Mansfield Hotel
The Mansfield Hotel is a residential hotel at 12 West 44th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen, the 12-story building was completed in 1902 as an apartment hotel. The Mansfield was developed by onetime Vermont governor John G. McCullough and lawyer Frederick B. Jennings. The building is a New York City designated landmark.
The brick-and-stone facade is arranged in an "H" shape and is divided vertically into three bays. The first two stories of the Mansfield's facade are clad with rusticated limestone blocks, while the upper stories are clad with red brick; the top two floors are placed within a mansard roof. The hotel contains a large lobby with a coffered ceiling, as well as a room with a skylight that formerly served as a library. The Mansfield contained 129 or 131 rooms on its upper stories by the late 1990s; these rooms were converted to co-living spaces in 2021.
McCullough and Jennings filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings in June 1901, and the hotel opened the next year; the men continued to own the hotel until 1940. The Mansfield became popular among theatrical and artistic personalities, as well as businesspeople, during the early 20th century. The hotel was renovated in 1935, when a nightclub was added next to the lobby, and again in the 1960s. Bernard Goldberg, who acquired the hotel in 1995, renovated it extensively. The Mansfield was then resold to Credit Suisse First Boston in 1998, then to Brad Reiss and John Yoon in 2004. Canadian firm Harrington Housing acquired the Mansfield Hotel in 2021 and renovated the rooms into co-living spaces.
Site
The Mansfield Hotel is at 12 West 44th Street, along the south sidewalk between Sixth Avenue and Fifth Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The rectangular land lot covers, with a frontage of on 44th Street and a depth of. The structure occupies most of its lot. On the same block, the New York City Bar Association Building, Royalton Hotel, Penn Club of New York Building, and General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Building are to the west, while the Century Association Building is to the south. Other nearby buildings include the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Sofitel New York hotels to the northwest; the New York Yacht Club Building and the Harvard Club of New York City building to the north; and the Aeolian Building, Salmon Tower Building, 500 Fifth Avenue, and 510 Fifth Avenue on the block immediately to the south.The adjacent block of 44th Street is known as Club Row, which contains several clubhouses. When the Mansfield Hotel was developed at the beginning of the 20th century, several other clubhouses were being built in the area. By the early 1900s, these clubs included the Yale Club, New York Yacht Club, Harvard Club, New York City Bar Association, Century Association, and the City Club of New York, all of which remained in the area at the end of the 20th century. Prior to the development of the Mansfield Hotel, the neighborhood contained a slaughterhouse, stables for stagecoach horses, and a train yard for the elevated Sixth Avenue Line. There were historically many stagecoach stables on 43rd and 44th Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, but only a few of the stables remained by the end of the 20th century.
Architecture
The Mansfield Hotel was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen. The structure is 12 stories high and is arranged in an "H" with light courts to the west and east.Facade
The facade is made of brick and stone and is primarily divided vertically into three bays. The first two stories of the Mansfield's facade are clad with rusticated limestone blocks. The main entrance is through a molded round arch at the center of the facade, which is topped by a cartouche with garlands on either side. On either side of the main entrance are large scrolled brackets, which support a projecting balcony on the second floor. The rest of the first story contains windows, above which a crown molding runs horizontally across the facade at the same level as the second-story balcony. At the second story, the central balcony contains a decorative balustrade with plinths; there is an arched niche immediately behind the balcony. The outer bays of the second story contain ornate iron balconies. Above each of the second-story bays are carved urns and swags, which support oriel windows on the third story; a crown molding runs above the rest of the second story.The next six and a half stories are clad with brick, and there are stone quoins on either side of the facade. There are three oriel windows on each of the third through eighth stories, which are angled outward. Next to the easternmost bay, there are smaller sash windows on each of the third through ninth stories. On the third story, the center bay contains an iron railing. The oriel windows are decorated with such ornamentation as aediculae, rope moldings, and spandrel panels. The ninth story contains three groups of segmental windows, with paneled columns between them. The upper part of the ninth story is clad with stone, and a projecting cornice runs above the ninth story. Beneath the cornice are large brackets with garlands; smaller brackets with foliate ornamentation; molded rams' heads; and dentils. The top of the cornice contains a metal railing.
