By Carter B. Horsley

The architect of the original Pennsylvania Station between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets was McKim, Mead & White.

The architect of the Hotel Pennsylvania across Seventh Avenue from the entrance to the original Pennsylvania Station was McKim, Mead & White.

The demolition of the original Pennsylvania Station was one of the greatest losses the city has suffered, a loss not justified by the very bland and unattractive office building and underground transportation complex and the new, circular Madison Square Garden arena that replaced it.

There are plans now afoot to demolish the Hotel Pennsylvania and the less than brilliant but quite serviceable Madison Square Garden as part of a very ambitious and complicated scheme to create a new train terminal within the James A. Farley Post Office Building, also designed by McKim, Mead & White, across Eighth Avenue from the existing Madison Square Garden. In early October, 2007, Vornado Real Estate Trust began erecting scaffolding around the hotel, which, according to an August 14, 2007 article by Julie Satow in The New York Sun was netting "Vornado $30 million in gross profit annually."

These new plans are a central part of a much larger plan by the city to significantly redevelop much of southwest midtown Manhattan, a plan that involves an expansion of the Javits Convention Center, the creation of a major new angled boulevard between 42nd and 34th Streets to be known as Hudson Yards, and the creation of a major new residential and office complex on platforms over the east and west train yards between 30th and 33rd Streets east of 10th Avenue, and an extension to the west of the 7 subway line.

This is a heady brew that if executed would result in a dramatic new mixed-use district that would be about the size of the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. While it would take several years to simmer, it could prove to be competitive with the renaissance of Lower Manhattan and the redevelopment of Ground Zero given the historic proclivity of some business executives to want to avoid a commute downtown.

An environmental study released in October, 2007 by The Empire State Development Corporation has proposed a two-option plan, one of which is dependent on the relocation of the present Madison Square Garden to the west end of the Farley building. The owners of the Garden, however, have not yet agreed to the plan. Another component of the state plan might permit the transfer of undeveloped air rights over the Farley building to sites on the existing superblock with the Garden, the One Penn Plaza office building that replaced the original train station and to sites on either side of the even taller Two Penn Plaza office building in the middle of the block bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 33rd and 34th Streets.

At one point, Vornado was planning to build two very tall office buildings on the site of the existing Garden, but in recent months public officials were reported to have decided against such a plan as too crowded. The design of the planned towers was never released to the public but were understood to have been exquisite skyscrapers.

The state's plans include options to transfer the unused air rights to sites within a new Penn Station "District" whose boundaries would extend across Seventh Avenue and the plans would include an incentive bonus of about 2.7 million square feet of developable space though the environmental document provided no information on how such a huge figure was arrived at, or the justification for the greatly increased zoning envelopes envisioned in the "District." The "District" and much of the enacted "Hudson Yards Zoning" have the highest zoning permitted in the city for many of the contained parcels, a 30 floor-to-area-ratio (FAR), whereas the highest FARs elsewhere in the city now are generally 10 to 15.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently announced the five joint ventures that submitted bids for the development of its exposed rail yards near the Hudson River and some of the ventures reportedly included commitments to relocate there by Condé Nast and Morgan Stanley, major tenants in relatively new buildings in Times Square, and Fox, which is a major tenant in a building on the Avenue of the Americas near Times Square.

As an indication of the rather incredible "momentum" that has suddenly been generated for reshaping an area notorious for its uninspired architect and very substantial traffic problems in the nearby Garment Center and the Lincoln Tunnel was the recent disclosure that Merrill Lynch was considered relocating from the World Financial Center at Battery Park City into a very large skyscraper on the existing site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which is one of very many sites in the vicinity owned by Vornado Real Estate Trust.

The Merrill Lynch plan is astounding given recent disclosures about the fact that it has lost several billion dollars this year in investments related to sub-prime mortgages and that a move uptown might cost it about one billion dollars more than remaining in Lower Manhattan. The relocation plan is all the more stunning given that it would be damaging to the image of Lower Manhattan was a financial capital. On October 27, 2007, the front page lead article in The New York Times by Landon Thomas Jr. and Jenny Anderson indicated that Merrill Lynch was weighing the ouster of its top officer, E. Stanley O'Neal in the "wake of a third-quarter loss of $2.3 billion and an $8.4 billion charge for failed credit and mortgage-related investments." The article also indicated that Mr. O'Neal, who received $48 million last year from Merrill Lynch, "also clashed with his directors over an approach he made to a rival bank, Wachovia, for a possible merger." An accompanying article by Eric Dash indicated that Mr. O'Neal is entitled to $30 million in retirement benefits as well as $129 million in stock and option holdings "that would be top of the roughly $160 million he took home in his nearly five years on the job," adding that "Mr. O'Neal would walk away with an even bigger pay package if he left after a merger - a potential $274 million payout."

