Review: The New York Palace Hotel and Towers. A modern hotel with an historical facade.
The New York Palace possesses a prestigious heritage. More than a century ago, Henry Villard, one of the nation’s most prominent financiers, commissioned McKim, Mead & White to create a residence of singular style. Villard was president of the Northern Pacific Railway. When his railroad empire began to crumble, ownership of the building changed through many hands throughout the century. In 1968, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the complex an historical landmark. Restoration and construction for a new hotel complex was proposed by real estate developer Harry B. Helmsley who constructed the 51-story New York Palace Hotel tower directly behind the original building. The project was designed by architects Emery Roth & Sons and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer in 1977 and completed in 1980. The original building was restored in 2003 and office space was furnished for city preservation group The Municipal Art Society, as part of an agreement to save the building from demolition.
As the building appears today. This is the front of the New York Palace Hotel and Towers.
(Left: Suite in the Palace Towers) After an early January trans-Atlantic crossing from Southampton to New York aboard Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria, I stayed last week at the New York Palace Hotel in the Towers.
Cunard Line should immediately higher the staff/management at New York Palace Hotel and Towers to completely overhaul their rather grim cruise operation.
As for New York Palace Towers, the hotel within a hotel is a sanctuary truly above it all. The hotel is a first class oasis in Manhattan with views of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the New York skyline.
The rooms and suites are elegant – resulting in a chic experience with Manhattan sophistication the order of the day. The views are breathtaking.
The on-site concierge sees that guests have exactly what they need, in the lounge, in the hotel, or anywhere in the city.
