Knickerbocker Building on Broadway and 42nd Street

The Knickerbocker Hotel at 1462-1470 Broadway, on the southeast corner of West 42nd Street. At the time it served as an office building, with stores in the ground floor, including the Off-Track Betting (OTB). Photo by Kevin McHugh. Bush Terminal Building, completed in 1918, is on the left and the 43-story Continental Building at 1446-1450 Broadway (41st Street), built in 1930-1931, is on the right. Source: Landmarks Preservation Commission report, October 18, 1988.

The Knickerbocker Hotel opened in 1906. It was closed in 1920 and it was transformed into retail and office space, then it became known as Knickerbocker Building.

On the basis of careful consideration of the history, the architecture and other features of the building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission found that the Knickerbocker Hotel had a special character, special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of New York City.

Additionally, the Commission found that the Knickerbocker Hotel is one of the very few grand hotels in the Beaux-Arts style surviving in the Times Square area, in the heart of the new theater district. It was built in red brick with rich French Renaissance detail and is crowned by a prominent copper mansard roof with corner pavilions and cresting. It was designed in 1901 by Marvin & Davis with Bruce Price as consulting architect. It was financed by John Jacob Astor, the fourth namesake of the patriarch of one of richest families in the United States. It was intended to attract not only guests in residence but also theater-goers and other visitors to its large and elaborately decorated public rooms, designed by Trowbridge & Livingston.

In 2015, the Knickerbocker reopened as hotel.

Times Square has managed to retain its powerful symbolism and continued role as an important entertainment district. It also remains a central transit hub and offers a unique experience of place.