Both the Times articles on Mr. O'Neal October 27, 2007 did not discuss Mr. O'Neal's apparent intention to abandon Lower Manhattan and erect a skyscraper with enormous trading floors on the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Clearly, this is very, very, very high stakes gambling. One suspects that Mr. O'Neal may become almost as infamous as Kenneth Lay of Enron fame and perhaps the controversy over his leadership might waylay a relocation of Merrill Lynch to the Hotel Pennsylvania site.

Incredibly, in the midst of all this fast and furious juggling of Manhattan's future by a handful of major players the preservation community has been relatively quiet about the Hotel Pennsylvania.

It is one of the last surviving examples of very large hotels built to accommodate train travelers. In the Grand Central Terminal neighborhood, the former Commodore and Biltmore Hotels have been transformed from their original elegant designs as part as Warren & Wetmore's grand "Terminal City" complex and rumors abound that the Roosevelt Hotel, the last of that district's major "railroad hotels" may be demolished. The Roosevelt is more elegant than the Hotel Pennsylvania but the Hotel Pennsylvania was designed by McKim, Mead & White specifically to complement the spectacular and very imposing entrance of the original Pennsylvania Station. Furthermore, unlike the Grand Central Terminal precinct that has been largely transformed from a masonry district to a polished granite and glass area, the Hotel Pennsylvania is the northernmost of three similar substantial masonry buildings on the east side of Seventh Avenue south of 33rd Street and one block south of the great Macy's masonry edifice and the masonry edifice of the tall Nelson Tower on the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 34th Street. Just across 32nd Street from the Hotel Pennsylvania is the handsome Affininia Hotel that was formerly Southgate Towers and originally the Hotel Governor Clinton and which was built in 1929 with 1,200 rooms.

While many commentators have remarked on the fact that numerous ownership changes at the Hotel Pennsylvania over the years have made major changes to the interiors, which are not of the luxury class, its facade is stately and handsome. Furthermore, it is not a small building and at one time boasted that it was the city's largest.

The hotel, whose address is 401 Seventh Avenue, was erected by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1919 and was operated by Ellsworth Statler and was acquired by the Hotels Statler Company in 1949 and renamed the New York Statler Hotel. After all 17 Statler hotels were acquired by Conrad Hilton in 1954, it became The Statler Hilton. In the early 1980s, Hilton sold the property and it became the New York Statler again. In 1984, it was acquired by the Penta chain and became the New York Penta. In 1992, it reverted to the Hotel Pennsylvania.

The hotel's telephone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000 is supposedly the New York City telephone number in longest continuous use and was famous as the name of a song by the Glenn Miller band. Other bands that played in its ballroom were the Dorsey Brothers, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.

In January, 2007, Lehman Brothers expressed interest in the Hotel Pennsylvania site, subsequently Merrill Lynch became the primary potential user of the site. According to an October 25, 2007 article in The New York Times by Charles V. Bagli, Merrill Lynch was negotiating a "billion-dollar 65-year lease" that called for demolishing the hotel and erecting a tower with 80,000-square-foot trading floors in its base.

In his October 15, 2007 article in The New York Observer, Chris Shott reported that Gregory Jones, a member of HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth), which has been holding a conference at the hotel for more than a decade, had mounted a campaign to preserve the hotel and nominated it for designation by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. A section of the organization's website, hope.net, is devoted to news and commentary about Vornado and its plans for the hotel site, Mr. Schott wrote.

Mr. Schott quoted Kent Barwick, the president of the Municipal Art Society, as stating that “Preserving that hotel, which has become very seedy, is not anywhere near as important as reusing the Farley building and creating a new rail station.”

It is neither easy nor fair to compare one landmark to another. The former McAlpin Hotel on the southeast corner of Broadway and 34th Street is similar in layout with multiple light courts to the Hotel Pennsylvania but it is a higher quality design and location. Its survival, however, should not be an excuse for getting rid of all similar but possibly inferior buildings. What's goose for the gander in one location may be truffles for a pig in another. Some locations need good old buildings more than others. Sometimes a well-proportioned older building with some nice details makes for an excellent contrast with a glossy, glass-clad skyscraper. Sometimes older well-proportioned buildings with nice details, such as large entrance columns, good masonry and cornices, make for excellent conversions to other uses such as apartments or small users of office space. (Not all businesses require 80,000-square-foot trading floors!)

Some commentators have made light of the historic significance of the Hotel Pennsylvania, but compared to the thousands of relatively insignificant structures in many of the city's "historic" districts the fame of the hotel as the venue for many of the country's greatest bands is not inconsequential.

The Hotel Pennsylvania is what McKim, Mead & White, the greatest architects in the city's history, felt was appropriate to confront travelers exiting from its great and very greatly lamented original Pennsylvania Station.

