The New York Biltmore Hotel was a luxury hotel at 335 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The hotel was developed by the New York Central Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and operated from 1913 to 1981. It was one of several large hotels developed around Grand Central Terminal as part of Terminal City. The Biltmore was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Warren and Wetmore, one of the firms involved in designing Grand Central. Although the hotel's steel frame still exists, the hotel itself was almost entirely demolished and replaced by an office building in the early 1980s.
The hotel building was variously cited as having between 23 and 26 stories. The hotel had a facade of granite, limestone, brick, and terracotta. Most of its floor plan was U-shaped, with a light court facing east toward Vanderbilt Avenue. In the basement was a reception room that led directly from Grand Central Terminal. The public dining rooms, including the Palm Court and main dining room, were at ground level. There was a roof garden above the sixth story, facing east toward Vanderbilt Avenue. There were additional ballrooms and meeting spaces on the upper stories. In total, the Biltmore had 1,000 rooms and suites; the fourth floor included a private entertainment suite called the Presidential Suite.
Following the construction of Grand Central Terminal, the New York Central started planning a hotel on the city block in the early 1910s, and it officially opened on December 31, 1913. The hotel was originally operated by Gustav Baumann, who died in October 1914. The hotel's manager, John McEntee Bowman, then operated it until his own death in 1931, affiliating the Biltmore with the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain. Realty Hotels Inc., a subsidiary of the New York Central, took over the hotel in 1934 and operated it for four decades. Paul Milstein acquired the hotel in 1978 and began demolishing the interiors immediately after the hotel closed on August 15, 1981. Despite protests from preservationists, Milstein gutted the Biltmore and converted it into an office building called Bank of America Plaza, which reopened in May 1984. Bank of America relocated in 2010 and the building became 335 Madison Avenue. Following another renovation in 2019, the structure became The Company Building, which in turn was renamed 22 Vanderbilt in late 2022.
Architecture The Biltmore Hotel was designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, which also helped design the adjoining Grand Central Terminal, in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The building had either 23, 25, or 26 above-ground stories. In addition, the hotel had two basement levels, although the site extended five stories underground. According to plans filed by Warren and Wetmore, the hotel building was tall. About of structural steel were used in the hotel's construction, along with 5,000 barrels of Portland cement.
The Biltmore occupied the entire city block bounded by Madison Avenue to the west, 44th Street to the north, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, and 43rd Street to the south, measuring . The hotel replaced a four-story post office and ticket office operated by the New York Central Railroad, which was demolished at the beginning of 1912.
Form and facade The hotel had a facade of granite, limestone, brick, and terracotta. Although the hotel's main entrance was on 43rd Street, it also had two entrances on Vanderbilt Avenue, which led to different corridors for men and women. The hotel's lowest four stories occupied the entire site. Above the fourth story, the hotel was shaped like a "U", with a light court on Vanderbilt Avenue surrounded by hotel rooms to the north, west, and south. The base was primarily clad in granite. The stories above the base were primarily clad in brick and limestone. The stories directly above the base contained a limestone facade, while the main shaft of the building consisted of a brick facade. The facade used approximately four million pieces of common brick and two million pieces of gray brick.
The building contained of gray architectural terracotta, which one contemporary trade journal described as being one of the largest such terracotta contracts at the time. Above the 21st story, the crown was clad entirely with terracotta and was designed in the Federal style. On all four primary elevations of the facade, there were pilasters and fluted columns extending from the 21st to 23rd stories. Above these columns and pilasters was an arched frieze with ornate spandrel panels.
Public spaces The hotel was built above twelve of Grand Central Terminal's railroad tracks. The first story was raised slightly above the ground. The public dining rooms were all at ground level; the southern side of the hotel featured retail space, while the northern half was devoted to more upscale eateries. There were additional ballrooms and meeting spaces on the upper stories.
Basement The Biltmore Hotel had its own reception room in the basement, which originally served as a waiting room for intercity trains and was colloquially known as the kissing room. It was completed in 1915 and later became known as the incoming train room and the Biltmore Room. The space is a marble hall northwest of the Main Concourse, serving as an entrance to tracks 39 through 42 within the terminal. The room had a ceiling and seven entrances. The Biltmore Room still exists beneath the modern-day 335 Madison Avenue; a grand staircase, dating from the original hotel's construction, leads to 43rd Street. The room was restored in 1985 after the rest of the hotel had been demolished. In the 2010s, the room was converted to an entrance for the Long Island Rail Road's Grand Central Madison station as part of the East Side Access project.
