Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza
The Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza is a 439-room hotel in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by architect Kevin Roche of the firm Roche-Dinkeloo and opened in 1976, the hotel is located at 44th Street and First Avenue, near the headquarters of the United Nations. It occupies part of the ground floor and top 13 stories of One and Two United Nations Plaza, a pair of 39-story skyscrapers also designed by Roche-Dinkeloo. The UN Plaza Hotel is owned by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels and operated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Part of the hotel's interior is a New York City designated landmark.
Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza
One and Two United Nations Plaza, which respectively opened in 1975 and 1983, are both mixed-use buildings with offices on their lowest stories. The exteriors of both buildings have an angular massing bent at several places, as well as a facade made of glass. The ground story contains the lobby, which consists of a reception area, foyer, and ramp with mirrored surfaces and polygonal lamps. The ramp leads to the Ambassador Grill and Bar at the rear of the hotel; the grill is a popular meeting spot for United Nations diplomats. There are restaurants and meeting spaces on the second story and guest rooms on the 27th through 39th stories. In addition, the hotel contains a swimming pool and an indoor tennis court.
The United Nations Development Corporation (UNDC) developed the hotel, which was owned by the New York City government and operated by Hyatt. The hotel opened on June 8, 1976, with 288 rooms on the top 13 stories of One UN Plaza. The UN Plaza Hotel was further expanded in 1984 after the completion of Two UN Plaza. The hotel was popular among UN diplomats and was consistently profitable in the first two decades of its operation. The New York City government sold the hotel in 1997 to Regal Hotels International, and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels took over the hotel in 1999, renovating it two years later. The hotel was further renovated in the 2010s, during which the Ambassador Grill and the lobby were protected as landmarks. The UN Plaza Hotel became part of the Hilton brand in 2017.
Buildings[edit]
The United Nations Hotel occupies the top 13 stories of One and Two United Nations Plaza, a pair of 39-story[b] mixed-use buildings designed by Kevin Roche of Roche-Dinkeloo.[3][4] The complex was constructed by the government of New York City.[5] One United Nations Plaza, completed in 1975, is the older of the two buildings[6] and was the first large hotel and office building in New York City.[7][8] Two United Nations Plaza opened in 1983 as an office, residential, and hotel building.[4] One and Two United Nations Plaza are also known respectively as DC1 and DC2.[9]
One United Nations Plaza is located at the corner of 44th Street and First Avenue. The office entrance is on First Avenue, while the hotel entrance is on 44th Street.[10] A canopy shields the hotel's entrance[7][11] and runs across the width of both buildings.[2] One United Nations Plaza's lowest 26 stories contain offices, while the top 13 stories contain the hotel.[7][8][10] One United Nations Plaza's 505 ft (154 m) height[12][13] was dictated by the fact that, under New York City law, it could not be taller than the United Nations Secretariat Building.[14] The building has an L-shaped plan and a facade composed of blue-green glass.[7][15] The facade is divided into rectangles measuring 4 ft 7 in (140 cm) wide and 2 ft 7.5 in (80.0 cm) high.[7] These are arranged into semi-reflective glass panels and glass spandrels, the arrangement of which differs on the upper and lower stories.[16][c] To comply with zoning regulations, the northern facade contains two setbacks sloped at a 45-degree angle, while the southeast corner has a cutback on its lowest 12 stories.[7][17] Additionally, the second-story facade slopes outward, creating a canopy above the ground floor.[15] The setbacks are placed above the office stories,[2] which have a larger floor area.[11]
Two United Nations Plaza has a similar design to its predecessor.[18] The building is located on 44th Street and has a chamfer on its southeastern corner, which leads to the hotel's lobby.[4] The lowest 23 stories of Two United Nations Plaza contain 303,000 sq ft (28,100 m2) of office space.[9] Above the office stories are sloped setbacks similar to those in One UN Plaza.[2] Both buildings are connected at their lobbies, as well as on the 3rd and 11th floors.[4][9] There is a 30 ft (9.1 m) gap between the towers on their upper stories.[3][4][2] The two buildings wrap around the 20-story United States Mission to the United Nations on 45th Street and First Avenue.[19]
Paul Goldberger called One United Nations Plaza "one of the finest postwar skyscrapers in the city",[17] while John Tauranac said the building "shimmers in the sun" as seen from a distance.[7][20] William Marlin said the structure "assumes a key spot in the tradition of the tall building".[21] By contrast, Two United Nations Plaza received comparatively little commentary when it was completed.[18] Goldberger wrote that the second building "converts the vocabulary of Modernism into something more eccentric and picturesque, almost sensual",[4][22] and he believed the two buildings to be "welcoming" despite not relating to their surroundings.[23] According to architectural writer Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, the two buildings formed a "kaleidoscope, always changing, always moving [...] a destination and an active participant in the disco era of the late 1970s and the 1980s".[18][24]
