the two flanking bays. These frame a central, bronze keystone element, with an geometric stone-and-bronze extension that ascends into the 3rd floor and continues up to the brick-clad upper floors, sprouting into a fanciful pinnacle of scrolls at the top of the 4th floor. The two bays flanking the center bay have their paired windows divided by bronze spires that pierce upward to the top of the base. A pair of bronze plates on the piers around the center bay hold the cables by which the main canopy is suspended, and a pair of projecting flagpoles are mounted to the outsides of these three middle bays. At the 3rd floor the center bay has paired windows separated by the bronze pinnacle, with wider single-windows in the other two bays. Continuing outward is another bay of single-windows, and a bay of paired windows before the recessed bays on each side. The recessed areas are divided into three by projecting stone pillars, and have single-windows in the outer sections; the middle part has an elaborate ornamental stack of stone and bronze beginning with a base below the sills of the windows and extending up to the 3rd floor. Three projecting stone spandrel panels bridge the gap in the top of the base caused by the recessed area, each decorated with a gilded panel of abstract scrolls. The two end bays on each side have square single-windows on both floors.

The upper floors have the same window arrangement as the 3rd floor, except that above the 4th floor the center bay has three small single-windows instead of paired windows. At the 4th floor, the top of the pinnacle-like element takes up the space where the middle window would be, cresting above at the stone spandrel between the 4th & 5th floors at the center bay. There are subtle brickwork patterns in the spandrels between the rest of the floors at the center bay. Some of the windows are slightly recessed and fronted by iron railings at their bases; these occur at 8th & 12th floors in the center bay, the 7th, 9th, & 10th floors at the next bays outward, at the 11th floor at the next bay on either side, and at the 7th-10th floors at the paired-window bays closest to the recessed bays. The three windows of the center bay change to wide triple- or tripartite windows at the 14th-16th floors, reverting to three separate windows at the 17th floor, which is topped by a setback.

The outer bays set back earlier, beginning above the 11th floor, and with terminations of the four outer bays above the 13th floor, marked by stone parapets and carved figures. The paired-window bay flanking the five middle bays changes to double-windows above the first setback. The middle five bays have another shallow setback above the 17th floor.

At the 18th-21st floors the middle section comprises four bays instead of five, with an asymmetrical arrangement of windows: from east to west they are large single-windows, tripartite windows, paired windows, and smaller single-windows. 2-bay wings on either side are set far back and make up the rest of the bulk of the central tower. These bays have single-windows on most floor, but some have double- or triple-windows instead. The middle four bays set back above the 21st floor, and at the 22nd-24th the center two bays have projecting, stone-clad bay windows, angled at the sides. The end bays of this center section have single-windows, and above the projecting bay windows (beginning at the 25th floor) the middle two bays have triple-windows on most floors (paired windows on a few floors). The end bays of the flanking wings terminate at the 30th floor, with a section of masonry continuing up to the 31st floor, where there is a blind window. The end bays of the center section terminate at the 39th floor, where the corners have wrap-around glass enclosures. The rest of the center section sets back above the 40th floor to the penthouse levels, marked by a trio of elaborate stone finials. The 41st floor has four simple, square windows on the north facade, and the top floor, set farther back, is topped by Art-Deco style stone crests. Behind and above it rises the rooftop mechanical housing, and the giant Essex House sign on a metal framework.

The east and west facades of the main tower center, rising above the setbacks of the lower floors, has two bays of single-windows and one bay of double-windows at the front, and two bays of double-windows flanked by a bay of single-windows on either side at the side wings that extend farther out and set back above the 30th floor, with shallower setbacks above the 38th floor. The 39th floor has glassed-in solariums with sloped roofs.

The rear, south-facing facade has a wide base, narrowing to the main tower with five bays of paired windows flanked by end bays of single-windows. The ground floor on 58th Street is limestone with a grey granite water table, spanning 11 bays; all of the upper floors are brick. At the center is an entrance below a canopy much like the one on Central Park West. The entry has a bronze-and-glass revolving door flanked by glass single-doors. To the left is a bronze-and-glass double-door, with a light fixture separating from the next six bays, which all have bronze-framed plate-glass storefronts (with a glass door in the 3rd bay from the end). To the right is a window, the other wall-mounted light fixture, and storefronts in the next five bays, with a service entrance at the far east end.

Above the ground floor the center bay has three narrow windows, the next two bays to the outside have wider single-windows, the next bay has paired windows, and the four outer bays on each side have single-windows. The 3rd & 4th bays from each side are very slightly recessed. The center bay is clad in stone at the 2nd floor, with scalloping above the windows and Art-Deco pilasters framing it, as well as two flagpoles projecting from below the scalloping. A string course runs below the 3rd floor, and there are plain stone panels below each window bay. There is a projecting, scalloped balcony at the center bay on the 4th floor. The outer four bays on each side terminate at the 11th floor, marked by Art-Deco stone carvings at the two end bays on each side. The next bays in set back above the 13th floor and terminate above the 14th, while the rest of the bays in the middle set back above the 14th floor, with more stone ornament. The southern wing of the building ends at the 17th floor, with the five bays topped by similar stone ornament. Far behind rises the main central tower, with a small section connecting the south wing to the main tower. This section has two bays of single-windows flanked by a bay of double-windows; the end bays set back above the 20th floor, and the middle bays at the 22nd, with only a single window on both the 21st & 22nd floors. There is a small elevator penthouse on the roof of the south wing atop the 17th floor.

In the 1990's, the interior was restored to a design by Pierre Yves Rochon of Paris with Brennan Beer Gorman for Nikko Hotels International.

www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/nycex-jw-marriott-essex-...
www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/jw-marriott-es...
www.locationdepartment.net/locations/6096
www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/realestate/postings-essex-ho...