The Pierre

Coordinates: 40°45′54″N 73°58′18″W / 40.7650308°N 73.9716607°W / 40.7650308; -73.9716607
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the New York City hotel. For other uses, see Pierre (disambiguation).

40°45′54″N 73°58′18″W / 40.7650308°N 73.9716607°W / 40.7650308; -73.9716607

The Pierre
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
Height525 feet (160 m)
Technical details
Floor count41[1]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Schultze & Weaver[1]
Website
The Pierre New York

The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces of India. Standing 525 feet (160 m) tall,[1] it is located within the Upper East Side Historic District as designated in 1981 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
.

History

Charles Pierre Casalasco left his father's restaurant in Ajaccio, Corsica, where he had started as a busboy,[2] assumed Charles Pierre as his full professional name, and began work at the Hotel Anglais in Monte Carlo.[3]

Charles Pierre went on to study

Ritz-Carlton
on Madison Avenue at 46th Street, then opening his own restaurant on 45th Street immediately west of Fifth Avenue, and finally at Pierre's on Park at 230 Park Avenue.

The Rotunda with mural painted by Edward Melcarth

At the height of his success, dissatisfied with the increasing democratization of public manners, Pierre sold his restaurant and entered a joint venture with a group of Wall Street financiers, "among them

Robert Livingston Gerry, Sr. (the son of Elbridge Thomas Gerry, lawyer, philanthropist and grandson of Elbridge Gerry, the inventor of 'Gerrymandering')".[5]

The 714-room hotel that rose 41 stories on the site of the

Louis XVI base.[6] Its topmost floors render it an easily recognizable landmark on the New York skyline; they are modeled after Mansart's Royal Chapel at Versailles, a system of Corinthian pilasters and arch-headed windows, with octagonal ends, under a tall, slanted, copper roof that is pierced with bronze-finished bull's-eye dormers. New York society turned out to attend the gala dinner that marked the opening of The Pierre; it was prepared by Auguste Escoffier
, "the father of French chefs", who served as a guest chef at The Pierre in its early years.

Beginning in 1948, New York City's ABC television and FM radio station (then called WJZ-TV Channel 7 and WJZ-FM 95.5, now WABC-TV and WPLJ) broadcast from a tower atop The Pierre, until moving to the Empire State Building a few years later.[7]

In 1967 and 1968, Edward Melcarth painted a trompe l’oeil mural in the rotunda of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. [8] The mural included mythological characters prominent members of New York’s elite like Jacqueline Kennedy and Erik Estrada. After criticism, the hotel painted over the telltale facial details and gave the figured a more generic look. [9] In 2016, the hotel restored the murals, the decorative plaster ceiling, marble stairs and stone walls. They also added LED strip-lighting runs the perimeter of the floor, shedding up-light onto the murals. [10]

President-elect

Richard M. Nixon stayed at The Pierre for several months in 1968-69 before moving to Washington, D.C.[11]

The Pierre was the scene of the

Guinness Book of World Records as the largest, most successful hotel robbery in history.[12]

Today, the hotel contains 189 guest accommodations, including 49 suites, of which 11 are grand suites. Dining options in the hotel include Perrine restaurant, The Rotunda and Two E Lounge.

Ownership

As markets continued to collapse during the

Yves Saint-Laurent
. Thirteen of the apartments have since become "grand suites."

The Pierre came under the management of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in 1981.[

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a global chain of fine luxury hotels and resorts, succeeded as the new lessee and operator. In 2010, Taj completed a $100 million top to bottom renovation of the hotel. Taj Hotels is part of India's Tata Group.[14]

Triplex

A 16-room triplex co-op that occupies the top three floors was placed on the market in 2003, with a pricetag of $70 million.[15] This 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) apartment features five bedrooms, four terraces, a paneled library, a wine cellar, a black Belgian-marble staircase and the hotel's former ballroom with 23-foot (7.0 m) high ceilings. It was originally purchased by the hedge-fund manager Martin Zweig, from publishing heiress Mary Fairfax, in 1999 for $21.5 million. With its $70 million price tag payable in full at purchase, the co-op was listed in 2006 in Forbes magazine as the eighth-most expensive home in the world,[16] fourth-most expensive home in the United States,[17] and second-most expensive home in the Northeastern United States in 2006.[18] It was again put on the market in 2013 at the asking price of $125 million.[19]