History[edit]
Development[edit]
By 1966, the headquarters of the United Nations was overcrowded, leading US and UN officials and the Ford Foundation to develop plans for new office space, hotels, and apartments nearby.[60][61][62] Officials proposed four projects around the UN headquarters.[60][63] Only one component, United Nations Plaza, was ultimately executed; the United Nations Development Corporation (UNDC) was formed in 1968 to develop the complex.[64] United Nations Plaza was originally planned to be built on a superblock bounded by 43rd Street, 45th Street, First Avenue, and Second Avenue.[64][65] Roche-Dinkeloo released revised plans in November 1969, which called for a 700-room hotel and three connected office buildings with 3×106 sq ft (280,000 m2) of space.[64][65][66] The plan attracted much public opposition.[67][68] U.S. congressman Ed Koch criticized the proposed development's bulk, while journalist Pete Hamill believed the development unfairly benefited "free-loading diplomats assigned to the UN" by allowing them to live next to their workplace.[68] The New York City Planning Commission narrowly approved the plan in 1970.[6][7][67] The government of New York City would own the buildings and lease them to the UNDC.[69]
In 1971, the UNDC and New York State Legislature agreed to a plan that only provided funding for the first planned building.[7] Two years later, the Turner Construction Company began constructing the 39-story One United Nations Plaza.[70] The State Legislature authorized a bond issue that provided up to $75 million in funding for the first building.[7] One UN Plaza was completed in November 1975[8][70] at a cost of $30 million.[37] Hyatt had been selected to operate a hotel in the new building, which was not yet operational but was planned to serve diplomats, politicians, and other people working at or visiting the UN headquarters.[8] The United Nations Plaza Hotel's 150 staff members, who collectively spoke 27 languages, were trained for four months prior to the hotel's official opening. As part of the training process, several high-ranking staff members simulated "finicky guests" for a week before the hotel opened.[27]
Critical reception[edit]
Hotel[edit]
When the hotel opened in 1976, Paul Goldberger wrote that the hotel "manages exactly what the designers of the much‐publicized new Ritz Carlton in Chicago have been suggesting was impossible, namely the creation of a serious luxury hotel of entirely modern design."[17] Ada Louise Huxtable said the United Nations Plaza Hotel's design features, such as its angled geometry and "luxurious and tasteful simplicity", collectively created a "rich, visual intricacy".[43] Angela Taylor wrote for The New York Times that "the best things about the new United Nations Plaza Hotel are what it doesn't have", which included "canned music", a crowded ballroom, or paper tents for advertising.[27] William Marlin of The Christian Science Monitor wrote that, despite the hotel's relatively low construction budget, "one can only be amazed at [the rooms'] quality and absorbing delight".[53] In 1979, the New York City Club presented the United Nations Plaza Hotel with its Albert S. Bard Award for "excellence in building design".[116]
Commentary continued in later years. Ned Zeman of The Washington Post described the hotel in 1993 as "modern, but not obnoxiously so, and it has a remarkable view of the East River".[117] Two years later, Clara Hemphill wrote for Newsday that, while the mirrored public spaces were "not a study in quiet good taste", the UN Plaza was "a comfortable hotel with great views" because of how high it was.[118] Conversely, hotel critic Grant Flowers described the lobby in 2001 as "the property's chief drawback", saying that it was "the definition of 1980s gaudy".[97] The Journal of the American Institute of Architects wrote that "the sense of firm conviction about design so evident in the towers' exteriors seems somewhat shaken once one comes in from outdoors",[29] and Robert A. M. Stern called the lobby "garish".[4][18] In 2024, a writer for The Telegraph praised the views from the room; the fact that the site was relatively quiet but still near multiple points of interest; the large units; and the "scores of marble, mirrored surfaces and space galore".[52]
Ambassador Grill and Bar[edit]
When the Ambassador Grill opened, New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton reviewed the restaurant negatively, saying that "every appetizer came as overdressed as a drug store salad plate" and that the restaurant also offered "stale bread, banal cakes and erratic service".[119] After foods from Gascony were added to the menu in 1986, Bryan Miller wrote for the Times: "Several of the Gascon dishes alone make a trip to the Ambassador Grill worthwhile."[35]
In contrast to the mixed reviews of the cuisine, the Ambassador Grill was widely praised architecturally. Goldberger said the restaurant was "New York’s first good hotel dining room since the 1920s"[36][42] and described it as the city's "most sensuous piece of modern design in a public place" since the Four Seasons Restaurant opened in 1958.[120] According to Goldberger, the Ambassador Grill was a "far more intimate drinking place" in comparison to the "nobler" Four Seasons.[120] Sheraton said the ceiling was "startling and somewhat wonderful" in spite of the quality of the food,[36][119] while Miller said: "The subterranean dining room is striking with its interplay of dark walls, smoky glass panels and starry lighting."[35][121] Robert A. M. Stern wrote in his book New York 1960 that the main hallway in the restaurant had "extraordinary reflections" and that the restaurant itself was a "spectacular setting".[26][28]