New York Hilton Midtown
Hotel chainHilton Hotels & Resorts
General information
Location1335 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York
Coordinates40°45′44″N 73°58′43″W / 40.76225°N 73.97874°W / 40.76225; -73.97874
OpeningJune 26, 1963
OwnerPark Hotels & Resorts
ManagementHilton Worldwide
Height148.4 m (487 ft)
Technical details
Floor count47
Design and construction
Architect(s)William B. Tabler Architects
Harrison & Abramovitz;
DeveloperUris Buildings Corporation
Other information
Number of rooms1,932
Number of suites47
[1][2][3][4]
Entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown

The New York Hilton Midtown is the largest hotel in New York City and world's 101st tallest hotel. The hotel is owned by Park Hotels & Resorts and managed by Hilton Worldwide. At 2,052 rooms total (1,878 hotel rooms and an additional 174 rooms belonging to Hilton Grand Vacations) and over 150,000 sq ft of meeting space, the hotel is the largest Hilton in the continental U.S.

The 47-floor building, north of Rockefeller Center at Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street, has hosted every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy as well as the Beatles. The world's first handheld cell phone call was made by hotel guest Martin Cooper in front of the hotel in 1973. Donald Trump delivered his 2016 United States presidential election victory speech at the hotel.

History

The project was developed by Hilton Hotels Corporation, the Rockefeller Group, and the Uris Buildings Corporation. The original architect was Morris Lapidus and he proposed to build a curved Fontainebleau Hotel-style building. However, Lapidus had to withdraw since he was also designing the competing Americana of New York hotel a block away.[5]

New York Hilton Midtown at 6th Avenue and 54th St

William B. Tabler was then tapped to finish the project and he designed it with slabs. It opened June 26, 1963, as the New York Hilton and offered 2,153 rooms, making it the largest in the city.

In 1990, a $100 million renovation decreased the number of guest rooms to 1,980. The property underwent further renovations in 1991–1994 and a $100 million renovation in 1998–2000 that included a complete overhaul of the lobby, the addition of an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) Precor USA Fitness Center on the fifth floor. Around that time the name was changed to Hilton New York, as all Hilton hotels were rebranding the name Hilton to go before the city name at the time. In 2007, the hotel completed its fourth renovation. It now has 47 suites on floors 42 through 44. Each suite includes between 600 and 2,000 sq ft (56 and 186 m2) of space.

In 2013, the hotel was renamed the New York Hilton Midtown in honor of its 50th anniversary.[6] At that time, the management announced that it was ending room service and establishing a self-service cafeteria called "Herb n' Kitchen".[7]

Ownership of the hotel was transferred in 2017 to Park Hotels & Resorts when that company was spun off from Hilton Worldwide.[8]

Notable events and media

Hilton Hotels & Resorts asserts that the lyrics to John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" were composed in the hotel.[9]

In late spring 1971, Neil Sheehan and colleagues at The New York Times used rooms[10] at the hotel to organize and summarize the Pentagon Papers, an internal DoD study of the history of the Vietnam War which he had surreptitiously copied from Daniel Ellsberg, for publication.[11]

In June 1972, Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel while performing four sold-out concerts at nearby Madison Square Garden. He held a press conference before the first show at the hotel's Mercury Ballroom.

Martin Cooper made the world's first handheld cellular phone call in public April 3, 1973, when he called Joel S. Engel at the New York Hilton with a two-pound Motorola DynaTAC phone. Cooper, a Motorola inventor called his rival at Bell Labs to tell him about the invention. The cell phone base station was next door atop the 1345 Avenue of the Americas.[12]

The hotel owned the property immediately west of it which was the site of the Adelphi Theatre where episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed. The Adelphi was torn down in 1970. In 1989, an office tower, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, was built on the site. The tower is connected to the Hilton with a walkway and keeps the Hilton's Sixth Avenue address even though it is midblock and closer to Seventh Avenue. Exterior shots of Elaine's workplace at the J. Peterman Company in Seinfeld show the building.[13][14]

In the 2016 United States presidential election, Donald J. Trump held his election night victory party in the hotel's grand ballroom.

The hotel is home to a number of award ceremonies, including the International Emmy Awards presented by the International Academy. Each spring, the hotel serves as the venue for the Inner Circle Show, the annual charity dinner produced by New York City journalists satirizing city, state and national politics, and current events.

References

  1. ↑ "New York Hilton Midtown". CTBUH Skyscraper Center.
  2. ↑ "Emporis building ID 115553". Emporis. Archived from the original on January 23, 2016.
  3. ↑ "New York Hilton Midtown". SkyscraperPage.
  4. ↑ New York Hilton Midtown at Structurae
  5. ↑ "Sheraton New York". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Hilton New York Renamed New York Hilton-Midtown". Hotel News Resource. April 23, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ Carver, Marina (June 5, 2013). "New York City's largest hotel ending room service". CNN. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  8. ↑ Cuozzo, Steve (August 14, 2017). "UN New York hotel will soon become Hilton-branded". New York Post. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  9. ↑ Hilton Hotels & Resorts Sets The Stage For A Story about Love, Inspiration And Second Chances/ Hilton.com March 13, 2015. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  10. ↑ Sanger, David E.; Scott, Janny (June 9, 2021). "'We're Going to Publish': An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ Scott, Janny (January 7, 2021). "How Neil Sheehan Got the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ Safer, Morley (May 21, 2010). "The Cell Phone: Marty Cooper's Big Idea". 60 Minutes. CBS. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  13. ↑ Horsley, Carter B. "The Midtown Book: 1325 Avenue of the Americas". The City Review. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ "1325 Avenue of the Americas". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
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