There is something a little obscene about demolishing perfectly workable structures whose replacement costs would be extremely high. While demolition may satisfy some Americans' thirst for violence, it is often an extravagant and inexcusable urban exercise especially in light of the country's interesting record of "adaptive re-use" of historic structures. The Hotel Pennsylvania is not a blight on the city's urbanscape.

Given existing zoning, the bulk of the Hotel Pennsylvania does not leave any "undeveloped" air rights. Some commentators have suggested that a Hearst Building scenario might work, but that is unlikely. Since the city is conjuring up bonus space in its Farley/Penn Station schemes, why not give an enormous amount of additional air rights for saving the Hotel Pennsylvania especially since public officials apparently want to create a wide district capable of receiving air rights and especially since some commentators actually think that the city's core personality is based to a great extent on very tall buildings and that New York has fallen significantly behind the rest of the world in big skyscrapers.

It was somewhat surprising, and refreshing, therefore, that the landmarks committee of Community Board 4 voted Tuesday night 6 to 1 to recommend that the Landmarks Preservation Commission designate the hotel as in individual landmark.

Joyce Matz, a long-term member of the Community Board and a preservationist who holds projects up to the letter of the law so to speak, told the committee that she had asked three architectural historians about the significance of the hotel and she said that all three historians maintained the project was not the best work of McKim, Mead & White and she pointed out that that it was not designed by one of the original partners. Such comments, however, are very misleading. Gordon Bunshaft and I. M. Pei did not design all the masterpieces by their respective firms, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Pei Freed Cobb, and as anyone who follows the starchitect gossip it is clear that not every project by a star architect is a masterpiece. Other comments read at the meeting by "preservationists" such as Peg Breen of the New York Landmarks Conversancy and Kent Barwick of the Municipal Art Society were not at all consistent with the established principles of historic preservation in New York City. Ms. Breen suggested that the hotel was seedy and not well loved, which has absolutely nothing to do with the building's exterior. Mr. Barwick, one of the most intelligent of all New Yorkers, apparently tried to avoid the question by suggesting that it was not as important a landmark as the Farley Building, which is true, but which also wrongly implies that the Farley Building is a masterpiece, which it is certainly not.

The committee's vote, of course, is not binding on the Community Board and the board's vote is only advisory in the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP). Nonetheless, the committee's rather courageous vote is bound to slow down the steamroller momentum behind all these gigantic plans. (10/31/07)

The Community Board voted 21 to 8 to 8 with two present and not voting to recommend November 8, 2007 that the Hotel Pennsylvania be designated an official city landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

During its "public session," the board heard testimony from many employees at the hotel including its doorman that the preservation of the hotel was important to save jobs, an emotional issue that directly related to the building's merits as a potential landmark. Richard Collins told the meeting that the last band to play at the hotel was the Buddy Rich band in 1980 with singers Mel Tormé and Helen O'Connell.

A long discussion then ensued among board members about the resolution.

Meile Rockefeller cautioned that by "rushing" to recommend designation the board might be "acting too fast" in light of the many developments under consideration in the vicinity. She asked another member, John Mills, what effect the designation of the hotel might have on schemes to transfer air rights from the Farley post office building and Mr. Mills indicated that it was not yet possible based on public documents to make such calculations.

Some members questioned the historic value of the hotel and Howard Mendes, chairman of the board's landmarks committee, reminded them that a landmark's value is not based solely on architectural merit or historical considerations, pointing out that the hotel had considerable cultural history as a leading venue in its Café Rouge ballroom for many of the country's most famous band in the Swing Era such as Glenn Miller, at which point several female members of the board broke out into song singing "Pennsylvania 6-5000," one of his most famous songs whose title is the hotel's phone number that is still in use.

Mr. Mendes also noted that some preservationists "are more concerned about the Farley building and are willing to look the other way." "This hotel has a lot of history of its own," he said, adding that "you might not like every detail, but it is certainly imposing."

Layla Law-Gisiko reminded the board that the hotel was historically important for building over the tracks and being the city's largest hotel when it was built.

Joyce Matz, a long-time board member and strong preservationist, read a statement explaining her intention to vote against the resolution. She said she was in favor of saving the building but that the community must look for other ways to save it than landmark designation such as public campaigns and appeals to the developers to study possible ways to "recycle" the building for other uses. She said that it was unlikely that the commission will hold a hearing quickly and added that an official landmark designation by the commission "won't happen." "It is an exercise in futility. It can take years and never happen," she said." She did not explain why she thought the commission would not designate the hotel adding that the hotel was "not up to the best work" of McKim, Mead & White.

