Benjamin Hotel, New York City

The Benjamin, formerly Hotel Beverly, is a landmark hotel in New York City located at 125 East 50th Street (aka 557-565 Lexington Avenue, 125-129 East 50th Street). It was completed in 1927. It occupy a plot fronting 100 feet on the avenue and 71 feet on the street.

Construction of this Neo-Romanesque 30-story Beverly Apartment Hotel began in 1926. It was built by the Lexington-Concord Corp., headed by Moses Ginsberg, as part of the redevelopment that followed the opening of Grand Central Terminal and the Lexington Avenue subway line.

The architect was Emery Roth (1871-1948), with Sylvan Bien, Associate Architect. It was originally designed as an apartment hotel and it is richly ornamented with stylized Romanesque motifs.

The building was completed in 1927, commissioned by Moses Ginsberg and Douglas L. Elliman & Co., Inc. was the renting agent. It was advertised promoting its sky-high “wind-swept" terraces.

In 1959, the Hotel Beverly, then with 325 rooms, was purchased by International Hotels, Inc., Louis Berry, president, from Irving Maidman.

In March 1961, Sidney Schwartz, a real estate investor, acquired the Hotel Beverly from International Hotels. By June, the hotel was leased by Henry Speter and Murray Knight, New York hotel operators, from Schwartz. The Hotel Beverly had 301 rooms.

In 1997, the Hotel Beverly was acquired by a company associated with the Denihan family, the Manhattan East Suite Hotels, then with nine hotels in NYC. The Hotel Beverly then had 188 rooms and suites. In 1999, it reopened with 209 rooms after renovation, and was renamed The Benjamin, after Benjamin J. Denihan, Sr., the company's founder.