| Sherry-Netherland | |
|---|---|
 (2010) | |
 Interactive map of the Sherry-Netherland area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Hotel |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival Gothic Revival[1] |
| Location | 781Fifth Avenue Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°45′51″N73°58′22″W / 40.7643°N 73.9727°W /40.7643; -73.9727 |
| Construction started | 1926 |
| Completed | 1927 |
| Owner | Atlas Corporation |
| Height | 560 ft (170.7 m)[2] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 38[1] |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Schultze & Weaver Buchman & Kahn[2] |
| References | |
| [3][2] | |
TheSherry-Netherland is a 38-story[1]apartment hotel located at 781Fifth Avenue on the corner ofEast 59th Street on theUpper East Side ofManhattan inNew York City. It was designed bySchultze & Weaver withBuchman & Kahn.[4] At 560 ft (170.7 m), it was the tallest apartment hotel in New York City when it opened. The building is located in theUpper East Side Historic District, which was created in 1981.[5]
The building houses 165 apartments that were converted toco-ops in 1954.[6] There are 50 hotel rooms and suites, and in the tower above the 24th floor there are single apartments to a floor. TheNeo-Romanesque/Neo-Gothic[1] roofline withgargoyles[7] disguises thewater tower.[8]
The site had been occupied since the early 1890s by theHotel New Netherland, designed byWilliam Hume forWilliam Waldorf Astor, a member of the prominentAstor family. The building that was to replace it would occupy the same footprint and frontage on Fifth Avenue.
Demolition began in the early winter of 1926, and construction began before the year was out, but the upper floors suffered a spectacular fire when wooden scaffolding burned on April 12, 1927, before the building was completed.[9] The fire burned for 12 hours[10] and flames were said to have been visible fromLong Island. It ignited a debate in the press concerning the ability of the available technology to put out fires in high-rise buildings.[11]
At the time of the hotel's construction, theVanderbilt mansion, diagonally across Fifth Avenue, was being demolished. High relief carved limestone panels byKarl Bitter from the Vanderbilt'sporte-cochere[12] and ornamentalfrieze roundels from that mansion were installed in the Sherry's classicizinggroin-vaulted lobby, where massive marble-veneered pilasters with gilded Italian Renaissance capitals articulate walls paneled in small rectangles, Jacobean-fashion.[13] Because of Prohibition, the Sherry was designed with smaller public restaurant square footage than other pre-war hotels.[14]
In March 1927, construction was almost completed and the property was turned over toLouis Sherry, Inc., a subsidiary of Boomer-duPont Properties Corporation. Lucius Boomer was a noted hotel operator and was also affiliated with theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel, whileLouis Sherry was a noted restaurateur, famous for ice creams and other confections, and had run a hotel and restaurant,Sherry's, at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue, closing it soon afterProhibition. Sherry had died before his name became associated with the new venture.
In 1940, the famous stock traderJesse Livermore committed suicide in the cloakroom of the hotel.
In 1949, the hotel was sold toFloyd Odlum and Boyd Hatch'sAtlas Corporation.[15]
When theNew York City Landmarks Commission created theUpper East Side Historic District on May 19, 1981, the Sherry-Netherland was included within its boundaries.[1]
In 2014, the lobby ceiling was restored by Evergreene Architectural Arts.[16] The frescoes on the ceiling were based onRaphael's frescoes inCardinal Bibbienna's Loggetta at theApostolic Palace inVatican City. The style was recreated by artist Joseph Aruta in the 1920s.
