St. Regis Hotel

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Drawing of the St Regis Hotel in New York, 1904
The logo of the hotel

The St. Regis Hotel in New York is located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan and is known as one of the most exclusive hotels in the world . It is now part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide .

history

When John Jacob Astor IV began planning the hotel in 1901, the current location was in a purely residential area. Astor's goal was to build a hotel that would make guests feel like they were invited to his home. In fact, he liked to use the hotel for his guests, who accepted his invitation and visited New York .

The building was built in 1904 by the architects Trowbridge and Livingston under JJ Astor IV in the Beaux Arts style and was at that time the tallest hotel building in the city with 20 floors. Astor's original idea was to let the cultivated atmosphere, the special charm, the excellent service and the warm hospitality of the Old World live on in the New. The furnishings in the 182 rooms and 74 suites include custom-made furniture in the Louis XIV style , wall paneling, stucco ceilings and marble bathrooms. The St. Regis Hotel got its name from an exclusive resort on Lake St. Regis in the Adirondacks .

All rooms have been equipped with a fire alarm system, central heating and an air cooling system. The room temperature could be set individually. It is said that the St. Regis was the first building in the world to be equipped with air conditioning . These amenities were very modern for the time. Telephones were also installed in all rooms. A post chute system in the corridors transported letters to the lobby as quickly as possible . In order to make the cleaning of the rooms quick and effective, the house received one of the first central vacuum cleaner systems. All the maids had to do was connect a hose to the wall fixture. Astor's philosophy was that every guest should find their room as if they were the first to visit. The silk wall coverings and antiques gave the rooms a very personal and individual touch. A butler service is still available on all floors today. When it opened in 1904, the hotel is said to have had 47 Steinway wings. The public spaces such as bars and restaurants were quite small compared to the size of the hotel. This was interpreted as a sign that Astor did not want the large crowds of New York high society from Peacock Alley in Waldorf-Astoria or the lobby of the other Astor Hotel in Times Square in his elegant St. Regis Hotel. A Japanese-style summer garden was opened on the roof. The hotel also had a terrace on Fifth Avenue , which later had to be demolished when the street was widened.

Astor drowned as a passenger in Parlor Suite C 62/64 in 1912 when the Titanic sank . After Astor's death, the hotel was sold to a company called Duke Management, which, under the architects Sloan & Robertson, had the hotel expanded in 1927 with an annex with an unadorned facade facing Madison Avenue . In 1966, ITT Sheraton took over management of the hotel.

In 1988 the St. Regis Hotel New York closed for a three-year renovation under architect David Beer. In addition to the outer facade, all bars, restaurants and conference rooms have been redesigned. Asbestos had to be removed from many public spaces and the lobby. A particular challenge was the search for marble of the same color , the original of which was delivered directly from Italy 90 years ago . In order to enlarge the individual rooms, the former 557 rooms have now been converted into 313 rooms and 52 suites (including five designer suites: Oriental Suite, Christian Dior Suite, Tiffany Suite, Imperial Suite and Presidential Suite). Four shops (St. Regis Boutique, Bijan, Godiva and Christian Dior ) were built on the Fifth Avenue side . When it reopened in 1991, the Lespinasse restaurant was presented.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts acquired ITT Sheraton in February 1998 for USD 14.3 billion, including the Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton and The Luxury Collection brands . Including The St. Regis New York.

A legend tells of a tunnel below 5th Avenue, which connects the Peninsula Hotel with the St. Regis Hotel. Alcoholic beverages from the wine cellar of the St. Regis Hotel are said to have been brought over to the Peninsula Hotel through this tunnel during the prohibition period . The Peninsula Hotel was not allowed to serve alcohol in its day because it was less than 200 feet from a church (The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church ).

In 2006 the St. Regis Hotel was awarded five stars by the Mobil Travel Guide and was also awarded the American Automobile Club's Five Diamonds for the 15th time in a row . In 2005, the readers of Institutional Investor magazine voted the St. Regis the best business hotel in the world.

In the same year, 59 of the 313 hotel rooms were converted into 24  condominium apartments and 22 condo-hotel units during renovation work. The apartments are on the tenth and eleventh floors, the studios on the eighth and ninth. The 22 studios will be offered under the name St. Regis Residence Club from a purchase price of 1.6 million USD. The St. Regis followed a trend like the nearby Plaza Hotel, which had a large part of its hotel rooms converted into condominiums.

Today's hotel has 182 rooms and 74 suites, 4,545 m² of conference space, spread over 15 rooms for up to 600 guests. There is also a fitness center and a spa. Astor Court, King Cole Bar and the new Adour by Alain Ducasse form the gastronomic part of the hotel.

Lespinasse

Jeanne Julie de Lespinasse (1732–1776) was a French salonnière . It gave the restaurant Lespinasse its name. When it opened in 1904, the first restaurant was on the window front facing 55th Street. Entirely in the French style, in vanilla color and gold, the Lespinasse has been serving French cuisine and wines since it opened in 1991. Initially not particularly successful, the Lespinasse only became known after Chef Gray Kunz moved from the Adrienne restaurant in the neighboring Peninsula Hotel to the Lespinasse. In 1999, Chef Kunz left the St. Regis Hotel and recently opened CafeGray in the new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle. In March 2007 the Lespinasse became the "Adour" under Alain Ducasse . Ducasse closed his previous restaurant at Essex House .

King Cole Bar

The King Cole Bar is decorated in 19th century style with cherry wood furniture and chairs and has long been Manhattan's largest and most elegant bar . When the hotel opened, the bar was called "The St. Regis Bar". The King Cole Bar later got its name from the painting Old King Cole by Maxfield Parrish (1870–1966) from 1920, which can be seen on the back behind the bar. The painting initially hung in the Knickerbocker Hotel before it found its current location in the St. Regis Hotel.

Fernand Petoit mixed the first Bloody Mary at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in the 1920s . Petoit came to the St. Regis Hotel's King Cole Bar in the 1930s and introduced his new drink there. The hotel originally wanted to call the drink "Red Snapper", but did not get it. Since then, the spicy drink has been called Bloody Mary and has become known worldwide.

future

Starwood Hotels & Resorts , headquartered in White Plains began in 1999 the name The St. Regis hotel as a trademark ( branding ) to use its best hotels.

The first hotel to follow the New York flagship was The St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC Shortly thereafter, The St. Regis Hotel in Aspen followed in early 1999. The St. Regis in Rome became the first in Europe . Other St. Regis Hotels are located among others. a. in Houston , Beijing , Los Angeles , Shanghai , Singapore , Monarch Beach , London and Mallorca .

Web links

Coordinates: 40 ° 45 ′ 40.9 ″  N , 73 ° 58 ′ 28.9 ″  W.