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Timeline

  • 1880
    1880

    1883 – Construction begins on the first Plaza Hotel, on the former site of the New York Skating Club; builders fail to raise funds to complete and New York Life Insurance Company forecloses, hiring architects McKim, Mead and White to complete the hotel and redesign the interior

  • 1890
    1890

    The first Plaza Hotel opens on October 1st

    1892 – The New Netherland Hotel and The Savoy Hotel open opposite The Plaza on either side of 59th Street

  • 1900
    1900

    1903 – Augustus Saint-Guardens’ statue of William Tecumseh Sherman is unveiled in the pen plaza in front of the hotel

    1905 – The first Plaza Hotel is demolished in order to build an even larger hotel

    The new Plaza Hotel, constructed in twenty-seven months at a cost of $12.5 million, opens its doors on October 1st 1907

  • 1910
    1910

    Lord Kitchener, British officer and statesman, stays at The Plaza during a much-publicized visit to New York

    Summer Garden, a seasonal restaurant, opens in the area later known as The Rose Room

    The Champagne Porch, an outdoor cafe along Fifth Avenue side of the hotel, opens

  • 1920
    1920

    Volstead closes Men’s Bar. It later become
    The Oak Room

    Construction of a three-hundred room annex begins on the 58th Street side of the hotel

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published, with scenes set in the hotel

    A new ballroom opens on October 3rd, 1921

  • 1930
    1930

    The Studebaker Corporation gives up their showroom, and The Rose Room reverts to space for private functions

    The breaking up of larger suites begin to house permanent guest rooms for visitors

    Prohibition is repealed in December of 1933

  • 1940
    1940

    The hotel enforces a three-day maximum stay during the war years

    In October of 1943, Conrad Hilton and Atlas Corporation acquire the hotel for $7,400,000

    The Oak Bar opens on January 13, 1945

  • 1950
    1950

    Industrial Designer Henry Dreyfuss remodels
    The Persian Room

    Architect Frank Lloyd Wright moves into Suite 223-225, where will live for the next six years

    The State Suite opens to the public as a space for
    private functions

    Eloise is written in 1955

  • 1960
    1960

    Portrait of Eloise vanishes after a college dance in The Grand Ballroom

    The Plaza 9 cabaret opens in the basement space formerly the home of Rendez-vous

    On February 7th 1964, The Beatles arrive for a
    6 day visit

    The Plaza is designated a New York City Landmark in 1969

  • 1970
    1970

    The Edwardian Room transforms into
    The Green Tulip restaurant

    Cinema 3 movie theater opens in the basement space formerly The Plaza 9 Music Hall

    In 1978, The Plaza is added to The National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior

  • 1980
    1980

    The Plaza is added to the New York State Register of Historic Places

    The hotel celebrates its 75th anniversary with a dinner benefiting the New York Landmarks Conservancy

    In 1988, tycoon Donald Trump acquires the hotel for $390 million

  • 1990
    1990

    The movie Home Alone 2 begins filming in the 59th Street lobby in December, 1991

    The Plaza owner Donald Trump weds actress Marla Maples in The Grand Ballroom on December 20, 1993

    The Plaza Spa opens in the lower level space formerly occupied by Trader Vic’s and Cinema 3

  • 2000
    2000

    In 2005, The Plaza closes its doors for an extensive lobby-to-roof restoration by Elad Properties

    In 2007, The Plaza celebrates its 100 year birthday

    In 2008, the $450 million restoration returns
    The Plaza to all its original glory and it re-opens its doors

    On November 3rd, 2015, Eloise turned 60

    In 2015, SNL celebrates its 40th anniversary with a party in The Grand Ballroom

Today