Opening June 26, 1963 Height 148.4 m (487 ft) | Management Hilton Worldwide Floor count 47 | |
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Location 1335 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York Owner Park Hotels and Resorts | ||
The New York Hilton Midtown is the largest hotel in New York City and world's 101st tallest hotel. The hotel is corporate owned and managed by Hilton Worldwide.
The 47-floor building located on the northwest edge of Rockefeller Center at Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street has hosted every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy as well as the Beatles during their 1964 visit to the Ed Sullivan Theater. The world's first handheld cell phone call was made by hotel guest Martin Cooper in front of the hotel in 1973. Donald Trump delivered his presidential election victory speech at the hotel on November 9, 2016.
History
The project was developed by Hilton Hotels Corporation, the Rockefeller Group, and the Uris Buildings Corporation. The original architect was Morris Lapidus and he proposed to build a curved Fontainebleau Hotel-style building. However, Lapidus had to withdraw since he was also designing the competing Americana Hotel (now the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers) a block away.
William B. Tabler was then tapped to finish the project and he designed it with slabs. It opened June 26, 1963, as the New York Hilton and offered 2,153 rooms, making it the largest in the city.
In June, 1972 Elvis Presley stayed here while performing four sold out concerts at nearby Madison Square Garden. He held a press conference before the first show at the Mercury Ballroom at the Hilton hotel.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts asserts that the lyrics to John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" were composed in the hotel.
Martin Cooper made the world's first handheld cellular phone call in public April 3, 1973, when he called Joel S. Engel at the New York Hilton with a two-pound Motorola DynaTAC phone. Cooper, a Motorola inventor called his rival at Bell Labs to tell him about the invention. The cell phone base station was next door atop the 1345 Avenue of the Americas.
The hotel owned the property immediately west of it which was the site of the Adelphi Theatre where episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed. The Adelphi was torn down in 1970. In 1989, an office tower, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, was built on the site. The tower is connected to the Hilton with a walkway and keeps the Hilton's Sixth Avenue address even though it is midblock and closer to Seventh Avenue. Exterior shots of Elaine's workplace at the J. Peterman Company in Seinfeld show the building.
In 1990, a $100 million renovation decreased the number of guest rooms to 1,980. The property underwent further renovations in 1991–1994 and a $100 million renovation in 1998–2000 that included a complete overhaul of the lobby, the addition of an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) Precor USA Fitness Center on the fifth floor. Around that time the name was changed to Hilton New York, as all Hilton hotels were rebranding the name Hilton to go before the city name at the time. In 2007, the hotel completed its fourth renovation. It now has 47 suites on floors 42 through 44. Each suite includes between 600 and 2,000 sq ft (56 and 186 m2) of space.
In 2013, the hotel was renamed the New York Hilton Midtown in honor of its 50th anniversary. At that time, the management announced that it ended room service and established a new unique restaurant concept with room delivery called "Herb n' Kitchen".
At the New York Hilton Hotel, are also held ceremonies of the International Emmy Awards, the awards are presented by the International Academy in November, since the 1970s. Each Spring, the hotel for decades has served as the venue for the Inner Circle Show, the annual charity dinner produced by New York City journalists satirizing city, state and national politics and current events, which also includes rebuttal skits produced by the mayor featuring major show business personalities.