The Peninsula New York, formerly Gotham Hotel, is a luxury hotel located at 700 Fifth Avenue, on the southwest corner of West 55th Street, Midtown Manhattan. The building is a NYC landmark, designated in 1989. It opened on October 1, 1905, originally with 400 rooms.
The 23-story
building, in the shape of a C, was designed in neoclassical style by the firm
Hiss and Weekes. The façade was built of limestone and granite.
The main entrance is surrounded by an architrave molding richly carved in a stylized foliate design. A broken segmental pediment enhanced by swags crowns the doorway and carries two female sculptures depicting the mythological figures of Ceres and Diana.
In 1908, the hotel was sold at auction to the Hotel Holding Company. The hotel was sold again in 1914 and again in 1920. In 1932, the hotel was acquired by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In 1938, the street-side restaurant was closed and five stores was built into the 100-foot Fifth Avenue front, replacing the Renaissance room. In 1961, a group headed by Alvin M. Greenstein took over the hotel, then with 350 rooms, but it continued to be managed by Zeckendorf Hotels Corporation. In 1965, the Gotham Hotel Realty Company sold the hotel, then with 400 rooms, to Wellington Associates. In 1979, Rene Hatt took over the hotel and it was renovated, adding a rooftop pool and fitness center. It reopened in 1987 as the Hotel Maxim's de Paris.
In 1988, the hotel was bought by the Peninsula Hotels Group. It was renovated and became the Peninsula New York, with 241 guest rooms. Its facilities include spa & wellness, the Clement Restaurant & Bar, the Gotham Lounge, Rooftop Bar and Terrace and more. The hotel is within walking distance of Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue shopping, restaurants, historic museums and Broadway theaters.
