MOXY NYC Times Square Hotel (New York City, New York)

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156-foot, 15-story Neo-Classical office building completed in 1907 as the Mills Hotel No. 3. Designed by Copeland & Dole for banker Darius Ogden Mills, it was the third of his New York hotels to be completed. The first two were located at Bleecker Street and Rivington Street, respectively. While the first two had tiny rooms, the Mills Hotel No. 3 had somewhat larger rooms and higher prices. It originally had 1,885 small single bedrooms, each with a window opening onto the street or courtyard. The building incorporates two light-court units linked by central elevator hall.

The building’s facades are clad with limestone, light-colored brick, and terra-cotta. In plan the building is mainly comprised of two wings each with a central light court, linked by a center tower fronted by a two-story vestibule. To the rear of the center tower is a square wing, which originally housed showers and lavatories. Narrow alleys run along the north and east sides of the building. The building originally had a 2-1/2-story base with a high basement. In the 1950s the ground floor was lowered to ground level, a second story was created, and the main entrance was shifted to 485 Seventh Avenue. The original 2nd floor became the 3rd floor. Masonry elements were removed to create storefronts on the Seventh Avenue façade and at the base of the west wing on 36th Street; a parking garage was installed at the base of the east wing. The lower two floors have been re-clad, but the 3rd floor retains its original limestone cladding. The end bays are slightly projected and the windows are grouped in rhythmic patterns to provide visual interest. The floors are arranged into a 3-story rusticated limestone base (the 1st and 2nd floors have been extensively altered), 9-story brick-clad mid-section, and 4-story terra-cotta-clad attic. Above the base, the building’s 9-story mid-section is clad in cream-colored brick accented with stone trim. The 4-story attic is faced with terra-cotta and is embellished with molded string courses and cornices.

On Seventh Avenue the major portion of the base is faced with banded stone rustication, lit by square-headed windows. The 3rd floor is capped by a simple stone drip course. The mid-section is faced with light-colored brick, and has flat-arched window openings. There is a continuous stone sill course beneath the 4th-floor windows; individual windows have projecting stone sills, from the 5th to 11th floors. Simple stone cornices set off the 12th-floor windows. The symmetry of the façade is off-set by the presence of a chimney on the north façade which is set back slightly from the west façade and clad in a simplified version of the same façade materials. At the crown, the 13th-16th floors are faced with terra-cotta. Recessed spandrel panels beneath the windows are ornamented with raised crosses at the 13th to 15th floors. The principal piers at the 16th floor are decorated with cartouches and lions’ heads. The decorative copper cornice is supported by console brackets above terra-cotta egg-and-dart molding. The cornice is punctuated above the piers by simple disks.

The south facade on 36th Street has two 16-story blocks flanking the original, central 2-story metal-and-glass-fronted entrance wing and light court. The façade continues the pattern, materials, and detailing established on the Seventh Avenue façade. The windows on the rear wall of the court are grouped into a large segmental-arched opening extending from the 3rd to 11th floors and a rectangular opening extending from the 13th to 15th floors. The metal framework in the large openings is articulated with pilasters and cornices and decorative spandrel panels; windows are arranged in a 5-bay composition with alternating wide and narrow bays. The 12th and 16th floors are each lit by three windows.

At the base, masonry piers flanking the entrance bay articulated as pilasters remain in part; retaining their stylized tablet capitals with raised “M”s for Mills. There is now a dark glass ribbon window band at the 2nd floor. Above the base, a neon "PARK" sign has been attached to the facade, above the garage entrance.

After Mills’ death in 1910, a family trust continued to operate the hotel as a low-cost residence for single men. The majority of guests were blue collar workers, salesmen, and hotel and service industry employees. The Mills family retained ownership of this hotel until 1954. The building remained a low cost hotel until the early 1980s, although stores and a parking garage were installed in its lower stories. In the 1980s, it became the Fashion Avenue Atrium and was remodeled for use as offices and show rooms. The center light courts in each wing were reconfigured, reduced in size, and converted to atriums. The original courtyard walls were razed and replaced with modern wall and window systems; the original skylights over the main floor courtyard sitting rooms were also removed and large pyramidal skylights were installed on the roof above the new atriums.

The ground floor is occupied by Egghead Catering, the entrance to Legasea Seafood Brasserie (on 2nd floor), Prova Pizzabar, Cafe Avignon, and Blind Barber, and the entrance to Bar Moxy (on 2nd floor).

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