Ritz-Carlton Hotel (New York City)

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel was a luxury hotel in New York City, owned by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. It was located at 46th Street and Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

This article is about the former hotel at 46th Street. For the hotel by Central Park, see The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park.
Ritz-Carlton Hotel
The Ritz-Carlton in 1911
Present-day site of the building
General information
Architectural styleNeoclassical
LocationManhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°45′20″N 73°58′39″W
Opened1911
Demolished1951
OwnerThe Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

History

The Ritz-Carlton Investing Company was established by Albert Keller, who bought and franchised the name in the United States. The New York hotel opened in 1911; it was the first Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the U.S.[1] Louis Diat ran the kitchens and is believed to have invented the modern vichyssoise there.[2] Vincent Sardi Jr. completed his training at the hotel before rejoining Sardi's, his family restaurant business.[3]

In the opening year, the Ritz-Carlton Company announced its intention to expand the hotel, adding 100 rooms, a 300-seat banquet hall, ballroom, and private dining rooms, all on the 46th Street side.[4] Upon the death of the hotel's owner, Robert Walton Goelet, in 1941, he bequeathed the hotel, "free and clear of mortgage and restrictions" to his alma mater, Harvard University.[5]

The New York hotel was demolished in 1951, leaving only the Boston location.[6]

Later operations

In 1982, Blakely licensed the Ritz-Carlton name to hotelier John Bennett Coleman for two hotels Coleman was renovating, The Fairfax in Washington, D.C., and the Navarro at 112 (now 110) Central Park South in New York City.[7][8] Coleman renamed them the Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C., and the Ritz-Carlton New York in April 1982.[9] The two hotels eventually joined the modern chain that would be founded a few years later. Ritz-Carlton's management of the New York hotel ended in 1997, with the hotel joining the Sheraton chain and becoming a Westin, and later an InterContinental. The building was converted to a luxury co-op in 2006.

In 1999 Ritz-Carlton acquired the former Hotel St. Moritz in New York City.[10] It was extensively renovated and re-opened in 2002 as a luxury hotel and condominium complex called the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park.[11]

References
  1. "Ritz-Carlton: the beginning". The Most Famous Hotels in the World. November 4, 2014. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  2. Kamp, David (September 12, 2006). The United States of Arugula. New York: Clarkson Potter. ISBN 978-0767915793.
  3. Grimes, William (January 5, 2007). "Vincent Sardi Jr., Restaurateur and Unofficial 'Mayor of Broadway,' Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  4. "Hotel Chain here for Ritz-Carlton Co" (PDF). The New York Times. May 20, 1911. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  5. "GOELET WILL GIVES 'RITZ' TO HARVARD; Hotel and Its Site, Taxed on $3,675,000, Go to the University Unrestricted" (PDF). The New York Times. July 12, 1941. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  6. "Ritz-Carlton Hotel". New York Architecture. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  7. Duka, John (April 25, 1982). "New Ritz-Carlton Offers Luxury on Smaller Scale". The New York Times.
  8. Goodman, George W. (November 7, 1982). "City Adding 3,500 Hotel Rooms". The New York Times.
  9. Conroy, Sarah Booth (October 26, 1998). "Accommodating a Hotel's Good Name". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  10. Bagli, Charles V. (November 8, 1999). "Buyer Plans for St. Moritz To Be Ritz-Carlton Flagship". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  11. "The Ritz Is Back in Town". Forbes. August 28, 2002. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
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