The Campbell is a bar and cocktail lounge inGrand Central Terminal inMidtown Manhattan,New York City. The space, long known as theCampbell Apartment, was once the office of American financierJohn W. Campbell, a member of theNew York Central Railroad's board of directors. It was later used as office space, as a studio byCBS[1] and as a jail byMetro-North Railroad. Renovations in 1999 and 2007 restored the space to its original opulence at a total cost of nearly $2 million. Temporarily closed in 2016, the bar was reopened the following year under new management.[2]
Located in the southwestern corner of the Grand Central Terminal building—above the northeastern corner of42nd Street andVanderbilt Avenue—the space was once reached by a staircase from the terminal's balcony level. Entry now is from the street.
The space was first leased in 1923 byJohn W. Campbell fromWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt II, whose family built the terminal. The 3,500-square-foot (330 m2) space was a single room 60 feet (18 m) long by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide with a 25-foot (7.6 m) ceiling and an enormous faux fireplace in which Campbell kept a steel safe. At that time, it was the largest ground-floor space in Manhattan. Campbell commissionedAugustus N. Allen, an architect known for designing estates onLong Island and town houses in Manhattan, to build an opulent office, transforming the room into a 13th-centuryFlorentine palace with a hand-paintedplaster of paris ceiling, leaded windows, and a mahogany balcony with aquatrefoil design.[3] The Persian carpet that took up the entire floor was said to have cost $300,000, or roughly $3.5 million today. Campbell added a piano and pipe organ, and at night turned his office into a reception hall, entertaining 50 or 60 friends who came to hear famous musicians play private recitals.[3]
After Campbell's death in 1957, the rug and other furnishings disappeared from his office and the space eventually became a signalman's office and later an MTA Police office, where officers stored guns and other equipment. It also had a small jail, in the area of the present-day bar.[4]
After falling into disrepair, the space was restored and renovated in 1999. The walls and ceiling were brought back to their former glory and the original steel safe, once hidden behind a wall, now sits in the massive fireplace as a reminder of Campbell's wealth. The new bar is done in the same quatrefoil mahogany style as the balcony. The renovation cost an estimated $1.5 million.[4] A 2006 renovation replaced a largely blue palette with a largely red one, including new carpet, bar stools and chairs. To avoid closing for even one night, it took place in less than 12 hours and cost $350,000.[4]
The Campbell Apartment lost its lease in June 2016 after a protracted battle with its landlord and closed its doors at the end of the following month.[5]
In May 2017, the bar reopened as The Campbell.[2]
The Campbell Apartment was seen in thepremiere episode, "Return of the Ring" (the Season Five finale) and in the final season episode "Monstrous Ball" (via video at cotillion) of the television seriesGossip Girl in 2007.[6] The bar is also mentioned inNell Zink's novelDoxology.
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40°45′9.26″N73°58′40.13″W / 40.7525722°N 73.9778139°W /40.7525722; -73.9778139
