Four Seasons Hotel New York

 hotel, skyscraper, interesting place, postmodern (architecture)

682-foot, 52-story Postmodern/New Classical hotel completed in 1993 for Ty Warner Hotels. Designed by I. M. Pei & Frank Williams with interiors by Chhada Siembieda & Associates, it is clad in limestone. It has a towering 6-story base, with entrances on both 57th & 58th Streets. These are centered below the tower; the south facade has a double-height openings filled by a grid of metal-framed glass, interrupted at the ground level by glass revolving doors flanking central glass double-doors. A suspended metal canopy is rounded at the end and lit by a ring of bulbs, with glass-and-metal "petals" extending out along the edge. Engaged, octagonal columns frame the entry portal, with splayed stonework across its top, and a grey granite water table extending to both ends at the sidewalk level. There is a wide storefront at the ground floor on either side of the entrance, and three sets of tall, multi-pane windows (4-over-10 panes) on either side at the 2nd level; these windows have beveled sills and flush, splayed lintels. Above each trio, there is a pair of projecting flagpoles about halfway up the base.

The north facade has a matching entrance and canopy at the ground floor, but here there is no opening above the canopy. On the ground floor there is a storefront to the east, with a bay of glass double-doors followed by three bays of plate-glass display-windows resting above the grey granite water table. To the west of the entrance there is a set of black metal service doors, and a large loading dock with roll-down metal gate. This facade is wider than that on 57th Street, with an extra section at the east end that has three more bays at the ground floor, one with a display-window, and the eastern two with metal double-service-doors. The base is also shorter here, rising only 4 floors, and there are no openings in the east section above the ground floor. Trios of tall windows matching those on the south facade flank the center bay at the 2nd floor. In the center the 2nd floor has a large, circular window, recessed within beveled edges, that is flanked by a pair of projecting flagpoles. The roof line of the base stoops down to the 3rd floor at the center bay.

On the south facade, this recessed circle is mirrored, but filled with limestone instead of glass, and placed higher up, at the 4th-5th floor level. Extending up from its sides are two beveled piers than rise to above the 7th floor. Framed by these piers are two bays of tripartite windows with slightly greenish-tinted glass; the narrow end panes are somewhat recessed, and each window group has a projecting stone sill with a small, vertical bracket at its center. To the outside of these two middle bays are another bay on each side with the same windows, setting back above the 8th & 9th floors. Further out is a final pair of window bays, which set back above the 8th floor and then terminate at the 10th floor as the building narrows.

The setbacks are marked by angular black-metal-and-white-glass lanterns jutting up at the corners. The two middle bays set back above the 10th floor, and again above the 17th, with the outer bays setting back above the 15th. All four south-facing bays set back again about halfway up the tower. This middle setback is mirrored on the north facade. The east and west elevations have a central bay of matching tripartite windows, flanked by recessed bays of smaller single-windows, shifting inward at the mid-line setbacks.

At the top of the tower the end bays set back a floor lower than the two center bays, which combine to form a wider window, with matching windows at the east and west elevations' center bays on the two floors above the end of the end bays. The tower takes on a sort of cross shape in plan, with angled corners between the four wings at the uppermost floors. Each of the main elevations has a angled, projecting window at the top floor, two stories tall on the north and south sides, and angled balconies carving a path along the angled corner elevations. The four main elevations have a final termination at the top of the highest occupied floor, with the tower continuing as an octagon at the mechanical levels on top; these angle back to a small, cube-shaped crown, rotated 45-degrees, that houses the uppermost mechanical equipment.

In 2007, the Four Seasons New York opened the Michelin star restaurant: L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. The hotel contains 368 guest rooms.

www.fourseasons.com/newyorkfs/
nypost.com/2023/09/06/nycs-shuttered-four-seasons-hotel...