The historic Hotel Pennsylvania, which opened in New York in 1919, is in the midst of a major renovation project that will soon see it add additional event space. The hotel has 1,705 guestrooms.
The hotel just completed 230 modernized guestrooms on the 14th and 16th floors of the 22-story hotel, following the completion of 430 revamped rooms this past April. The third phase of the project, slated for completion in early 2021, will see the addition of a new Executive floor, new public spaces and new event spaces.
The Penn Plaza Collection, as the new rooms are known, have been redone in a contemporary palette of white and pale beige, with modern wood furnishings. Alll have new fittings, carpeting, wall-mounted HD televisions and refreshed bathrooms, although these still have their original subway tiles and cast-iron bathtubs. Other original touches still present include the Servidors, which are now only found at two other hotels in the United States. Also called valet doors, the Servidors were installed at the entrance to guestrooms and included an interior compartment with access from both the hallway and inside the guestroom. The compartment allowed guests to drop off their shoes and laundry for the bellman to retrieve and return to the same compartment the following day. These doors have been preserved in all of the redesigned guestrooms.
Elevator landings on select guest floors have also been reimagined as combined lounge and co-working spaces, which have been fitted with communal tables made from reclaimed materials. Additionally, an original pantry room on the 12th floor has been transformed into a historical display area that guests can view through a glass wall. Inside are artifacts from the hotel’s heyday, including a laundry “mangle” that was used to squeeze water out of linens before pressing, an original room service phone, a space with pneumatic tubs to place the orders, the hotel industry’s first-ever refrigerator, and an all-copper fire extinguisher.
Ranking fourth in size among New York hotels, the Hotel Pennsylvania is set in Midtown, directly across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.
Photo by the Hotel Pennsylvania
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