Wellington Hotel (closed) (New York City, New York)

 hotel, high-rise, 1911_construction

282-foot, 27-story hotel originally completed in 1911. Designed by Robert T. Lyons, the hotel eventually grew to encompass the L-shaped building surrounding it, as well as the former office building to the east at 147 West 55th Street, expanding to a total of 600 guest rooms. It closed in 2021.

The facade of the corner building, the tallest, is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story white-painted limestone base. On the west facade there are glass-and-metal storefronts above a brown granite water table, with the main entrance just to the north in the adjoining structure. The storefronts continue onto the west part of the south facade. There is a central, secondary entrance with a revolving door set in a stone framed and flanked by brown polished granite bays with plate-glass windows; the eastern one is part of the storefront near the east end of the facade, which has two sets of triple-windows above it. A bronze marquee covers the entrance and granite bays, with the name Wellington topping it in neon script in all three sides. The far east end of the corner building has a service entrance below a double-window. The 2nd & 3rd floors have 10 bays of single-windows on the south facade, and five on the west facade. There are steep-sloped red canvas awnings on the 2nd-floor windows, and metal vents below many of the 3rd-floor windows. A pair of projecting flagpoles are mounted on the west facade, between the 2nd & 3rd floors, and the middle window on the 3rd floor here is narrower than the others, as is the 2nd bay from the west on the south facade, a feature that continues onto the upper floors. The 3rd floor's middle bay on the west facade is framed by a pair of long, bronze-colored spike-like ornaments with scrolled tops that extend up to the top of the base; three more such spikes adorn the south facade. At the top of the base, the three middle bays on the west, and the six middle bays on the south facade have tan terra-cotta panels with elaborate carvings with abstract floral designs.

On the upper floors, the south facade's two middle bays, and the two bays next to the end bays have vertical, recessed dentils, and the spandrels between floors in these bays have grids of raised brick. The three middle bays on the west facade have the same pattern. Between the 19th & 20th floors there are projecting, geometric spandrels. On the west facade the two bays flanked the center bay set back above the 20th floor, and the full facade sets back above the 22nd. On the south facade, all of the middle bays set back above the 21st floor, and the end bays set back above the 22nd. The top floors narrow down to two bays at the roof line. A 7-story vertical sign is mounted to the southwest corner, at the south end of the west facade.

The 13-story L-shaped building wrapping around the taller corner building is clad in red brick above a 3-story limestone base, rusticated at the 2nd & 3rd floors. The main hotel entrance is at the south end of this section, with glass-and-bronze doors framed by brown polished granite, below a bronze marquee with Wellington in neon script on all three sides. The ground floor has stone, metal, and glass storefront to the north. The ground floor is topped by a gold-colored dentil course. Above the ground floor the middle bay has three windows, flanked by bays of double-windows (framed by projecting piers), and end bays of paired windows. The 2nd-floor windows have sloped red canvas awnings, and at the top of the base the projecting piers have entablatures and the middle and end bays have rows of gold roundels.

The 4th floor is transitional, with stone cladding at the lower half, and stone enframements around the windows. The upper floors have stone sills and black metal air-conditioning vents below the windows. There is a cartouche above the middle bay of the 7th floor. The top floor is set off by a projecting cornice and has seven bays of triple-windows.

The narrow south facade of the L-shaped structure has a service entrance and small storefront at the 1-story stone base. The red-brick upper floors have two bays of double-windows with stone sills and lintels.

The 12-story east building is clad in reddish-brown brick above a 2-story rusticated limestone base. The ground floor has three bays of round-arches, with glass-and-metal infill in the outer two, and an entrance in the center bay, recessed up a couple of steps. The arches are topped by scrolled keystones. The floors above the ground floor have three windows in the middle bay and paired windows in the end bays. At the 2nd floor the end bays have narrow, projecting balconettes with iron railings, and the middle bay has a larger balcony on four brackets, with a stone balustrade. The base is topped by a white stone cornice with an egg-and-dart molding above a frieze with metopes alternating with roundels.

The transitional 3rd floor has white stone bases to the piers and is capped by a white stone band course with egg-and-dart moldings. The upper floors have stone sills and brick lintels at the windows, and black metal air-conditioning vents cut below one window in each bay. A projecting, modillioned stone cornice sets off the 10th floor, and another cornice, with dentils, sets off the 12th floor, projecting out around the piers. The facade above this cornice is clad in limestone, with segmental-arched window openings divided by colonnettes; the piers are capped by large cartouches at the top of the 12th floor. The facade is crowned by a prominent cornice with an arcade of small arches between paneled projecting piers with a surmounting dentil course.

The ground floor along the avenue was occupied by Molyvos restaurant, Christmas Cottage holiday shop, Danielle B. jewelry, and the Park Cafe, white the storefront to the right of the south entrance on 55th Street is occupied by New York Visitor Center and Souvenirs, and the ground floor at the narrow south end of the L-shaped building is occupied by Manhattan Cut barber shop.

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