JW Marriott Essex House

For other uses, see Essex House (disambiguation).

JW Marriott Essex House
JW Marriott Essex House in April 2015
Map
General information
Location160 Central Park South
New York, New York
Coordinates40°45′59″N 73°58′43″W / 40.766252°N 73.978512°W / 40.766252; -73.978512
OpeningOctober 1, 1931
OwnerAnbang Insurance Group
ManagementMarriott Hotels
Height461.0 ft (140.51 m)
Technical details
Floor count43
Design and construction
Architect(s)Frank Grad & Sons
Other information
Number of rooms426[1]
Number of suites101
Number of restaurants2
Website
JW Marriott Essex House New York

The JW Marriott Essex House (commonly known as the Essex House) is a luxury hotel at 160 Central Park South in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the southern border of Central Park. Opened in 1931, the hotel is 44 stories tall and contains 426 Art Deco–style rooms and 101 suites, as well as 147 condominium residences.[2] It features a distinctive red neon rooftop sign.

JW Marriott Essex House New York is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[3]

History

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JW Marriott Essex House is on part of the site of an eight-building housing cooperative complex called Navarro Flats, developed by José Francisco de Navarro from 1882 to 1884. At the time, Central Park South contained a multitude of high-class apartment buildings. However, Navarro Flats was not successful, and it closed by the 1920s.[4] Construction began on October 30, 1929, one day after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The hotel was first intended to be named the Park Tower and then the Sevilla Tower. However the Great Depression slowed construction and the hotel did not open until October 1, 1931, as the Essex House.[5]

Interior of the bar in 1963

In 1932, the hotel was taken from its bankrupt owner, Abraham E. Lefcourt, by the U.S. government's Reconstruction Finance Corporation.[5] That same year, the hotel erected its iconic six-story sign on the roof. In 1946, the RFC sold the hotel to the Sterling National Bank & Trust Co. who sold it to Marriott Hotels in 1969, who operated it as Marriott's Essex House. In October 1984, Marriott sold the hotel to Japan Air Lines. J. Willard Marriott stated that JAL had "offered a good price, and it'll be easier to market our new hotel," referring to the nearly-completed New York Marriott Marquis nearby.[6] JAL operated the hotel through its Nikko Hotels division as Essex House.[7]

The hotel was renovated from 1990[8] to 1991, at a cost of over $75 million. The renovation work was complicated by the fact that Marriott had sold approximately 100 units in the hotel as condominiums. Their owners had to be paid to leave during renovations and the new guest rooms had to be constructed around the residential units, which were located randomly throughout the building. The renovations decreased the room count from 690 to 591 and added central air-conditioning, replacing the hotel's unsightly window units.[9] The restored hotel reopened on September 24, 1991, as Essex House Hotel Nikko New York. Japan Air Lines sold the hotel to Strategic Hotels & Resorts in 1999, who engaged Starwood Hotels to manage it as part of the Westin Hotels division as Essex House – A Westin Hotel.

The Dubai Investment Group acquired the hotel from Strategic in 2006 for $424 million.[10] The group put the property under the management of its Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts chain as Jumeirah Essex House and undertook a $90 million renovation, overseen by Hirsch Bedner Associates, an Atlanta-based design firm.[11]

In 2012, Strategic Hotels & Resorts re-acquired the hotel from the Dubai Investment Group for $325 million—$50 million less than Dubai Investment paid for the property six years earlier. The hotel was renamed JW Marriott Essex House New York on September 8, 2012, after the sale closed.[12]

In March 2016, Anbang Insurance Group, a Beijing-based insurance company, purchased Strategic Hotels & Resorts. The deal included the Essex House and 15 other luxury hotels and resorts.[13] The deal was announced at $6.5 billion, but was reduced to $5.5 billion after the U.S. prohibitted the sale of the Hotel del Coronado to overseas buyers, due to its location adjacent to Naval Base Coronado.[14]

In November 2018 it was reported that, under pressure from the Chinese government to offload overseas assets, Anbang had hired Bank of America to solicit buyers for Strategic Hotels & Resorts.[14]

The hotel was formerly the home of a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant, Alain Ducasse at Essex House. However, Ducasse closed the restaurant at Essex House in January 2007.[15] In early 2008, South Gate Restaurant and Bar opened in the hotel.[16]

The hotel is known for being the place of death for the musician Donny Hathaway[17] and one of the final living places for musician David Bowie and Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky.

Casey Stengel frequented the Essex House during his New York Yankees and New York Mets managing careers. Many visiting Major League Baseball teams have lodged at the Essex House when playing the Mets and Yankees.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "JW Marriott Essex House New York Completes $38 Million Renovation Program". Hotel News Resource. October 12, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "The JW Marriott Essex House". New Construction Manhattan. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  3. ^ "JW Marriott Essex House New York, a Historic Hotels of America member". Historic Hotels of America. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  4. ^ Gray, Christopher (June 17, 2007). "When Spain Reigned on Central Park South". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "The History of Jumeirah Essex House". Jumeirah. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  6. ^ "Marriott to Sell Essex House". The New York Times. October 29, 1984. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  7. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (May 6, 1998). "Essex House Is the Latest Hotel For Sale on Central Park South". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  8. ^ Lyons, Richard D. (February 18, 1990). "POSTINGS: Essex House Renovation; Art Deco Redux". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  9. ^ Dunlap, David W. (July 21, 1991). "Commercial Property: Central Park South; Change, but Not at the Coliseum". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  10. ^ "Jumeirah Essex House". Emporis. Archived from the original on February 20, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  11. ^ "Women Corporate Directors Select Ventas, Dompé farmaceutici, CDW Corporation, and Natura & Co. as 2022 Visionary Award Honorees". www.businesswire.com. July 19, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Sokolow, Jesse (August 17, 2012). "Strategic Hotels Acquires Essex House, Will Rebrand as the JW Marriott". Frequent Business Traveler. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  13. ^ Tsang, Amie (March 13, 2016). "Chinese Owner of Waldorf Astoria Bets Big on More U.S. Hotels". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Tan, Gillian (November 21, 2018). "Anbang Hires Bank of America for Luxury Hotels Sale". Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  15. ^ Fabricant, Florence (October 16, 2012). "Alain Ducasse to Close Adour in New York". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  16. ^ "South Gate has lotta rooms ... for improvement". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  17. ^ Goodman, Jr, George (January 15, 1979). "Donny Hathaway, 33, Pop and Blues Singer, Dead in Hotel Plunge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  18. ^ Appel, Marty (March 28, 2017). Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character. New York: Knopf Doubleday. pp. 170, 186, 224–225, 274–275, 316, 323–324, 329, 344. ISBN 978-0-3855-4048-3.
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