June 25, 2009

An image makeover for NY Helmsley Hotel on 42nd

In preparation of its goodbye-1980s-renovation, the New York Helmsley Hotel has paid for the creation of an online archive that seeks to document the history before it changes.

Though to read New York Helmsley Archives, you may see history change before your eyes. Leona Helmsley is indeed omnipresent on the new website, though mainly for her unparalleled attention to detail.

She was remembered quite differently elsewhere, such as in her 2007 New York Times obituary, which started this way: Leona Helmsley, the self-styled hotel queen whose prison term for income tax evasion and fraud was greeted with uncommon approval by a public who regarded her as a 1980s symbol of arrogance and greed. …”

The hotel renovation — with a design by Jeff Ornstein, new individual registration desks with Macassar Ebony wood chairs and a Barovier & Toso Murano Italian glass chandelier — will be complete by the end of the year. The hotel, located at 212 E. 42nd St., map, will remain open throughout.

Image source: New York Helmsley Archives.

June 25, 2009 2:55 PM in Architecture, Hotelology

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