The board's resolution noted that the chief designer of the hotel at McKim, Mead & White was "William Symmes Richardson, who also helped design Pennsylvania Station, as well as the National City Bank Building in New York, the Girard Trust Company Building in Philadelphia and the Bank of Montreal, Canada." It also noted that Ellsworth Statler was contracted to run to hotel that originally had 2.200 bathrooms, 3,537 beds and the world's first "high rise" elevators. The resolution also noted that much of the Indiana limestone and Milford pink granite at the building's base has been painted over and that there are several Rosso Levanto marble decorative spandrels between the windows on the first two floors. It also observed that on West 32nd Street the building forms four individual towers partially conjoined at the building's center to maximize expsoure to sunlight and airflow while on West 33rd Street the two central towers are fully conjoined. (11/8/07)

The Historic Districts Council, one of the city's leading preservationist organizations, sent a letter December 4, 2007, to Robert H. Tierney, the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, urging the landmark designation of the Hotel Pennsylvania on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets.

"Much discussion, planning and money have gone into the planning of the revival of the Pennsylvania Station area. It is ironic that the Hotel Pennsylvania, designed by the same architectural firm [McKim, Mead & White as the station, should not be part of these plans. Additionally, in this boom time of New York City hotels, what was thought to be the largest hotel in the world at the time of its opening should not be consigned to the dustbin of history," wrote Simon Bankoff, executive director of the council.

"After designing Pennsylvania Station and the Farley Post Office, the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White was commissioned in 1917 to design and construct a hotel to accommodate the railroad's passengers. The elegant hotel...opened two years later" and "its Cafe Rouge was one of the most popular nightclubs in the city during the 1930s and 1940s featuring such performers as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Dorsey Brothers and the Glenn Miller Orchestra who immortalized in song the hotel's phone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000," Mr. Bankoff wrote, urging that "we respectfully ask that a designation hearing be held for this significant, endangered building." (12/10/07)

In February, 2008, a spokesman for the landmarks commission confirmed that the agency had decided not to hold a hearing on the hotel's possible designation as a landmark. (2/24/08)

Vornado Realty Trust indicated in a letter sent to its investors that appeared in a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is "hopeful that a scaled-back version and perhaps even a doubly scaled-back version" of the proposed redevelopment of the Farley Post Office building on Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets "will happen."

Ambitious plans to relocate Madison Square Garden into the western half of the full-block post office structure to open up its present site on the other side of Eighth Avenue to a major renovation of the existing Pennsylvania train station and permit the transfer of several million square feet of development rights in the vicinity were thwarted by the announcement last month that the Garden would stay put and renovate its existing structure.

Vornado is a major property owner in the area and is a partner with The Related Companies in a joint venture in the proposed $14 billion redevelopment scheme involving the post office.

The eastern end of the post office building, which was designed by McKim, Mead & White with a two-block-long colonnade along Eighth Avenue, has been planned as new train station for New Jersey transit.

The smaller plan for the post office site, known as Moynihan Station, received many needed approvals and has the required funding already set aside, based on costs in 2006.

In his letters to investors, Steve Roth, CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, said that "In my view, there has been too much public endorsement of the idea of this project for nothing to happen."

Vornado and Related had been designated as co-developers for a smaller-scale version for the post office redevelopment by the Pataki administration, and Vornado owns about 7.5 million square feet of commercial space in the area including the Hotel Pennsylvania on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets that it was considering tearing down for a new headquarters building for Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch subsequently withdrew from that plan and some preservationists campaigned unsuccessfully to convince the Landmark Preservation Commission to designate it as a landmark since it was also designed by McKim, Mead & White and had been at one time the city's largest hotel and also was the venue for many of the leading bands of the 1930s and 1940s.

Mr. Roth said that the planning process for the post office building "has frustrated all parties," adding that "It has been three years so far, a long, complicated road. The project requires public sector expenditures which, in the end, may not all be there….But in the end, it is surely worth the effort."

"I am hopeful that something good will happen here," he said.

"Much has already happened," Mr. Roth continued, "to increase the value of our Penn Station assets. The Penn Plaza District and the West Side of New York have been discovered and are the beneficiaries of an enormous amount of recent and current activity. A huge swath has already been rezoned as the future growth corridor of Manhattan. Tishman Speyer has won the bidding to develop the Hudson Rail Yards into a 12 million square foot, 20-year, Canary Wharf-type project. Brookfield has announced 5 million square feet…. Vornado was the pioneer here, and owns the best and the lion's share of the real estate surrounding Pennsylvania Station - the gateway to the new West Side….The Hotel Pennsylvania, Seventh Avenue at 33rd Street, generated a best ever $37.9 million of EBITDA in 2007, $10.4 million more than in 2006, a 37.8% increase ….The credit crisis and Merrill's management changes disrupted this deal, but the fact remains that our site was the last man standing in a rigorous citywide search."

The planned $500 million renovation of the Garden will expand its lobby from 12,000 to 25,000 square feet, its concourses from 46,000 to 101,000 square feet, its restrooms from 12,400 to 19,500 square feet and add 20 floor level suites and 19 ledge suites. (4/8/08)