St. Regis New York

2 East 55th Street | also 701 5th Avenue | Midtown | built 1904

Open on the map12 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1903

    Neighbors' lawsuit over the hotel's deep excavation fails

    Astor's hotel draws bitter opposition from wealthy neighbors who see it as commerce intruding on the Fifth Avenue mansion district. The city's Bureau of Buildings stops work in May 1902 until the interior woodwork is properly fireproofed. In 1903 blasting for the 40-foot-deep foundation rattles nearby houses, and millionaires seek an injunction over the depth of the dig, but a judge rules in the hotel's favor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1904

    A liquor-license fight with a neighboring church moves the hotel's main door to 55th Street

    Astor and manager Rudolph Haan wanted a liquor license, but the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church across the street objected. In early 1904 the legislature passed a bill requiring consent only from churches within 200 feet, aimed openly at the hotel. Haan then bought 697 Fifth Avenue and moved the main entrance to 55th Street, more than 200 feet from the church, and the license came through that July.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1904

    A dinner dance for President Roosevelt's niece is billed as the hotel's first big society affair

    In December 1904, a few months after the hotel opened, Corinne Robinson's parents announced a dinner dance at the St. Regis for their debutante daughter, a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. The Times society page predicted it would be the hotel's first large fashionable affair, one that could make it a rival of Delmonico's, Sherry's and the Waldorf-Astoria for such business.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1904

    A copper, brass and glass sentry box stands at the 55th Street entrance

    A booth of glass, brass and copper with a Romanesque-arched door stands under the awning at the East 55th Street entrance. Architectural critics writing soon after the hotel opened in 1904 called it a sentry box. A doorman told Ephemeral New York that it has been there since the hotel's early days and may be a Gilded Age elevator too heavy to move, though its origin remains a mystery. A copper Cab Call sign hangs above the awning.

    Source: Ephemeral New York

  5. 1904

    September 4

    The Beaux-Arts St. Regis Hotel opens on Fifth Avenue

    Developer John Jacob Astor IV announces the hotel in 1900, and Trowbridge & Livingston design an 18-story Beaux-Arts limestone building at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street. The St. Regis opens on September 4, 1904, after disputes with neighbors and a work stoppage during construction. It cost about $5.5 million to build and furnish, and its public rooms include a palm court and a library.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1912

    Hotel builder John Jacob Astor IV dies on the Titanic

    John Jacob Astor IV, who developed the St. Regis, dies in 1912 when the RMS Titanic sinks. His 20-year-old son Vincent Astor inherits the hotel. Vincent sells it in 1927, buys it back in 1935, and owns it until his death in 1959.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1923

    Nikola Tesla owes the hotel $3,000 from Room 1607 and is sued

    In 1923 the inventor Nikola Tesla, deep in financial trouble, was living in Room 1607 at the St. Regis and had run up an unpaid bill of about $3,000. The management sued, and he had to find new quarters. He moved to the Hotel Marguery, from which he walked at midnight to Bryant Park to feed pigeons.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  8. 1934

    Fernand Petiot says he refined the Bloody Mary at the St. Regis's King Cole Room, where it is called a Red Snapper

    Fernand Petiot told The New Yorker in 1964 that he created today's Bloody Mary, and the hotel's own history places his version at the King Cole Room in 1934. He said the earlier drink was little more than vodka and tomato juice. According to one account, the Astors, who owned the hotel, disliked the name Bloody Mary, so it was sold there as a Red Snapper.

    “…claimed to have invented the modern Bloody Mary in 1934 at the King Cole Room in the St. Regis Hotel…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 1935

    The King Cole Room opens around Maxfield Parrish's mural

    The hotel builds the King Cole Room at ground level in 1935, with Maxfield Parrish's "Old King Cole" painting on one wall. Parrish made the work for the Knickerbocker Hotel. The room draws literary figures such as Michael Arlen and Lucius Beebe, and the mural is restored in 1957 and again in 2007.

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 1966

    Salvador Dali and his wife Gala begin spending each fall and winter at the hotel

    From 1966 to 1973 the painter Salvador Dali and his wife Gala lived at the St. Regis every fall and winter. They joined a long list of permanent residents that included mining magnate Daniel Guggenheim in the early 1900s and, in the 1960s, television executive William Paley and his wife Babe.

    “The artist Salvador Dali and his wife Gala lived at the hotel every fall and winter from 1966 to 1973.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  11. 1971

    October

    John Lennon tapes a Happy Xmas (War Is Over) demo in his St. Regis rooms

    In late October 1971, with a basic melody and unfinished lyrics, John Lennon taped a demo of Happy Xmas (War Is Over), playing acoustic guitar. He made it in his rooms at the St. Regis, where he and Yoko Ono were living. A second demo followed later that month, after the couple moved to an apartment in Greenwich Village.

    Source: Wikipedia

  12. 1988

    November 1

    The city designates the St. Regis a landmark after hearings in 1985 and 1986

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the St. Regis Hotel a landmark on November 1, 1988. It had held hearings on September 17, 1985, and continued them to December 1985 and March 1986. Three witnesses spoke in favor, none opposed, and the owner's representative did not object. The report credits the hotel, with others, for turning Fifth Avenue into a commercial avenue of tall buildings.

    “Three witnesses spoke in favor of designation. No witnesses spoke in opposition to designation.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown