St. Regis New York Facts for Kids

Hotel facts and statistics
The St. Regis New York
Quick facts for kids The hotel's Fifth Avenue façade in 2015

Location	2 East 55th Street Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°45′41″N 73°58′29″W / 40.7614°N 73.9746°W / 40.7614; -73.9746
Developer	John Jacob Astor IV
Architect	Trowbridge & Livingston (original building) Sloan & Robertson (1927 addition)
Management	St. Regis Hotels & Resorts
Owner	Marriott International
No. of restaurants	2
No. of rooms	171
of which suites	67
No. of floors	20

The St. Regis New York is a very fancy and historic hotel that first opened its doors in 1904. You can find it at 2 East 55th Street in Manhattan, New York City, right between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. This hotel is known for being super high-quality, earning top "five-star" and "five-diamond" ratings from groups like Forbes and AAA.

Hotel History
Famous People Who Stayed Here
King Cole Bar
Gallery
See also

Hotel History

Building the St. Regis

The St. Regis hotel was built by John Jacob Astor IV, who was one of the richest people in America at the time. He wanted it to be a partner to his other hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria. The Waldorf-Astoria was located further downtown, and Astor felt that part of the city was becoming less popular.

Astor's great-grandfather, John Jacob Astor, had built one of the first modern hotels in the world, the Astor House, way back in 1836. John Jacob Astor IV named the new hotel after Upper St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks. This lake was named after a French priest, Jean-François Régis, who was known for being very welcoming to travelers.

The hotel was designed in a beautiful French style called Beaux-Arts. It had 18 floors and was the tallest building in New York City when it was finished. Architects Trowbridge & Livingston designed the building, and Arnold Constable designed the inside.

Building the hotel started in 1901, and it caused some arguments right away. The hotel was going up directly across Fifth Avenue from the huge homes of the Vanderbilt family and other wealthy New Yorkers. These neighbors were not happy about a tall hotel being built so close to their mansions.

There were also some legal issues. First, the city found that the hotel's wood decorations were not fireproof enough. Then, the neighbors sued because of the loud blasting needed to dig the hotel's foundation. Finally, as the hotel was almost ready to open in 1904, the neighbors tried one last time to stop it. They argued that the hotel was too close to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church to get a license to sell drinks. However, the hotel won in court by showing its main entrance was far enough away.

Opening and Early Years

The St. Regis hotel cost a huge amount of money for its time, about $5.5 million. It officially opened on September 4, 1904. Even after it opened, the neighbors didn't give up. One neighbor, William Rockefeller, bought a nearby house to try and make the hotel lose its license. John Jacob Astor IV quickly bought another house to keep the license.

Despite these problems, the hotel's reputation grew. Important visitors like Prince Fushimi Sadanaru from Japan and Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, stayed or attended events there. A year later, a new law was passed that helped the St. Regis keep its license, ending the long argument.

Eight years after the hotel opened, John Jacob Astor IV sadly died when the RMS Titanic sank in 1912. His son, Vincent Astor, took over the hotel. During the Prohibition (when alcohol was illegal), many hotels struggled. Vincent Astor sold the St. Regis in 1927. Soon after, a new section was added to the hotel, making it much bigger with 550 rooms and a rooftop ballroom.

However, during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Vincent Astor bought the hotel back in 1935. He then worked to make it New York's most elegant hotel once again.

Changes Over Time

Vincent Astor passed away in 1959. In the 1960s, a Mexican hotel owner named Cesar Balsa bought the St. Regis. He saved the hotel from being torn down and replaced with an office building. In 1965, the hotel was named a New York landmark, meaning it's an important historical building.

Sheraton Hotels bought the St. Regis in 1966 and renamed it The St. Regis-Sheraton. It was completely updated in 1977. Then, in 1988, it closed for a huge renovation that cost over $100 million. It reopened in 1991 as The St. Regis again, looking more luxurious than ever.

In 1992, the St. Regis became the most important hotel in ITT Sheraton's new "Luxury Collection." Later, in 1998, a company called Starwood bought Sheraton. Starwood decided to create a whole new brand of super-luxury hotels using the St. Regis name. The original hotel was then called The St. Regis New York to show it was the first of many St. Regis hotels around the world.

Recent Updates

In 2006, some of the hotel's floors (the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh) were turned into fancy apartments called The St. Regis Residences. These are either full-time homes or "timeshare" apartments.

The entire hotel got another big makeover in 2013, costing $90 million. This included updating all the hotel rooms and public areas, and adding a new restaurant and gym.

In 2014, the shops on the Fifth Avenue side of the hotel were sold. This included an old house that John Jacob Astor had bought in 1904 to help the hotel keep its liquor license.

Famous People Who Stayed Here

The St. Regis has always been a popular place for famous people to stay, and some even lived there for a while!

The artist Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala lived at the hotel every fall and winter from 1966 to 1973.
William Paley and his wife Babe had an apartment there.
The famous actress Marlene Dietrich also lived at the hotel.
Director Alfred Hitchcock loved staying in his favorite suite on the 5th floor many times.
John Lennon even recorded a demo version of his song "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" in his room.
The brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla lived at the hotel in 1922.

King Cole Bar

In 1932, a famous painting called "Old King Cole" by Maxfield Parrish was moved to the St. Regis. This painting had originally been in another hotel. It became the main feature of a new bar that opened in 1948, called the King Cole Bar. This bar is still a very well-known spot in New York City today.

In 1934, after Prohibition ended, a bartender named Fernand Petiot at the St. Regis invented a drink he called the "Red Snapper." This drink later became famous around the world as the Bloody Mary! It's still the King Cole Bar's special drink.