Hotel Pennsylvania

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Coordinates: 40°44′59″N 73°59′26″W / 40.74972°N 73.99056°W / 40.74972; -73.99056

Hotel Pennsylvania
The front entrance of the Hotel Pennsylvania
Hotel facts and statistics
Location	401 Seventh Avenue, New York City
Opening date	1919
Developer	Pennsylvania Railroad
Architect	McKim, Mead & White
Owner	Vornado Realty Trust
No. of rooms	2200 at opening, 1700 in 2008
No. of floors	22
Website	http://hotelpenn.com

The Hotel Pennsylvania is a hotel located at 401 7th Avenue in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Contents 1 History 2 Proposed demolition 3 Notable events 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

The Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White, which also designed the original columned version of Penn Station located across the street. (The old Pennsylvania Station was razed in 1963 to make room for Madison Square Garden and the redeveloped below-ground station in use today.)

The hotel was acquired by the Hotels Statler Company in 1948 and renamed the Hotel Statler. Following the sale of all 17 Statler hotels to Conrad Hilton in 1954, the hotel became The Statler Hilton. It operated under this name until the early 1980s, when Hilton sold the hotel. It was renamed The New York Statler for a brief period, and was operated by Dunfey hotels, a adivision of Aer Lingus. It was then purchased in 1984 by the Penta Hotels chain, a joint-venture of British Airways, Lufthansa and Swissair, becoming The New York Penta. In 1992 Penta went out of business and the hotel was returned to its original name, Hotel Pennsylvania.

The hotel has the distinction of having the New York phone number in longest continuous use. The number, PEnnsylvania 6-5000, is the inspiration for the Finegan, Gray, and Sigman song of the same name. The most popular version was performed by Glenn Miller with the Andrews Sisters not far behind. Many big band names played in the hotel's Cafe Rouge Ballroom, including the Dorsey Brothers, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Contrary to common practice, there is a 13th floor. The hotel states it has 22 floors from street level to the roof, plus three additional levels in the penthouse. The highest penthouse level is numbered as the 21st floor. The discrepancy in floor numbering is due to several mezzanine-type levels that carry names such as "lobby mezzanine" instead of floor numbers.

[edit] Proposed demolition

In early January 2007, plans were announced to demolish the hotel, and replace it with an office tower. Owner Vornado Realty Trust intends to build a 2,500,000-square-foot (232,000 m²) building by 2011.^[1][2] Vornado's plans take advantage of the fact that the site is the only remaining area in Midtown Manhattan that would not require special permits for development of a new office project of that size.^[3]

Shortly after the announcement of Vornado's plans, the staff of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a magazine which sponsors biennial H.O.P.E. hacker conventions at the hotel, began investigating possible ways to save the hotel from demolition.^[4]

Preservation efforts have proven difficult thus far. Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600 noted that while people overseas expressed concern over the fate of the hotel, "New Yorkers might not care enough to get involved. The hotel was old; the rooms weren’t as big and luxurious as other more modern facilities; and New Yorkers simply weren’t in a position to grasp the importance of such a place since they normally don’t need cheap and easily accessible hotels if they already live here."^[5]

Vornado has recently stated that they are considering three options:

1. Demolish the Hotel and replace it with a large office tower,
2. Demolish the Hotel and replace it with a small office tower with large retail,
3. Save the hotel and spruce it up.

The fate of the Hotel Pennsylvania has not been finalized.

[edit] Notable events

• December 1925 William Faulkner stayed at The Hotel Pennsylvania while writing one of his many novels. Later he would go on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.^[6]
• November 17, 1935 Herbert Hoover speaks before the Ohio Society of New York at the Hotel Pennsylvania^[7]
• In 1940, Glenn Miller and the Glenn Miller Orchestra began the first of several extended engagements at the Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge, often broadcast live on NBC Radio. Recordings of several of these engagements were released by RCA Victor.^{[8] [9]}
• In December 1942 Charlie Chaplin attended a dinner at The Hotel Pennsylvania in New York sponsored by Russian War Relief^[10]
• In 1953, Dr. Frank Olson jumps through the closed window of his 10th floor room. Olson worked for the CIA and it is believed he was involved with experiments to study the effects of LSD.
• On November 3. 1964, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy addressed his supporters in the hotel (the the Statler Hilton), after capturing the seat of incumbent Kenneth Keating in the United States Senate.
• The Hotel Pennsylvania appeared in the 1986 film The Manhattan Project, as the setting of a science fair. Rather than construct a set and populate it with actors, the filmmakers hosted an actual science fair in the hotel, and simply filmed during it.
• In June 2002, Dave Barry wrote a column about his experience at the thinly-disguised "Hotel Shpennsylvania".
• In 1997, The grand ballroom became NEP/Image TV Studios and is where the television shows such as Maury, Sally Jessy Raphael, 2 Minute Drill, and The People's Court have taped.

[edit] References

• Off The Hook Episode that Announced the Hotel Penn Demolition
• "New York Daily News Article about the Hotel Penn Situation". Archived from the original on 2007-01-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20070107180933/http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/485731p-408941c.html. 
• Vornado Corp -- The Company That Wants to Tear the Hotel Penn Down
• Concept for the new Vornado on the Wired New York Messageboards
• Landmark Hotel Pennsylvania Needs Big Dose of Lysol
• 'A Vote of Conscience': CB5 Moves To Protect Hotel Pennsylvania

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• "Save The Hotel" community website
• 2600's "Save The Hotel" forum