Timeline

1880

1883 – Construction begins on the first Plaza Hotel, on the former site of the New York Skating Club; builders fail to raise funds to complete and New York Life Insurance Company forecloses, hiring architects McKim, Mead and White to complete the hotel and redesign the interior
1890

The first Plaza Hotel opens on October 1st
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1892 – The New Netherland Hotel and The Savoy Hotel open opposite The Plaza on either side of 59th Street
1900

1903 – Augustus Saint-Guardens’ statue of William Tecumseh Sherman is unveiled in the pen plaza in front of the hotel
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1905 – The first Plaza Hotel is demolished in order to build an even larger hotel
•
The new Plaza Hotel, constructed in twenty-seven months at a cost of $12.5 million, opens its doors on October 1st 1907
1910

Lord Kitchener, British officer and statesman, stays at The Plaza during a much-publicized visit to New York
•
Summer Garden, a seasonal restaurant, opens in the area later known as The Rose Room
•
The Champagne Porch, an outdoor cafe along Fifth Avenue side of the hotel, opens
1920

Volstead closes Men’s Bar. It later become
The Oak Room
•
Construction of a three-hundred room annex begins on the 58th Street side of the hotel
•
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published, with scenes set in the hotel
•
A new ballroom opens on October 3rd, 1921
1930

The Studebaker Corporation gives up their showroom, and The Rose Room reverts to space for private functions
•
The breaking up of larger suites begin to house permanent guest rooms for visitors
•
Prohibition is repealed in December of 1933
1940

The hotel enforces a three-day maximum stay during the war years
•
In October of 1943, Conrad Hilton and Atlas Corporation acquire the hotel for $7,400,000
•
The Oak Bar opens on January 13, 1945
1950

Industrial Designer Henry Dreyfuss remodels
The Persian Room
•
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright moves into Suite 223-225, where will live for the next six years
•
The State Suite opens to the public as a space for
private functions
•
Eloise is written in 1955
1960

Portrait of Eloise vanishes after a college dance in The Grand Ballroom
•
The Plaza 9 cabaret opens in the basement space formerly the home of Rendez-vous
•
On February 7th 1964, The Beatles arrive for a
6 day visit
•
The Plaza is designated a New York City Landmark in 1969
1970

The Edwardian Room transforms into
The Green Tulip restaurant
•
Cinema 3 movie theater opens in the basement space formerly The Plaza 9 Music Hall
•
In 1978, The Plaza is added to The National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior
1980

The Plaza is added to the New York State Register of Historic Places
•
The hotel celebrates its 75th anniversary with a dinner benefiting the New York Landmarks Conservancy
•
In 1988, tycoon Donald Trump acquires the hotel for $390 million
1990

The movie Home Alone 2 begins filming in the 59th Street lobby in December, 1991
•
The Plaza owner Donald Trump weds actress Marla Maples in The Grand Ballroom on December 20, 1993
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The Plaza Spa opens in the lower level space formerly occupied by Trader Vic’s and Cinema 3
2000

In 2005, The Plaza closes its doors for an extensive lobby-to-roof restoration by Elad Properties
•
In 2007, The Plaza celebrates its 100 year birthday
•
In 2008, the $450 million restoration returns
The Plaza to all its original glory and it re-opens its doors
•
On November 3rd, 2015, Eloise turned 60
•
In 2015, SNL celebrates its 40th anniversary with a party in The Grand Ballroom

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