The Knickerbocker Hotel is a hotel at Times Square, on the southeastern corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built by John Jacob Astor IV, the hostelry was designed in 1901 and opened in 1906. Its location near the Theater District around Times Square was intended to attract not only residential guests but also theater visitors.
The Knickerbocker Hotel is largely designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Marvin & Davis, with Bruce Price as consultant. Its primary frontages are on Broadway and 42nd Street. These facades are constructed of red brick with terracotta details and a prominent mansard roof. The Knickerbocker Hotel also incorporates an annex on 41st Street, built in 1894 as part of the St. Cloud Hotel, which formerly occupied the site. The 41st Street facade contains a Romanesque Revival design by Philip C. Brown. Inside, the hotel contains 300 rooms, a restaurant, a coffee shop, and a roof bar. The original interior design was devised in 1905 by Trowbridge & Livingston. There are scattered remnants of the original interior design, including an entrance that formerly led from the New York City Subway's Times Square station to the hotel's basement.
The original hotel, which served as the home of Enrico Caruso and George M. Cohan, shuttered in 1920 following a decrease in business. The building was then converted to offices, becoming known as the Knickerbocker Building. It was the home of Newsweek magazine from 1940 to 1959 during which it was called the Newsweek Building. After major renovations in 1980, it became known as 1466 Broadway and was used as garment showrooms and offices. Following another renovation in 2001, it was known as 6 Times Square. The Knickerbocker was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1988. It was converted back to a hotel from 2013 to 2015 under its original name.
Site
The Knickerbocker Hotel is on the southeastern corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, at the south end of Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It contains the alternate addresses 1462–1470 Broadway, 6 Times Square, and 142 West 42nd Street, with a small annex extending south to 143 West 41st Street. The building occupies a land lot covering , with frontages of about on Broadway to the west and about on 42nd Street to the north. The frontage on 41st Street is only wide.
The Knickerbocker Hotel wraps around 8 Times Square at the corner of Broadway and 41st Street. The site is adjacent to 5 Times Square and Times Square Tower to the west, One Times Square to the northwest, 4 Times Square to the north, the Bank of America Tower to the northeast, and the Bush Tower to the east. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Times Square–42nd Street station, served by the , is immediately outside the hotel; a direct entrance originally led from the basement (see ).
The site was previously occupied by the Hotel St. Cloud, which opened in 1868 at Broadway and 42nd Street. At the time, it was relatively far from the developed portions of Manhattan. Grand Central Depot, predecessor of Grand Central Terminal, was developed nearby in 1871, resulting in the growth of the surrounding neighborhood. In 1892, John Jacob Astor IV acquired the lease of the Hotel St. Cloud for $850,000. With transit improvements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New York City's theater district relocated from further south in Manhattan to modern-day Times Square. The construction of theaters led to the development of other entertainment facilities such as hotels, dance halls, and restaurants. Furthermore, the Knickerbocker site was adjacent to the city's first subway line, providing access from the rest of the city.
Architecture
The Knickerbocker Hotel, completed in 1906, was designed by Marvin & Davis with consulting architect Bruce Price. The structure was largely designed in the Beaux-Arts style. The annex on 143 West 41st Street, which was built in 1894 as an addition to the Hotel St. Cloud, contains a Romanesque Revival facade designed by Philip C. Brown. The 41st Street annex was intentionally incorporated into the current hotel building. The interiors were designed by Trowbridge & Livingston. The hotel measures tall.