Hyatt Grand Central New York (New York City, New York)

 hotel, historical building

295-foot, 26-story modernist hotel originally completed in 1919. Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Swanke Hayden Connell as the Commodore Hotel, the landmark hotel was given a modern glass facade and had its interiors gutted and remodeled by Donald Trump in 1980 (his first construction project in Manhattan) when it was converted to a Hyatt, to designs by Gruzen Samton Steinglass and Der Scutt Architects. The only remaining part of the original Neoclassical design is the foyer of the Empire State Ballroom.

The new reflective glass facade was placed over the existing masonry exterior. At the building's corners, the curtain wall is peeled away at the lower three floors and replaced with gleaming stainless-steel columns and spandrels bands separating bays of large plate-glass windows, and storefronts on the ground floor. The storefronts continue along both main facades on the ground floor, between the rows of steel columns. The grand main entrance is in the middle of the 42nd Street facade, where a projecting, sloped roof atrium-like canopy extends out over the sidewalk and also extends to the sides over the three bays of storefronts flanking both ends of the entrance. There are taller columns at the three central bays (around the entrances) where the front-lower edge of the canopy is cut away and lined with thin white metal slats.

At the upper floors there are setbacks at the middle sections of the south and north facades above the 9th floor, creating an H-shaped plan with narrow east and west wings on both the north and south elevations. Three flagpoles project out from the middle of the setback on the south side, facing 42nd Street. On the north facade, above the setback, the middle portion of the recessed central section extends out somewhat further northward and is lined with vertical, recessed grooves indicating the window bays, ending below the top floors. At the northeast corner of the northwest wing there is a very tall metal chimney stack.

The hotel contains 1,306 guest rooms, including 43 suites. The ground floor is occupied by Cafe Grumpy, Christi Sothers jewelry, Baked by Melissa, and Bolton's clothing store. In 2019, plans were announced to demolish the hotel for mixed-use tower, but the hotel is still operating as of 2024.

www.GrandNewYork.hyatt.com/
archive.org/details/nsarchitecturalr816bostuoft/page/69...
hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x001789128?urlappend=%3Bseq=441