Timeline
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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
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1890
The first Plaza Hotel opens on October 1st
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1892 – The New Netherland Hotel and The Savoy Hotel open opposite The Plaza on either side of 59th Street -
1900
1903 – Augustus Saint-Guardens’ statue of William Tecumseh Sherman is unveiled in the pen plaza in front of the hotel
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1905 – The first Plaza Hotel is demolished in order to build an even larger hotel
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The new Plaza Hotel, constructed in twenty-seven months at a cost of $12.5 million, opens its doors on October 1st 1907 -
1910
Lord Kitchener, British officer and statesman, stays at The Plaza during a much-publicized visit to New York
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Summer Garden, a seasonal restaurant, opens in the area later known as The Rose Room
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The Champagne Porch, an outdoor cafe along Fifth Avenue side of the hotel, opens -
1920
Volstead closes Men’s Bar. It later become
The Oak Room
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Construction of a three-hundred room annex begins on the 58th Street side of the hotel
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published, with scenes set in the hotel
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A new ballroom opens on October 3rd, 1921 -
1930
The Studebaker Corporation gives up their showroom, and The Rose Room reverts to space for private functions
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The breaking up of larger suites begin to house permanent guest rooms for visitors
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Prohibition is repealed in December of 1933 -
1940
The hotel enforces a three-day maximum stay during the war years
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In October of 1943, Conrad Hilton and Atlas Corporation acquire the hotel for $7,400,000
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The Oak Bar opens on January 13, 1945 -
1950
Industrial Designer Henry Dreyfuss remodels
The Persian Room
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Architect Frank Lloyd Wright moves into Suites 223-225, where he will live for the next six years
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The State Suite opens to the public as a space for
private functions
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Eloise is written in 1955 -
1960
Portrait of Eloise vanishes after a college dance in The Grand Ballroom
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The Plaza 9 cabaret opens in the basement space formerly the home of Rendez-vous
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On February 7th 1964, The Beatles arrive for a
6 day visit
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The Plaza is designated a New York City Landmark in 1969 -
1970
The Edwardian Room transforms into
The Green Tulip restaurant
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Cinema 3 movie theater opens in the basement space formerly The Plaza 9 Music Hall
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In 1978, The Plaza is added to The National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior -
1980
The Plaza is added to the New York State Register of Historic Places
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The hotel celebrates its 75th anniversary with a dinner benefiting the New York Landmarks Conservancy
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In 1988, tycoon Donald Trump acquires the hotel for $390 million -
1990
The movie Home Alone 2 begins filming in the 59th Street lobby in December, 1991
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The Plaza owner Donald Trump weds actress Marla Maples in The Grand Ballroom on December 20, 1993
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The Plaza Spa opens in the lower level space formerly occupied by Trader Vic’s and Cinema 3 -
2000
In 2005, The Plaza closes its doors for an extensive lobby-to-roof restoration by Elad Properties
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In 2007, The Plaza celebrates its 100 year birthday
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In 2008, the $450 million restoration returns
The Plaza to all its original glory and it re-opens its doors -
2010
On November 3rd, 2015, Eloise turned 60
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In 2015, SNL celebrates its 40th anniversary with a party in The Grand Ballroom
Today
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