Preservationists Shun Unloved Hotel Pennsylvania
Wednesday, October 10, 2007, by Joey
You know the drill: Developer threatens to tear down historically-significant building. Preservationists get in a tizzy and mount a campaign to save it. Success or failure follows. That awkward silence you hear? The absence of Birkenstocks rushing to the aid of the McKim, Mead & White–designed Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue, which Vornado wants to tear down to build an office tower roughly the height of the Empire State Building. The Observer's Chris Shott has an update on the "fight" to save the hotel, which is basically one dude campaigning to landmark the sucker. The usual suspects are all more concerned about the nearby Farley Post Office to bother caring about this neglected home for transients. Last time we checked in at the Hotel Pennsylvania, we had some fun with the TripAdvisor user photos of it. Today, we go back to the well. Looking, uh, good!
· The Lonely Fight For The Hotel Pennsylvania [NYO]
· What a Sub-$200 Hotel Room Gets You in Manhattan [Curbed]
yeah, of course its a dump now. It hasn't been well taken care off. I stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel a few years a go (before the current renovations)and it was also a dump. The current interior condition of the premises should not be taken into account as the vast majority of NYC landmarked buildings are only designated for the exteriors.
"Birkenstocks rushing to the aid"
haha, you have redeemed yourself with this one Joey.
I can tell you why there arent any "Birkenstocks rushing to the aid". Its not in 'their' neighborhood. why would they care? Midtown and Fidi are the two least protested nabes. Midtown even more. Not that I support landmarking this hotel. but it is just ridiculous how they want to landmark "large areas of Greenwhich, west village" but a few architectural / historic gems in midtown? "ah, i dont live or like midtown". Personally, I think a tower of that proportion would help the struggling herald square/penn station area reshape itself.
I dont think anything can be done to help 34th Street area. I say leave the building and save a little piece of history. It is the most crowded and most grimey place south of Fordham Road. Its a magnet for every freak in the city.
These geezer hotels are all toast; even the Ohio tourists are balking
-Mayflower
-Russell
-St. Moritz
-Roosevelt
-Herald Towers
all went demo or condo
Only the Carlton down on Madison/23 was refurb'd into a boutique
My cheapo Brother-in-Law stayed at The Penn....even he was grossed out...his white tube socks were black in 5 mins
years ago I was filming an interview with some rockstars staying here. the bass player said he had to switch rooms since he awoke the previous night to a rat on his shoulder. later on, my mom stayed here and I'd forgotten about the previous incident - she was ok, but we ran into an English tourist who had just dealt with roaches coming out of the headboard between the wall, and caught in the bottom of the sheets (that had been tucked in the matress). they refused to give her another room. this place is a shithole, sadly.
I'm surprised they didn't just rehab the hotel and sell their air rights. Would have been much easier, less cash intensive, and less risky. No??? Wouldn't those new Hudson Yards towers provide an endless supply of corporote clients who will pay $750 night for crappy/sheik hotel rooms? Do they really want to compete with the new office towers at Hudson Yards? It will be interesting to see who brings their building to market first -the Hudson Yards crew or the "old" Hotel Penn.
Can Vornado at least preserve the entrance of the Pennsylvania hotel, while demolishing the rest of the building. Only the hotel's entrance is worth saving, because it hearkens back to the style of the original Penn Station.
#10, you would think they would. I guess there is not a suitable adjacent site to transfer to (considering its midtown, not surprising). But it can't be cheap to demo a 22-story building.
I spent two months there once taping a TV show. it was revolting. Rats everywhere.
Just imagine the displacement of the rats and roaches when this thing gets demo'd (mind you most of them are probably already transient from the tracks below grade. Shame to see it go though, it was grand in its day...they still even have the original phone number. Hmm, maybe we can all fight to save that!
Yep, it is a true shithole. But where are the Westminster Kennel Club dogs going to stay now? I recall attending many Comic Book Conventions there in my geeky teen years. And the time I took a wrong turn and stumbled into a room full of drunk conventioneers, smoking cigars and throwing money at strippers.
I dunno, I travelled to NYC almost every week for 6 months last year. Every time, I stayed on the corporate floors at the Hotel Penn. I dealt with a mouse one night, and a broken water pipe in the bathroom another. No other issues. It's not the Ritz, but for the cost, never expected it to be.
People nostalgic for 'old new york' should watch Taxi Driver & The Warriors and then change their mind pretty f'ing quick about which one they like better. Move to Lynn, Mass or Rochester if you want downtrodden and neglected. There's your culture.
I can think of no other buildings in Midtown that less deserve preservation than the Penn. It's got not one single distinguished architectural detail.
SHould Nuke the New Yorker hotel as well, next door
17, Its got a brand name. McKim Mead & White designed it
I took a shit in the hotel once.
As sad as it is to see another "geezer hotel" go when it could be refurbished, two other elements disturb me more:
1. Moving of MSG into the Farley Building
2. The height of the tower on the Penn Hotel site. A skyscraper is well and good, but not as tall as the ESB.
Yeah, the Penn has turned into a shithole...the result of years of poor hotel management. It's too bad because the McKim, Mead & White building should be saved and refurbished. Then you'll see what a gem it really is.
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