NYC Icon Luxurious Plaza Hotel 5th Ave Central Park c.1910's
NYC Icon Luxurious Plaza Hotel 5th Ave Central Park c.1910's
NYC Icon Luxurious Plaza Hotel 5th Ave Central Park c.1910's
NYC Icon Luxurious Plaza Hotel 5th Ave Central Park c.1910's
In the background you can see two famous historical landmarks: "The Prasada" opened 1907 and "The Dakota" Apartments opened 1884 is the oldest remaining luxury apartment building in New York City. The famous Beatles lead guitarist John Lennon was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota on December 8th, 1980.
Original vintage glass camera negative, c.1910's (display only, not for sale)
NYC Icon Luxurious Plaza Hotel 5th Ave Central Park, c.1910's
Further images
The Plaza opened its doors on October 1, 1907, amid a flurry of impressive reports describing it as the greatest hotel in the world. Located at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, this luxury hotel was constructed in the most fashionable residential section of New York City.
The Plaza was the dream of financier Bernhard Beinecke, hotelier Fred Sterry, and Harry S. Black, President of the Fuller Construction Company. They purchased a 15-year-old hotel of the same name on the site. The three men set out to replace it with what is surely one of the most elegant hotels in the world. Construction of the 19-story building (a skyscraper back then) took two years at a cost of $12 million – an unprecedented sum in those days. Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed the Dakota apartments, the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. and The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, set about his task to provide all the pomp, glory, and opulence of a French chateau. No cost was spared. The largest single order in history for gold-encrusted china was placed with L. Straus & Sons, and no less than 1,650 crystal chandeliers were purchased.