Vanderbilt Hotel Building (New York City, New York)

 high-rise, apartment building, 1913_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

226-foot, 21-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1913. Designed by Warren and Wetmore as The Vanderbilt Hotel by the Vanderbilt family interests. It was converted to apartments in 1965. Certain interior elements are landmarked, including the vaulted Guastavino tiled ceilings of the hotel's former restaurant, now Wolfgang's Steakhouse.

It is clad in grey brick with terra-cotta trim above a 3-story base of limestone, glass and metal (altered when the building was converted to apartments). The base contained the hotel's public spaces and services, and is now mostly retail with some office space and a parking garage. The bulk of the tower above originally contained 600 hotel rooms, and is divided into three wings by two light courts facing Park Avenue.

The base, redesigned by Schuman, Lichtenstein & Claman in 1965, spans 13 bays on Park Avenue, and five bays of varying width on the north and south facades. Each bay is filled with a curtain wall of smoked glass and thin metal framing. On the north and south sides the center bay is two windows wide, the westernmost bay is three windows wide, and the other bays are four windows wide. All the bays on Park Avenue are three windows wide. The 3-bay main entrance in the center is slightly recessed, and there is a canvas canopy at the center bay, extending out onto the sidewalk. A secondary entrance is at the western bay on 34th Street, and the parking garage entrance at the western bay on 33rd. Another secondary entrance is in the bay to the east of the garage entrance. The other bays either have storefronts or infill of polished black stone at the ground floor.

Above, each of the wings in is three bays wide, with single-windows in terra-cotta surrounds, which are more elaborate on the 5th floor. A brick and stone band course runs above the 4th floor, where between each wing the light courts are fronted by a low brick wall with a balustrade in the middle. The rear walls of the light courts also have three windows in terra-cotta surrounds, and the side walls have two bays of regular-sized single-windows and an additional column of smaller windows.

Above each window at the 18th floor are shallow hoods that underscore elaborate balconies at the 19th floor that are rounded and project at the center. Above each balcony the 19th-floor windows have full surrounds and the piers are ornamented with paterned terra-cotta panels. A cornice runs above the 19th floor, and stone trusses span the light courts about midway back at this floor. The windows of the top two floors are set within 2-story round-arches set in terra-cotta, with elaborate pedimens over the 20th-floor windows. Another cornice caps the 21st floor, with the two end wings topped by parapets with finials.

The north elevation has five bays of regular windows, and two columns of smaller windows. The design and details generally match the main east facade. The rear elevation facing west is mostly stuccoed, with three groups of three bays of windows mirroring the locations of the wings on the opposite side. The roof parapet carries onto this facade, with finials above the groups of windows. There is a mechanical penthouse at the center of the roof. The ground floor is occupied by a Duane Reade by Walgreens pharmacy, Four Park Avenue Cleaners, Wolfgang's Steakhouse, with Boom Fitness on the 2nd floor.

daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-1912-vanderb...
www.beyondthegildedage.com/2012/11/the-vanderbilt-hotel...
www.nytimes.com/2003/03/09/realestate/streetscapes-form...