stan turkel
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 255: Hotel History: Shelton Hotel, New York
Stanley Turkel | October 5, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Shelton Hotel, New York, N.Y. (1,200 rooms) Few skyscrapers were as admired as the 1924 Shelton Hotel, at Lexington Avenue and 49th Street, now the New York Marriott East Side. Critics agreed that its picturesque 35-story façade and unusual setback design pointed the way of the future for the skyscraper. The Shelton was built by the architecturally ambitious developer James T. Lee, who was also responsible for two luxurious apartment houses: 998 Fifth Avenue of 1912 and 740 Park Avenue of 1930. He was the grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Mr. Lee’s vis...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 254: Hotel History: St. Regis Hotel
Stanley Turkel | September 14, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: St. Regis Hotel (550 rooms) In 1904, Colonel John Jacob Astor broke ground for the building of the St. Regis Hotel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, in the most exclusive residential section of New York at the time. The architects were Trowbridge and Livingston who were based in New York. The firm’s partners were Samuel Beck Parkman Trowbridge (1862-1925) and Goodhue Livingston (1867-1951). Trowbridge studied at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. On his graduation in 1883, he attended Columbia University and later studied abroad in the American School of Classical Studies i...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 253; Hotel History: Hotel Pennsylvania
Stanley Turkel | August 26, 2021
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Hotel Pennsylvania (1704 rooms) An iconic hotel in mid-town Manhattan is closing its doors for good. The Hotel Pennsylvania will not reopen, succumbing to this past year’s Covid 19 pandemic and years of narrowly avoiding the chopping block. The fourth-largest hotel in New York City was well situated, right across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, making it a natural and affordable stop for travelers and concert-goers alike. The Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler. It opened on January 25, 1919 and was designed by William Symmes...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 252: Hotel History: Libby’s Hotel and Baths
Stanley Turkel | August 3, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Libby’s Hotel and Baths, New York, N.Y. In the late 1920s, the stock market was soaring, businesses were enjoying record profits and developers were constructing new buildings at a rapid pace. Mortgage companies began offering mortgage-backed securities, a new type of investment. One of the new buildings was the 12-story Libby's Hotel and Baths, built in 1926 at the corner of Chrystie and Delancey Streets in New York's lower east side. It was the first all-Jewish luxury hotel with an ornate swimming pool, modern gym, Russian-Turkish baths and lounges open to the entire community. The devel...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 251: Wish You Were Here: A Tour of America’s Great Hotels During the Golden Age of the Picture Post Card
Stanley Turkel | July 14, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: “Wish You Were Here” by Barry Zaid (1980) In February 2000, there was a unique exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: “Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard”. Evans was a titan of 20th-century photography who portrayed broken-down plantations, sharecropper families and bone-dry Southern farms during the Depression, grimy factories in the North and the facial expressions of New York subway passengers. Evans collected picture postcards throughout his life during the golden age from 1900 into the 1920s. This phenomenon was spurred by the United States postal service...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 250: Hotel History: Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York
Stanley Turkel | June 22, 2021
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS In 1869, Albert Smiley, a nature-loving Quaker schoolteacher, bought a property at a good price; 300 acres surrounding a lake and a tavern in a spectacular natural setting in the heart of a 26,000-acre area in the Shawangunk Mountains, New York. Alfred and Albert Smiley, devout Quaker twin brothers, created the resort in 1869 when they bought Mohonk Lake from John F. Stokes. As the Smileys expanded the hotel, they operated in accordance with their Quaker beliefs: no alcohol, dancing, smoking or card playing. The hotel offered concerts, prayer sessions, lectures as well as swimming, hiking and boating. Under the...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 249: Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill
Stanley Turkel | June 1, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill (49 rooms) Ocean House is a large, Victorian-style waterfront hotel originally constructed in 1868 on Bluff Avenue in the Watch Hill historic district of Westerly, Rhode Island. The original 1868 hotel closed in 2003; it was demolished in 2005 and a new facility opened in 2010 on the same site which retained much of the original structure’s form and appearance, as well as the original name. Both the original and its reconstruction are noted for their rambling Victorian architecture and distinctive yellow siding. The original Ocean House was the last waterfront...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 247: Hotel History: Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas
Stanley Turkel | April 20, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Driskill Hotel (188 rooms) The Driskill, a Romanesque-style building completed in 1886, is the oldest operating hotel in Austin, Texas, and one of the best-known hotels in Texas. The Driskill was conceived and built by Col. Jesse Driskill, a cattleman who spent his fortune constructing “the finest hotel south of St. Louis”. Flush with cash from his service to the Confederate Army to which he supplied beef throughout the Civil War. In 1884, Driscoll purchased land in downtown Austin for $7500 and announced plans for a new hotel. Today, the Driskill remains one of the premier hotels in Austin, fe...
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