The board of directors turned down two would-be buyers.[20] The penthouse returned to the market in March 2013 for an asking price of $125 million.[21] The price was adjusted to $95 million later that year.[22] The triplex, which was refurbished, had its price adjusted down to $57 million in 2016.[23][24] The triplex sold for $44 million in 2017.[25]

In popular culture

The Pierre has frequently appeared as a setting in novels, films and in television series.

The Pierre rises over Central Park

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Emporis GmbH. "Hotel Pierre, New York City – 114777". emporis.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Casalasco and the founding of The Pierre follows the account in (Simon 1978), reported on-line at the City Review.
  3. ^ Glamorized history reports his father as owner of the Hotel Anglais, and Charles Pierre as rubbing shoulders with the Russian grand dukes and European royalty who patronized his father's hotel.
  4. ^ "Smart women were beginning to smoke in public rooms. Mr. Sherry forbade such smoking in his restaurant, an irritating, old-fashioned prohibition, Pierre thought, and, after flights of heated words he left." (Simon 1978).
  5. ^ Simon 1978.
  6. ^ Schultze, Leonard, S. Fullerton Weaver, Marianne Lamonaca, and Jonathan Mogul. Grand Hotels of the Jazz Age: the Architecture of Schultze & Weaver. Miami Beach: Wolfsonian-Florida International University, 2005.
  7. ^ "Television At A Glance" (PDF). Televisor. 6 (7): 6. October 1949.
  8. ^ "Historic NYC Hotels | History | The Pierre NY". The Pierre, a Taj Hotel, New York. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  9. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  10. ^ AFineLyne (July 25, 2016). "Inside The Pierre Hotel's Recently Restored, Stunning Rotunda Room in NYC". Untapped New York. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  11. ^ Stiehm, Jamie (February 3, 2015). "'The Professor and the President'". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Sanderson, Bill (April 10, 2016). "Mobster in witness protection details world's greatest heist". New York Post. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  13. ^ Whitnen, Alden (June 6, 1976). "J. Paul Getty Dead at 83: Amassed Billions From Oil". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  14. ^ Eisenberg, Paul; Duecy, Erica; Paull, Jennifer (2008). Fodor's 2008 New York City. New York: Fodor's Travel Publications.
  15. ^ Schoeneman, Deborah (November 1, 2004). "New York's Most Expensive Apartment - Harvey Weinstein's Latest Deal - Does Renovating Payoff?". NYMag.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2004.
  16. ^ Sara Clemence (July 25, 2006). "Most Expensive Homes In The World 2006". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 14, 2006.
  17. ^ Sara Clemence and Lacey Rose (June 26, 2006). "Most Expensive Homes In The U.S. 2006". Forbes.
  18. ^ Sara Clemence (June 2, 2006). "Most Expensive Homes in the U.S. 2006: Northeast". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
  19. ^ Morgan Brennan (March 28, 2013). "New York's Pierre Penthouse Hits Sale Block With $125 Million Price Tag". Forbes.
  20. ^ "Real Estate - Properties for Sale, Rent and Share - Domain". domain.com.au. [dead link]
  21. ^ "Pierre Penthouse Hits Market for $125M". manhattanscout.com. March 30, 2013.
  22. ^ "Historic Pierre Hotel's Triplex Penthouse Available for $95M". aspiremetro.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014.
  23. ^ Taylor, Candace (April 21, 2016). "Revamped Pierre Hotel Penthouse Returns to Market at $57 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  24. ^ "Luxury Residential Real Estate: 795 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, NYC - $57,000,000". Brown Harris Stevens. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  25. ^ Rosenberg, Zoe (August 3, 2017). "NYC's Pierre Hotel penthouse finally sells for $44M, a 65% discount". Curbed New York. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  26. ^ "10 Famous Oscar-Nominated Hotels". fodors.com. February 21, 2013. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2014.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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