Ritz Tower
465 Park Avenue | also 113 East 57th Street, 461 Park Avenue, 111 East 57th Street | East Midtown | built 1927
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1926
The Ritz Tower opens as the city's tallest apartment hotel
Newspaper columnist Arthur Brisbane assembled the Park Avenue site piece by piece between 1920 and 1924, then hired Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings to design the 40-story Ritz Tower. The apartment hotel opened on November 16, 1926, as the tallest residential building in New York.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1927
A tenant barricades himself in his apartment after the hotel changes his locks
On November 5, 1927, Captain Alfred Graham Miles, one of the first residents, came home to find his locks changed. The hotel said he was no longer wanted, and the Times learned he owed $759 in back rent. He reached his suite by edging along a window ledge from a neighbor's apartment, then barricaded himself inside while his lawyer brought food. He left on November 25, and by 1929 his suit against the hotel stood at $50,000.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1928
Will Hays, Hollywood's censor, leases the 37th floor
On May 29, 1928, the Times reported that Will H. Hays, who headed the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, had taken the 37th floor, a four-room apartment filling the entire floor. Hays was one of several entertainment figures in the tower. Greta Garbo was an early resident, and Paulette Goddard, Deborah Kerr and Kitty Carlisle followed her.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1928
Arthur Brisbane sells the tower to his boss, William Randolph Hearst
Struggling under a $4 million mortgage, Brisbane sold the Ritz Tower to newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in January 1928. Brisbane had reserved the building's 19th and 20th floors as his own 18-room duplex.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1932
A basement explosion kills eight firefighters
A fire fed by paint fumes in the Ritz Tower's basement triggered an explosion in August 1932 that killed eight firemen. The blast shattered the windows of a neighboring jewelry store, scattering roughly $100,000 in gems onto the sidewalk, which passersby helped recover.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1938
Hearst forfeits the tower and leaves his Ritz Tower home for California
In April 1938 William Randolph Hearst forfeited ownership of the Ritz Tower after missing payments on its first mortgage. He had lived there in a suite with the actress Marion Davies, and he moved to California. The furnishings stayed his, but operations passed to a trustee, the Continental Bank and Trust Company.
“Hearst forfeited ownership of the building in April 1938 after failing to make payments on the first mortgage loan, and he moved to California…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1949
Actress Ruth Chatterton's hotplate cooking draws a lawsuit over odors
In 1949 the actress Ruth Chatterton, living at the tower as Mrs. Barry Thomson, snuck in a hotplate and cooked in her apartment, against hotel rules. A fellow resident, Wallace C. Strauss, sued in March over the odors. On March 18 the Times reported that the smells had stopped and that Chatterton would no longer cook.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1955
The hotel converts to a cooperative but keeps its hotel services
In December 1955 the Ritz Tower changed from an apartment hotel into a housing cooperative, an unusual conversion that let owners keep hotel-style perks such as room service and daily maid visits.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1957
Le Pavillon, an early authentic French restaurant, moves into the Ritz Tower
In 1957, once the co-op renovation was finished, Le Pavillon left its 55th Street address for the Ritz Tower. It was among the first authentic French restaurants in the country. The new site proved less popular than the old one, as the congested street made it hard to drop off and collect diners, and the restaurant stayed until 1972.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1960
A falling dumbbell kills a birthday diner leaving Le Pavillon
On June 23, 1960, a dumbbell that had been holding a window open fell from the eighth-floor apartment of the actors Martin Gabel and Arlene Francis, who were out. Alvin Rodecker, a Detroit visitor marking his 60th birthday at Le Pavillon downstairs, had just stepped outside with his wife and was struck on the head and killed. The Gabels later paid $185,000 in damages.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1975
The First Women's Bank opens a branch in the former Le Pavillon space
In 1975 the First Women's Bank opened a branch in the tower's basement, in the space Le Pavillon had used; it was the first U.S. bank run by women for female customers. The next year the Japanese department store Mitsukoshi opened a New York office with a restaurant and boutique at the tower's base.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2002
The city designates the Ritz Tower a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Ritz Tower a New York City landmark in 2002, recognizing Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings's Beaux-Arts design more than seventy-five years after it opened.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Ritz TowerWikipedia
- The 1926 Ritz Tower - 465 Park AvenueDaytonian in Manhattan
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