Hotel Manhattan - Madison Avenue and 42nd Street

The old Hotel Manhattan was located on the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, a great business location back then. It opened on October 14, 1896, and it was demolished in 1961.

Hotel Manhattan was erected on the site of the old Hotel Wellington and adjoining buildings. Negotiations to buy the property was completed by December, 1892, and construction of Hotel Manhattan began in 1895. The site was one block from the Grand Central railroad station, completed in 1871.

The new hotel was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and built by Marc Eidlitz & Son. Hardenbergh also designed the Old Waldorf-Astoria, Martinique Hotel, Dakota Apartments and Plaza Hotel. The high-class hotel was operated by Hawk & Wetherbee.

The building was 250 feet (76 m) high, with 14 floors above ground and one below. It held the record as the tallest hotel structure in the world, when opened. It had three levels of dormers in its chateuesque roof and a neoclassic portico, for the 42nd Street entrance, supported by columns of Green Island granite. The interior was richly decorated. The main dining room was in the Louis XVI style. There were five electric elevators and telephone on every floor. In the basement were the café and a Dutch beer cellar. The Transportation Club took up its quarters in the 13th floor.

The hotel was expanded in 1901, taking up more space on the Madison Avenue side. In May 1916 James Belden’s estate sold it to August Heckscher and soon it was leased by the Biltmore Hotel Company. In 1917, the hotel housed the Old Colony Club, was transferred from the Waldorf-Astoria.

After Prohibition, the hotel was closed in June, 1920. It was bought by the National City Company (later National CitiBank) and it was converted into an office building with stores on the ground floor. Renovations made by McKim, Mead & White. The Uptown Club leased the 14th floor.

In September 1956, Hotel Lincoln at 700 Eighth Avenue was remodeled and renamed as the Manhattan Hotel.

The old Hotel Manhattan building was razed in 1961 to make way for a 40-story office tower, the 330 Madison Avenue, completed in 1964.