The basement connected directly with Grand Central Terminal's upper platform level. The hotel was also connected to the New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station, as well as to neighboring buildings, via the terminal's corridors. According to The New York Times, a passenger arriving at Grand Central "will be able to go directly from his seat in the Pullman to his room in the hotel, not only without having stepped from under cover, but without once having passed beyond what will really be one structure". The passageways from the former Biltmore's basement to the terminal still exist ; the passageways are protected as New York City designated landmarks, as are other parts of Grand Central Terminal. On the 44th Street side of the hotel was a sloped driveway to the basement, which was used as a taxi ramp and featured a vaulted ceiling with Guastavino tiles. Although the driveway still exists , it leads to a garage. The Biltmore formerly shared its garage with the Commodore Hotel.
Next to Grand Central, a stairway from the main entrance descended to a grill room, bar, and men's clubroom in the basement. These spaces were all designed in the Elizabethan style, with oak furnishings; marble and wood floors; and paneled walls and pilasters that reached the ceiling. The grill room's ceiling was composed of English-style plasterwork in low relief. In 1924, these spaces were replaced with stores and an arcade that extended between 43rd and 44th Streets. There were 11 stores facing Madison Avenue, each measuring across, as well as three additional booths that opened into the arcade. In addition, there were Victorian-style Turkish baths and a swimming pool in the basement. The Turkish baths in the basement had been converted into a health club by the late 20th century. In 1962 a women's parlor room, with red decorations, was added in the basement.
Ground level
The southern half of the ground level contained writing and reception rooms for men, while the northern had similar rooms for women. Adjacent to the 43rd Street entrance was the hotel's main office. About one-third of the ground floor was underneath a skylight, above which were the hotel's air shafts.
A corridor led west from the 43rd Street entrance to the men's dining room and main dining room on Madison Avenue. Women's lounging rooms were on the north side of the corridor between the main entrance and main dining room. The main dining room covered . It had dark-oak furniture and red carpets, upholstery, and window draperies; gold-colored decorations of birds and festoons; and marble walls and pilasters. The dining room's ceiling contained three glass chandeliers and Elizabethan-style gold-on-white decorations of classical figures in low relief. The men's dining room was and was designed in a similar style to the main dining room.
The Palm Court and a main lounging room were next to the main dining room. The space connected the men's and women's rooms at ground level. The Palm Court had marble walls with bronze decorations. In the center of the room a gilded clock measuring across was displayed; it consisted of two dials flanked by a pair of sculpted nude figures. The room also incorporated skylights and palm trees. The Palm Court's elliptical vaulted ceiling was interrupted by elliptical arches with carved friezes. The Palm Court became a popular meeting place; after the Biltmore Hotel closed, the Palm Court's clock was reinstalled in 335 Madison Avenue's lobby.
To the east of the lobby was a nightclub known as the Bowman Room, which opened in October 1936. The space hosted performers such as Horace Heidt and Carmen Cavallaro. The room was renovated in 1942, and a bar was installed in the room in 1947. The shows in the Bowman Room were discontinued permanently in September 1949 after the federal government imposed a 20 percent excise tax on such shows. The Bowman Room was converted into a furniture storage room at some point before the hotel closed in 1981.
Upper stories There were mezzanines above the ground level. The mezzanine contained writing rooms for both genders, as well as hairdressing, reception, and cloak rooms for women. Directly above the dining room were the kitchen and refrigeration boxes. Similar hotels at the time had kitchens in their basements, but the Biltmore Hotel had a limited amount of space in its basement because of the presence of railroad tracks. There was also a library on the second floor, while the fourth floor had private dining rooms. The kitchen, mezzanines, and dining spaces were all illuminated by natural light. In 1928, Leonard Schultze of Schultze & Weaver designed a Gothic-style meditation room on the third floor, with oak paneling, stained glass windows, and red draperies.
On Vanderbilt Avenue, there was a roof garden along the sixth-story setback, with flower beds, shrubs, grass, a fountain, and shaded walkways. Known as the Italian Garden, it was transformed into an ice skating rink during the winter months. This roof garden also featured terracotta caryatids. It was sheltered by a pergola that ran the entire width of the facade from 43rd to 44th Street. Initially, the roof garden was open only during tea time.
On the 23rd story of the hotel was the grand ballroom and banquet hall. The grand ballroom was called the Cascades because there was a large waterfall at one end. It was designed in the Louis XVI style and was decorated in a gold and blue color scheme. The ballroom and banquet hall contained loges, with box seating, on three sides. The ballroom also had movable windows, which measured . The ballroom was typically used for lunch, dinner, and banquets, although visitors could only enter by invitation. The center of the ballroom was used as a dance floor at night. During the summer months, the hotel's managers could open the windows and convert the ballroom into an open-air loggia; this was a major amenity for guests before air conditioning became popular. The ballroom also had its own foyer, assembly room, lounging room, bar, and kitchen. The space could have a capacity of 600 people. North of the grand ballroom was a first-aid wing.