Page 174 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

172  NE W Y ORK CIT Y AREA B Y AREA

8 Villard Houses 0 General Electric
Building
457 Madison Ave (Lotte New York
Palace). Map 13 A4. Tel (800) NY 570 Lexington Ave. Map 13 A4. q
PALACE. q 51st St. Lexington Ave. Closed to the public.
∑ lottenypalace.com
Henry Villard was a Bavarian In 1931 architects Cross & Cross
immigrant who became were commissioned to design a
publisher of the New York skyscraper that would be in
Evening Post, and was one of the keeping with its neighbor,
first presidents of the Northern St. Bartholomew’s
Pacific Railroad. In 1881, he Church. Not an
bought the land opposite easy task, but
St. Patrick’s Cathedral and hired the result won
McKim, Mead & White to design acclaim. The
town houses on the site. The colors were
inspired result, completed in chosen to blend
1884, has six four-story houses St. Bartholomew’s Church and contrast,
set round a central court and the design
opening to the street and 9 St. Bartholomew’s of the tower
the church. The interiors were Church complemented
designed by the sculptor the church’s
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Soon 109 E 50th St. Map 13 A4. Tel (212) polychrome
after completion, financial 378-0222. q 51st St. Open 9am– dome.
6pm daily (to 7:30pm Thu &
difficulties forced Villard to sell, 8:30pm Sun). 5 frequent. 7
and ownership passed to the lectures, concerts. = 8 after 11am
Roman Catholic archdiocese. Sunday services. 0 (212) 888-2664.
When the church outgrew its ∑ stbarts.org
space in the 1970s, the houses
were saved by the Helmsley Known fondly to New Yorkers
chain, who purchased air rights as “St. Bart’s,” this Byzantine
for the 51-story Helmsley (now structure with its ornate detail,
Lotte New York) Palace Hotel. pinkish brick, open terrace, and
The hotel was built in 1980 to a a polychromed gold dome
design by Emery Roth & Sons, brought color and variety
and the building was later to Park Avenue in 1919.
restored in 2003. After a stint of Architect Bertram Goodhue
ownership by the Sultan of incorporated into the design
Brunei, the property was bought the Romanesque entrance
out by South Korea’s Lotte Hotels portico created by Stanford
& Resorts, at $805 million, in 2015. White for the original 1903
The upper section of the lobby St. Bartholomew’s on Madison
has a red Verona marble fireplace, Avenue, and marble columns The General Electric Building on
with carvings that represent from the earlier church were Lexington Avenue
hospitality, joy, and moderation. used in the chapel.
Dolphins sit on either side as St. Bartholomew’s program View the pair from the corner
fountains. Saint-Gaudens also of concerts is well known, of Park and 50th to see how
designed a zodiac as is its theater well it works. The General
clock, which can group, which Electric is no mere backdrop to
be viewed by mounts three the church, but a work of art in
the ornate productions in its own right and a favorite part
marble the church of the city skyline. It is an Art
staircase. each year. Deco gem from its chrome and
marble lobby to its spiky “radio
waves” crown.
Walk one block north on
Lexington Avenue to find a place
much cherished by movie fans.
It is right at this spot that Marilyn
Monroe, in a billowing white
frock, stood so memorably in
the breeze from the Lexington
Avenue subway grating in the
Villard Houses, now the entrance to the Lotte New York Palace movie The Seven-Year Itch.

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