The Four Seasons Restaurant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Four Seasons |
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Original 52nd Street entrance to the Four Seasons Restaurant
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1959 |
| Closed | 2019 |
| Current owner(s) | The Bronfman family, Alex von Bidder, and Julian Niccolini |
| Chef | See web |
| Food type | New American cuisine |
| Street address | 42 East 49th Street, Midtown Manhattan |
| City | New York City |
| State | New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′29″N 73°58′19.5″W / 40.75806°N 73.972083°W |
| Other information | Closed |
The Four Seasons was a New American cuisine restaurant in New York City. Established in 1959, it was located at 99 East 52nd Street, in the Seagram Building in Midtown Manhattan until 2016. From 2018 to its closure in 2019, it was located at 42 East 49th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The restaurant was owned by the Bronfman family, Alex von Bidder, and Julian Niccolini at the time of its closure.
The Four Seasons is associated with a number of milestone firsts in the hospitality industry. The Four Seasons is credited with introducing the idea of seasonally-changing menus to America, and was the first destination restaurant to print its menus in English. The restaurant was widely praised, winning the James Beard Award many times.
The restaurant's interior, which was designed by the building's architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, remained almost unchanged since construction in 1959. Art inside the restaurant included paintings by Mark Rothko; a permanent mural by James Rosenquist; a major Richard Lippold sculpture; a curtain designed by Pablo Picasso; and temporary exhibitions that included works by Joan Miró, Frank Stella, Ronnie Landfield, Robert Indiana, and Richard Anuszkiewicz. The restaurant's interior was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as an interior landmark in 1989.
History
20th century
Joseph Baum of Restaurant Associates created the Four Seasons on the ground floor of the Seagram Building in 1959. The restaurant's managers enjoyed carte blanche to create what was then, at the cost of $4.5 million (about $40 million in 2019), the most expensive restaurant ever built in New York City.
By 1973 the restaurant was considered to be past its prime. Restaurant Associates was overextended and unloaded the lease. Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi acquired The Four Seasons.
In 1977, the book publisher Michael Korda proclaimed the Grill Room “the most powerful place to eat lunch in town”. A 1979 article in Esquire declared its Grill Room the setting for “America’s Most Powerful Lunch”. It is believed the term "power lunch" comes from this article.
In 1994 Margittai and Kovi passed the torch to their junior partners, Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini, who continued to run the restaurant in the Seagram Building until 2016.
Demise
In June 2015, Aby Rosen, owner of the Seagram Building, announced that the restaurant's lease would not be extended. The Four Seasons’ rent went from $20 per square foot to $105. The Seagram Building location closed after dinner service on July 16, 2016.
In July 2016, the furnishings of the restaurant ("virtually all its contents") were sold at auction in New York. The sale carried a high estimate of $1.33 million but at the end of the day it had brought in $4.1 million. Four ashtrays were sold for $12,500.
In August 2018, The Four Seasons opened at a new, smaller midtown location at 42 East 49th Street. The new space was designed by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld and it cost $30 million to build. Many of the design elements evoked the iconic décor at the former location.
The Four Seasons was closed permanently on June 11, 2019. Two new restaurants are now located in the Seagram Building. In what was the Four Seasons' Pool Room is a restaurant called the Pool which is closed and reformed to the Grill. The former Grill Room is the home of another restaurant, called The Grill.
Food
The Four Seasons is associated with a number of milestone firsts in the hospitality industry. The Four Seasons is credited with introducing the idea of seasonally-changing menus to America. James Beard is considered founding father of The Four Seasons restaurant and a principal contributor to the development of its seasonal-food concept. He paired appropriate wines for each season, including offering American wines for the first time. It was the first destination restaurant to print its menus in English. The Four Seasons was also the first restaurant in the United States to cook using fresh, wild mushrooms. The restaurant pioneered what later came to be called “New American Cuisine.”
Cotton candy was a house specialty.
Clientele
Most reviewers came to think the menu was never really the point of the restaurant which became a stage for the high and the mighty.
The restaurant was known as much for its clientele as its food, with its Midtown location making it convenient for power lunches.
Anna Wintour, Henry Kissinger, Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, George Lois, Bill Bernbach and Jackie Kennedy were regular customers. Philip Johnson had lunch there daily at a special table in the Grill Room.
Design
The restaurant's interior, which was designed by the building's architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, remained almost unchanged since construction in 1959. The restaurant was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as an interior landmark in 1989.
The restaurant consisted of two separate 60 by 60 ft rooms with 20 ft high ceilings. The Grill Room featured French walnut paneling and two intricate wire and metal sculptures by Richard Lippold. A passage between the two rooms featured a large stage curtain, "Le Tricorne" (1919) which Pablo Picasso painted for the Ballets Russes. The Pool Room centered around a white, 20 by 20 ft marble pool with ornamental trees at the pool's corners. Four large planters at the corners of the pool held trees that were changed concurrently with the seasons. In both rooms the windows had metal curtains that rippled from the air released by hidden ventilating ducts. The east wall had a balcony behind a double row of walnut panels. The lower panels could be opened. The ceiling panels held specially designed lighting which could be adjusted to the day or season.
Over a hundred items of serviceware were designed by L. Garth Huxtable and Ada Louise Huxtable, everything from champagne glasses to bread trays. The work took over nine months. Today they and all of the Four Seasons Restaurant's furniture are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
For the celebration of the restaurant's 50th anniversary, The Four Seasons hired Manhattan Architect Belmont Freeman FAIA for a full restoration of the ladies' lounge.
Awards and honors
The restaurant itself was widely praised, winning the James Beard Award many times – for Outstanding Wine Service in 1997 and for Outstanding Service in 1998; It was called an "Outstanding Restaurant" in 1999 and a "Design Icon" in 2016.