The tenth story contains several pairs of windows, with paneled piers and columns between them. Above the tenth story is a copper-and-stone cornice with anthemia, scrolls, and masks. The top two stories are placed within a copper mansard roof clad with slate tiles. The eleventh-story windows are grouped into three dormers, each of which consists of two sash windows. The dormers are surrounded by eared frames and topped by a large segmental arch, which in turn is decorated with rope moldings and cartouches. On either end of the roof, there are stone walls with scrolls and cusps above them.
Interior
The hotel's lobby originally contained a coffered ceiling, which was divided into three rectangular panels with plaster light fixtures. During the mid-20th century, the original lobby decorations were covered up, and sheetrock walls and a dropped ceiling were installed. Following a renovation in the 1990s, the lobby was restored largely to its original design, and a portrait by Tamara de Lempicka was installed. The lobby contains paneled walls and columns topped by sculpted capitals, as well as a black reception desk with copper reliefs. On the left side of the lobby is a bank of elevators. On the lobby's right side was a glass-and-metal entrance to the hotel's library, decorated with wooden bookshelves, early-20th-century Philippine furniture, and vintage images. The space also contains an oval skylight on its ceiling. The former library space subsequently contained the M Bar, which opened in 1999. In addition, there is a small reading lounge next to the lobby.A staircase with iron handrails leads from the lobby to the upper stories. The hallways on each story contain terrazzo tiles. By the late 1990s, the hotel contained 129 or 131 rooms on its upper stories. Following the 1990s renovation, each of the rooms contained period furnishings, such as lighting sconces made of etched glass; floors of ebonized wood; granite bathrooms; and iron-and-wire-mesh beds. In addition, some of the rooms retained their original fireplaces. The ninth and tenth stories were used as storage rooms by the late 20th century, although they were converted to duplex lofts after the 1990s renovation. The top story contains a double-story penthouse suite. In 2021, the hotel was converted to a co-living space with communal kitchens; karaoke lounges, within former offices; and patios, inside some of the air shafts.
History
During the early 19th century, apartment developments in the city were generally associated with the working class, but by the late 19th century, apartments were also becoming desirable among the middle and upper classes. Between 1880 and 1885, more than ninety apartment buildings were developed in the city. Developers of apartment hotels sometimes constructed developments to bypass the Tenement House Law, which restricted the sizes of new apartment buildings. Apartment hotels had less stringent regulations on sunlight, ventilation, and emergency stairs but had to contain communal spaces like dining rooms. As a result, developers could provide up to 30 percent more space in an apartment hotel than in a conventional apartment building. The Mansfield Hotel was part of a surge of apartment hotels developed in New York City between 1899, when the New York City government passed new building codes, and 1901, when the Tenement House Law was passed.Development and initial owners
The Mansfield was developed as an apartment hotel by John G. McCullough, who had a house on Park Avenue in Manhattan and briefly served as the governor of Vermont, and Frederick B. Jennings, a lawyer from Vermont who had been McCullough's neighbor in Manhattan. In March 1901, Jennings purchased three stable buildings at 10, 12, and 14 West 44th Street, giving him a site of. The men hired Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen to design the Hotel Mansfield. That June, the firm submitted plans to the New York City Department of Buildings for a 12-story brick-and-stone hotel on a site, to cost $200,000. In September 1901, D. C. Weeks & Son received the general contract for the hotel's construction.The Mansfield opened in 1902. Later the same year, the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club opened its "city clubhouse" at the Mansfield; the Brown University Club subsequently opened a clubhouse there in 1904. The Mansfield became popular among theatrical and artistic personalities, as well as businesspeople. The hotel's early residents included actor Charles Hopkins, painter Charles Hoffbauer, United States Rubber Company executive James B. Ford, and architect William M. Kendall. In addition, during the 1930s, the Mansfield contained a brokerage office.
By the 1930s, the Joseph P. Day Management Corporation operated the hotel, with Walter B. Baer as president and Merritt Moore as the resident manager. The hotel's owners renovated the Mansfield in 1935, making changes to the lobby, elevators, and several suites. In addition, a nightclub called the Mirror Room was built next to the lobby. The club was named after a blue mirror installed on the rear wall. The nightclub was decorated with green furnishings and included an entertainment space that contained a semicircular bar, as well as an attached dining room.