New York’s self-styled “French chateau” at the edge of Central Park is about to shutter for a bit of a long spell. The New York Times reports that the Plaza Hotel will close in January for what its operator, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, calls a yearslong restoration of the 18-story landmark’s exterior, sidelining one of the city’s most recognizable hospitality addresses for roughly four years. Fairmont isn’t saying what the work will cost or exactly what’s being done, or, for that matter, how disruptive it will be for the building’s 181 condominium owners.
Columbia historic-preservation professor Andrew Dolkart called the extensive facade work surprising, given prior renovations, though he understood why the hotel would have to be shut down for it. “They must figure they can’t charge luxury prices for a hotel when there’s construction work going on outside your window,” he notes. The famed Palm Court restaurant and event spaces are also expected to shut. The hotel’s nearly 400 unionized workers will have the right to reclaim their jobs at the same pay once the Plaza reopens.
The luxury hotel, which first opened in 1907, has a bit of celebrity cachet to it: The New York Daily News notes that past guests have included everyone from actor Marlene Dietrich and architect Frank Lloyd Wright to author F. Scott Fitzgerald. One former owner: Donald Trump, who still laid claim to the hotel when it appeared in 1992’s Home Alone 2, along with Trump himself. WABC has more on a bride-to-be who’d booked the Plaza for her May wedding after dreaming of being married there since she was a kid, and who’s now scrambling for a new venue. “It’s quite unforgivable,” Christine Carney says.
Dining and Cooking