In the last decades of the 18th century, the industrial revolution drove the construction of many hotels and boarding houses in the City of New York, including the fashionable City Hotel that opened in 1794, at 123 Broadway. It occupied the whole block bounded by Cedar, Temple, and Thames Streets.
New York hotel industry momentum continued through the 19th century. Around 1829, the elegant Adelphi House opened its doors in Bowling Green, in a six-story building above ground, a kind of skyscraper of the time. About 1831, the historic Holt's Hotel opened its doors, also a six-story building, but much larger. It was the first hotel to provide its guests with a lift for their luggage. In 1836, John Jacob Astor opened its iconic Astor House on Broadway.
The elegant six-story St. Denis opened its door in 1853. In 1859, the Fifth Avenue Hotel building was completed. It had an entire block of frontage between 23rd Street and 24th Street. It was the first hotel in the United States to be equipped with passenger elevator. It also offered private bathrooms. Passenger elevators were fundamental for the rise of the early skyscrapers in New York City, in the 1870s.
In 1868, the Grand Hotel opened its doors on Broadway, with six above-ground stories plus a two-story mansard roof. Gilsey House opened in 1871. In 1873, the seven-story Hotel Windsor opened at 575 Fifth Avenue, corner of East 47th Street. It was then one of most comfortable hotels in New York. It burned down in 1899. In 1878, the nine-story Park Avenue Hotel opened its doors, being one of the tallest hotels in New York City. It was located in Park Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd Streets. The 12-story Chelsea opened its doors in 1884 as a cooperative apartment house and became the tallest hotel in New York. In 1893, the Hotel Netherland was completed on Fifth Avenue, claiming to be the tallest hotel in the world with 17 stories.
The Old Waldorf Hotel was completed in 1893 and joined the Astoria Hotel, in 1897, to became the Waldorf-Astoria. It was razed in 1929 to make way for construction of the Empire State Building. The current Waldorf-Astoria New York, was built on Park Avenue in 1931, being the greatest hotel edifice of the time.
There was a hotel boom at the turn of the century. In 1906, Belmont Hotel was completed on Park Avenue, claiming to be the tallest in the world with 22 stories. In 1907, Plaza Hotel opened its doors, at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, to became one of the most fashionable hotels in New York City.
In the 20th century, much of the hotel industry has become multinational companies, with hotel chains. Large, traditional hotels have been incorporated into them.
Historic Hotels in New York City:
• Algonquin, 44th Street ►
• Adelphi Hotel ►
• Ansonia ►
• Astor House ►
• Barbizon Hotel ►
• Barbizon Plaza ►
• Belmont Hotel ►
• Benjamin, East 50th St. and Lex. Ave. ►
• Biltmore Hotel ►
• Bolkenhayn Apartments ►
• City Hotel ►
• Essex House ►
• Fifth Avenue Hotel ►
• Gilsey House ►
• Gotham Hotel ►
• Grand Hotel ►
• Grand Union Hotel ►
• Hampshire House ►
• Holland House ►
• Holt's Hotel ►
• Hotel Bristol, 5th Avenue ►
• Hotel Chelsea ►
• Hotel Commodore ►
• Hotel McAlpin ►
• Hotel Majestic ►
• Hotel Manhattan ►
• Hotel Marie Antoinette ►
• Hotel Martinique ►
• Hotel Netherland ►
• Hotel Pennsylvania ►
• Hotel Pierre ►
• Hotel Savoy ►
• Hotel Vendome ►
• Hotel Wellington ►
• Hotel Windsor ►
• Knickerbocker Hotel ►
• Murray Hill Hotel ►
• New England Hotel on Broadway ►
• Park Avenue Hotel ►
• Plaza Hotel ►
• Ritz-Carlton Hotel ►
• St. Denis Hotel ►
• St. Moritz Hotel ►
• St. Regis Hotel ►
• Savoy Plaza Hotel ►
• Shelton Hotel ►
• Sherry-Netherland ►
• Vanderbilt Hotel ►
• Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ►
• Winslow Hotel, Madison Avenue ►
Famous hotel buildings in the skyline facing Central Park, around Grand Army Plaza, 59th Street and Fifth Avenue. Plaza Hotel is on the right. Netherland and Savoy Hilton hotels, in the center. The Pierre Hotel is on the left. Vintage postcard about the 1930s.
An evening in the dining room of Hotel St. Regis, in the early 20th century (vintage post card printed in Germany). The 20 story St. Regis New York opened, in 1904, in Midtown Manhattan.
The old Waldorf-Astoria on west side of Fifth Avenue in the early 20th century (vintage postcard, before 1908).