Hyatt Grand Central New York
The Hyatt Grand Central New York is a hotel located at 109 East 42nd Street, adjoining Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It operated as the 2,000-room Commodore Hotel between 1919 and 1976, before hotel chain Hyatt and real estate developer Donald Trump converted the hotel to the 1,400-room Grand Hyatt New York between 1978 and 1980., the hotel is planned to be replaced with a skyscraper named 175 Park Avenue.
The New York Central Railroad acquired the site in 1910 and started constructing the hotel in October 1916. The Commodore was designed by Warren & Wetmore, with the Fuller Company as the hotel's general contractor. The hotel was, with up to 28 stories, and had an H-shaped floor plan and a brick-and-terracotta facade. It contained a large lobby designed in a manner resembling an Italian courtyard, as well as various dining rooms and ballrooms. The Commodore opened on January 28, 1919, and was originally operated by Bowman-Biltmore Hotels. Zeckendorf Hotels took over the Commodore's operation in 1958 before handing it to New York Central subsidiary Realty Hotels in 1966. Due to declining profits, the Commodore closed on May 18, 1976.
Trump and Hyatt offered in 1975 to take over the Commodore and renovate it into the Grand Hyatt. After the city government granted a tax abatement for the renovation, Trump and Hyatt completely remodeled the hotel from June 1978 to September 1980, spending $100 million and removing almost all of the Commodore's original decorations. The renovated hotel includes a glass facade, a three-story atrium, a restaurant cantilevered over a sidewalk, and the Commodore's original ballroom. With the deteriorating partnership between Trump and Hyatt, the Pritzker family, which operated the Grand Hyatt, acquired Trump's stake in the hotel in 1996. The Project Commodore skyscraper was announced for the site in 2019, and the Grand Hyatt temporarily closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. The hotel reopened in 2021 as the Hyatt Grand Central., work on Project Commodore is expected to begin by 2026.
Site
The Hyatt Grand Central New York is at 109 East 42nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It occupies a rectangular site on the northwestern corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street, near Pershing Square Plaza, and abuts the Park Avenue Viaduct to the west. The land lot covers about, with a frontage of on Lexington Avenue and on 42nd Street.The hotel shares the city block with Grand Central Terminal to the west, the MetLife Building to the northwest, and the Graybar Building and 450 Lexington Avenue to the north. Other nearby buildings include the Pershing Square Building and Bowery Savings Bank Building to the southwest, the Chanin Building to the south, the Socony–Mobil Building to the southeast, and the Chrysler Building to the east. The New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station, serving the, is located directly underneath the Hyatt Grand Central, and the Lexington Avenue Line platforms cut diagonally underneath the hotel. A subway entrance, with a stair and an elevator, is at the base of the hotel on Lexington Avenue.
The site was formerly occupied by the Hospital for Crippled Children. Before the hotel opened, the site occupied an entire city block, which was bounded by Depew Place to the west and 43rd Street to the north. The New York Central Railroad acquired the site in November 1910 as part of the construction of Grand Central Terminal.
Architecture
The Hyatt Grand Central New York was originally known as the Commodore and was designed by Warren & Wetmore. The Fuller Company was the hotel's general contractor, although the project also involved numerous other contractors and engineers. Donald Trump and Hyatt renovated the hotel in the 1970s to designs by Gruzen & Partners and Der Scutt.Commodore Hotel
When the Commodore opened, it contained 2,000 rooms and was either 26 or 28 stories high, as well as five basement stories. Because of superstition surrounding the number 13, the hotel did not have a thirteenth floor, nor did it have any rooms, mailboxes, elevators, or other fixtures with the number 13. The Commodore's facade was largely made of buff-colored brick with architectural terracotta trim; the first three stories were clad in Indiana Limestone. The hotel's lowest three stories occupied the entire site, while the floors above were shaped like a "H", with light courts to the north and south. At the top of the facade was a cornice with copper faces. The design of the nearby 245 Park Avenue was intended to complement not only the Commodore's original facade but also that of the nearby New York Biltmore Hotel, which was internally demolished in the early 1980s.The hotel contained large amounts of materials, including of steel, 4.256 million bricks, 1.653 million terracotta blocks, and of fireproof floor arches. The hotel's heating system included 4,400 radiators, supplied by a pair of boilers in the basement. The ventilation system contained 17 fans that were capable of supplying of air per minute. The Commodore contained ten passenger elevators, eight service elevators, one freight elevator, and two dumbwaiters. The hotel received water from the city's water supply system, with two intakes from 42nd Street and one from Lexington Avenue. The water-drainage system included two sewers to 42nd Street and one to Lexington Avenue, as well as sump pumps that drained water from the basements into the city's sewage system. The Commodore also contained a telautograph system with 75 stations, in addition to a fire alarm system, which at the time of the hotel's opening was an uncommon feature.
