Library Hotel (New York City, New York)

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14-story (plus two small mechanical penthouse levels) Neo-Gothic hotel completed in 1913. Designed by Hill & Stout as an office building, it is only 25 feet wide, with a facade of dark reddish-brown and beige tapestry brick and beige terra-cotta. The front wall facing Madison Avenue features a 10-story, 5-foot-deep projecting copper-clad bay. The copper cladding extends across the full width of the narrow west end on the ground floor, with infill of glass and wood framing in a large middle bay and two narrow flanking bays. Across the top of the ground floor are copper panels, each with three pointed-arches. Previously on the site was the mansion of James Graham Phelps Stokes, a left-wing millionaire; he lived here before his marriage to radical journalist Rose Pastor.

At the upper floors the projecting copper bay has three windows per floor, and three spandrel panels between each floor, also with three pointed-arches. On either side of the projecting bay there is a brass Library Hotel plaque at the base of the 2nd floor, above which beige terra-cotta niches serves as bases for columns of contrasting brick diamond patterns that charge up the piers to the top of the 10th floor, where more-squared terra-cotta niches flank the end of the projecting bay. The 11th & 12th floors have paneled brick piers framing three windows in the middle, with terra-cotta spandrels. An elaborate roof parapet at the top of the 12th floor features terra-cotta Gothic arches above each window, and peaked capitals at the piers.

The wider south facade has three main bays and two narrower end bays. The main entrance is in the center, with a 2-story frame of terra-cotta organized into a tripartite window on the 2nd floor and a pointed-arch doorway flanked by windows at the ground floor. The center spandrels between the two floors has "TWO NINETY NINE MADISON AVENUE" written in Gothic script, and the square side spandrel panels have quatrefoils. To the left of the entrance are two restaurant storefronts, and the the right is another storefront and a service entrance, also framed in terra-cotta. At the 2nd floor there are similar windows to those on the ground floor, with black metal framing (smaller double windows at the end bays), with planter boxes overflowing with ivy below the windows. The 2nd floor is capped by a broad band course of terra-cotta with large niches at each of the piers, and enlivened with colorful Arts-and-Crafts style tiles between the piers.

On the upper floors the middle bays have three windows and the end bays have a single window. The columns of contrasting brick diamond patterns from the west facade repeats on the piers. The ornament from the top floors on the west facade also extends across the south facade, with small, peaked finials topping the parapet above each window. The new construction of the bar and solarium are at the west end of the main rooftop, with the 4-level brick mechanical penthouse rising up from the middle section. The lower half of the penthouses has three large, blind arches, topped by a cornice and crenelations. The north facade has a number of openings, but most have been filled-in.

The Fred F. French Company established its headquarters here, sharing space with a variety of tenants including architects and related construction companies, and realtors. Following World War I the building continued to lure architects and building firms. In 1950, Liberty Broadcasting System established its national offices in the building. The ingenious radio network broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games by following the action via Western Union ticker reports. Life-like sound effects—the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd for instance—were added so that many radio listeners at home were unaware that the commentators were not actually watching the action. The building continued to be filled with advertising agencies and real estate companies until the turn of the century.

In 2000 the building was converted into a hotel with 60 guest rooms. Each of the ten guest room floors at the Library Hotel are dedicated to one of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System : Social Sciences, Literature, Languages, History, Math & Science, General Knowledge, Technology, Philosophy, The Arts and Religion. All rooms have a small complement of books and decorations that accompany the theme, with 6000 books overall throughout the hotel. On the 13th-floor main roof (below the mechanical levels) there is a rooftop bar, 2-story glass-enclosed solarium, and outdoor terrace area. Besides the lobby, the ground floor is occupied by Madison & Vine restaurant.

www.libraryhotel.com/