The Shelton Hotel
525 Lexington Avenue | also 140 East 49th Street | Turtle Bay | built 1923
Open on the map10 entries
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1924
The Shelton opens as a men-only apartment hotel billed as the world's tallest
Developer James T. Lee, grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, built the Shelton to designs by Arthur Loomis Harmon, and it was completed in January 1924 as a men-only hostelry. At 387 feet it was quoted at the time as the world's tallest hotel. Its clubhouse-style amenities included a gymnasium, bowling alley, Turkish baths, swimming pool and squash courts.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1924
Residents vote to admit women to the Shelton
In September 1924, the Shelton announced it would admit women after the vast majority of its tenants voted in favor. The first female guests checked in that October. The hotel's 75-foot swimming pool opened the next month and later hosted a women's swim team.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1925
Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe move into the Shelton
Photographer Alfred Stieglitz and painter Georgia O'Keeffe moved into a two-room apartment on the 28th floor of the Shelton in late 1925, and shifted to the 30th floor in 1927. O'Keeffe painted several works of the hotel or of the view from her room. Stieglitz photographed about 90 cityscapes between 1925 and 1937, some of them from the Shelton.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1926
Harry Houdini stays sealed in an airtight casket on the bottom of the Shelton's pool
In August 1926 the magician Harry Houdini set a record by staying inside a sealed, airtight casket at the bottom of the hotel's swimming pool for one hour and 31 minutes. The stunt drew a great deal of press attention. In February 1956 the Canadian magician The Amazing Randi recreated it in the same pool and beat Houdini's time by two minutes.
“…remaining sealed in an airtight casket at the bottom of the hotel's pool…”
- 1930
Harold Clurman lives at the Shelton as money is raised to found the Group Theatre
Harold Clurman, a Theatre Guild stage manager and play reader, was living at the Shelton in 1930. That year Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stieglitz's protegee, helped him raise funds to found the Group Theater, which he started with Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. Clurman had been hanging around Stieglitz's gallery An American Place and stayed a lifelong friend of Stieglitz and O'Keeffe.
“…was living at Shelton in 1930 when Norma n helped him raise the money to establish the Group Theater…”
- 1945
Tennessee Williams stays at the Shelton while The Glass Menagerie is the hit of Broadway
Playwright Tennessee Williams stayed at the Shelton from August to November 1945. He had a new play in rehearsal at the time, and his The Glass Menagerie was the biggest hit on Broadway. The hotel was then run by the Knott Corporation, which had managed it since 1935.
“Tennessee Williams who stayed at the hotel from August to November 1945…”
- 1949
The Shelton becomes the first hotel in the country to give guests free television
The Shelton was, in 1949, the first hotel in the country to give all its guests television at no charge. The Knott Corporation, which had bought the hotel in 1946, had converted some of the 15th-floor public spaces to offices and was leasing meeting and dining rooms to trade groups.
“In 1949 the Shelton became the first hotel in the country to offer television free of charge to all its guests.”
- 1975
Tishman cancels its tower plan for the Shelton block, defeated by the fiscal crisis and holdout tenants
In December 1975 Tishman gave up its plan to build a tower on the site, citing the city's fiscal crisis and the tenants who would not leave. By then the hotel's few remaining residents lived in rent-controlled units, and Tishman had spent $3 million that fiscal year maintaining the building, partly to pay a 24-hour security detail for the holdouts. Title passed to the Dollar Savings Bank.
“In December 1975, Tishman officially canceled its plans for the tower…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1978
The restored Shelton reopens as the Halloran House and becomes a political headquarters
After a consortium led by developer Edward Halloran and hotelier Norman Groh took over with a Howard Johnson franchise, architect Stephen B. Jacobs restored the exterior and gutted the interior. The Halloran House opened just after Thanksgiving 1978. It developed a niche as a campaign headquarters, notably for Ted Kennedy's 1980 challenge to Jimmy Carter and Mario Cuomo's 1982 run for governor.
“The Halloran House opened for business just after Thanksgiving in 1978.”
- 1990
Rabbi Meir Kahane is assassinated in a hotel conference room
Meir Kahane, a controversial American-Israeli rabbi, was assassinated in the second-floor conference room of the hotel on November 5, 1990, when it operated as the New York Marriott East Side. El Sayyid Nosair was charged with the killing and acquitted, though Nosair admitted to it in 1998.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 525 Lexington AvenueWikipedia
Nearby
- Lexington Hotel511 Lexington Avenue | 9 entries
- The Barclay Hotel111 East 48th Street | 11 entries
- Roger Smith Hotel501 Lexington Avenue | 3 entries
- The Centrale138 East 50th Street | 3 entries
- 277 Park Avenue6 entries
- Waldorf Astoria New York301 Park Avenue | 17 entries