Ground level
The hotel's main entrance was at 42nd Street, just east of Grand Central Terminal. At ground level was a vestibule, consisting of a central hallway flanked by wide stairways that ascended to the lobby. The central hallway continued to the grill room and to the Commodore Passageway at the rear of the ground level. The grill room was at the rear of the vestibule and was used for supper and dancing; it was also known as the supper room. The grill room's entrance was on a terrace with stone walls and columns and a tiled floor. A short flight of steps descended to the main part of the grill room, which had chestnut walls with alcoves and leaded windows. On the ceiling were large beams painted by John B. Smeraldi, consisting of heraldic designs taken from illuminated manuscripts. The center of the grill room contained a dance floor measuring.At the north end of the ground story was the Commodore Passage, which still exists but was renamed the Lexington Passage after the Commodore closed. The passage leads directly to Grand Central Terminal and also connects to Lexington Avenue. This passageway also connects the hotel to the New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station via the terminal's corridors. Additional passageways connect with other buildings such as the Biltmore and Roosevelt hotels, the Yale Club Building, the Graybar Building, and the Chrysler Building. In the late 1990s, the passageway was redesigned as a shopping arcade with marble storefronts.
Lobby level
The lobby itself was designed in a manner resembling an Italian courtyard, surrounded by an arcade with a mezzanine above it. At the hotel's opening in 1919, architectural media described the Commodore's lobby as the largest hotel lobby in the world. The lobby had a metal-and-white-glass ceiling supported by light-colored stucco arches. There was a large palm tree in the middle of the lobby, which reached nearly to the ceiling. The walls were made of rough plaster above a wainscoting of soft Italian stone, and the paneling on the walls consisted of blue Italian tiles. The space was illuminated by vases with concealed lighting. At the center of the main lobby was a small retreat surrounded by palm trees.The lobby's mezzanine contained a lounge, which was accessed by a wide staircase on the west wall and smaller stairs along the lobby's perimeter. The mezzanine railing contained boxes with plants. The mezzanine gallery was designed in the Italian Renaissance style, with flowers and palms. The walls contained satin hangings in blue, red, and yellow with green stripes, which were intended to complement the design of the floor. The gallery also had period furniture, including chairs and vases; the chairs were covered with blue and gold satin and velvet. Leading off this gallery were various writing rooms, the barber shop, the manicure shop, and the Commodore Hotel's executive offices, as well as numerous small alcoves and retreats.
Men's and women's rooms were positioned on opposite sides of the lobby. West of the lobby were offices, a stock-brokers' room, check rooms, a men's writing room, an English-style men's restaurant, telephones, telegraph services, and other business functions. On the lobby's west wall was a cafe with natural-oak wainscoting; a blue-and-gold carpet; Flemish oak chairs; and a ceiling with white-and-green plaster frescoes. East of the lobby, and a few steps above it, was the palm room, where after-dinner coffee and afternoon tea were served. The palm room was separated from the lobby by large majolica vases with palm trees. Behind the palm room was the main dining room, which contained a walnut wainscoting and a purple, green, and rose-colored vaulted ceiling in low relief. Next to the main dining room were the lobby supper room and the breakfast room, both designed in a similar manner to the main dining room. Stairs led from the dining room to the mezzanine, the hair-dressing parlor, and ladies' public rooms.
The hotel's kitchen was on the same level as the men's restaurant and the main dining room; stairs led down to the street-level grill room. The kitchen was capable of serving 10,000 meals per day, including 4,000 meals for employees. The kitchen was divided into several departments. These included a main kitchen, measuring wide; a separate kitchen for banquets, measuring wide; and a "preparatory kitchen" above the main kitchen, which was used for food preparation. Paper slips with guests' orders were delivered to the kitchen via a series of pneumatic tubes, and dumbwaiters connected the kitchen with each guestroom floor.