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The Ritz Tower is a luxury residential building at 465 Park Avenue on the corner of East 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built from 1925 to 1926 as an apartment hotel and was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings for journalist Arthur Brisbane, who was the developer. The Ritz Tower is about with 41 stories, making it the tallest residential building in New York City upon its completion. Because it was initially classified as an apartment hotel, the building was constructed to a greater height than was usually permitted.
Its classically-inspired design contains numerous setbacks with balustrades, as well as windows with and . The lower floors are highly ornamented, featuring sculpted putti and , as well as rusticated . The top of the tower has a pyramidal roof with a tall obelisk. The interior of the building uses rich material, such as parquetry and wood-paneled walls, all part of Brisbane's desire to make the Ritz Tower the most sought-after apartment hotel in the city. The tower had no individual kitchens in any of the 400 units. Residents over the years have included many personalities associated with the media. When the Ritz Tower was constructed, it received critical acclaim from architectural writers.
After the Ritz Tower opened on October 15, 1926, Brisbane contracted with the Ritz-Carlton Company to manage the building and the restaurants in it. Brisbane was soon unable to pay off the debt load and sold it to William Randolph Hearst, his longtime colleague and friend, in 1929. Hearst gave up the building to his bondholders in 1938 and the Ritz Tower became a housing cooperative in 1956. The retail space at the base has contained several restaurants and stores over the years, including Le Pavillon, one of the first authentic French restaurants in the U.S. In 2002, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Ritz Tower as a New York City landmark.
The Ritz Tower occupies two : a larger lot for residential and commercial use and a smaller lot for commercial and office use. The bulk of the building is on an L-shaped lot with an area of , a frontage of along 57th Street to the south, and a maximum depth of . The corner lot at Park Avenue and 57th Street has an area of , a frontage of along 57th Street to the south, and a frontage of along Park Avenue to the west. This arrangement exists because the developer, journalist Arthur Brisbane, never purchased the lot at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. This lot contained a brownstone occupied the Roome family, who were loath to sell and instead leased the lot for $15,000 a year.
The site is at the intersection of two historically fashionable thoroughfares. By the late 19th century, the Park Avenue railroad line ran in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue. The line was covered with the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century, spurring development in the surrounding area, Terminal City. The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, East 57th Street largely contained homes and structures built for the arts. Many of the residential structures on 57th Street were replaced with offices, shops, and art galleries by the 1920s.
The Ritz Tower contains numerous setbacks to conform to the 1916 Zoning Resolution. There are setbacks on the fourth, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 33rd stories, as well as a pyramidal hip roof topped by an obelisk above the 40th floor. The fourth-story setback overlooks the three-story-tall corner lot on Park Avenue, which was leased from the Roome family. If the Roomes had ever taken back ownership of that lot, they could detach the setback section from the rest of the building, then install a staircase and elevator for their own use. The corner lot was never reverted to the Roome family, which sold the lot in the late 20th century. The other setbacks are mostly placed on all four sides of the building. The setbacks doubled as balconies for residents of the stories at which each setback was positioned.
The ornament is largely clustered around the base, setbacks, and top of the building, while the middle stories are comparatively bare. The setbacks contain and , which soften the perceived sharpness of the setbacks.
Facing south on 57th Street, the limestone base is eight bays wide. The westernmost bay, closest to Park Avenue, contains a rectangular doorway with an elaborate stone entablature at ground level. To the east are three rectangular storefronts alternating with three double-height round-arched openings. The seventh bay from the west, a round arched opening, is a service entrance with a suspended awning; it was originally an alternate entrance to the interior. The eighth bay, the easternmost, contains a rectangular service entrance. Similarly to on Park Avenue, the third floor windows are largely grouped in pairs, though three of the outer bays are single windows. There are three cartouches on the third story, which correspond to the arched window openings below. A stone band with a cornice, atop the third story, is a continuation of the balustrade along Park Avenue.
At the double-height 18th story, all four facades are similar to each other, aside from the number of bays. On each facade, the outermost bays are flanked by brick piers, and they contain broken pediments with cartouches at their centers. The center bays on each side consist of rectangular windows, above which is a continuous lintel and several rectangular terracotta ventilation openings. Above the 18th story is a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 19th story is set back on all sides and has rectangular windows topped by a lintel. The 20th story has rectangular windows with their own sills, and it is surmounted by a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 21st through 24th stories are similar to each other, but with a string course and stone band above the 24th story. The north and south facades are wider on these respective stories than the west and east facades.
The 25th through 32nd stories are plain brick and are topped by a string course and balustrade. On the 33rd and 34th floors, the window bays are separated vertically by pilasters and horizontally by recessed . A string course, balustrade, and central pediment runs above the 34th story. The windows on the 35th story are connected by lintels and topped by a string course. The 36th and 37th stories contain plain openings. On the 38th story, there are three windows on all sides, with the center window on each side being ornately decorated. There is a partial hip roof above the 38th story, surmounted by a square tower with rounded corners. The 39th story has one window on each side while the 40th story has three small openings on each side. Above this is the hipped copper roof of the square tower, with finials at the corners and a limestone lantern and a pinnacle at the center. The pinnacle initially had a gold ball atop it, and the corners also had smaller obelisks with gold balls.
The cellar and basement levels had vaults, a grill room, a kitchen, and a barbershop. The kitchen served the hotel's three restaurants and the residential apartments. The grill room was split across two basement stories and had an "informal" decorative scheme with brass and wrought-iron steelwork and colorful tile work and plaster work. The second to fifth floors were used largely for transient guests, staff rooms, and administrative offices. Particularly, the second and third floors were used for maids' and servants' rooms, as well as individual vaults for each tenant.
The 19th and 20th floors of the building were taken up by an 11-room or 18-room duplex apartment designed for Arthur Brisbane. The Brisbane unit has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The unit has a full kitchen and a servants' living area, features that were not present in any other individual suite, as well as a full terrace on the 19th-story setback. Brisbane was the only resident with his own domestic staff; they lived with him on the 20th floor rather than with the other servants on the second and third floors. The unit is accessed by an elevator leading to a marble entrance foyer. Brisbane's unit has a double-height living room decorated by Thomas Hastings, which measures long and is designed similarly to a Renaissance-era palazzo. There is a wood-burning fireplace, stained-glass doors and windows, and a ceiling from a Venetian palace. Next to the living room is an office–library, a media room, a bedroom, and a bathroom, while the laundry room, a dining room, and the kitchen are next to the opposite side of the living room. A semicircular, leaded-glass solarium leads from the dining room to the terrace. On the 20th floor, three balconies overlook the living room, including a Juliet balcony. The unit's other three bedrooms and bathrooms are located on the 20th floor as well.
The units above Brisbane's duplex each had one to four bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms. The 21st through 24th stories each contained two simplex apartments per floor; by the 1950s, these had been divided into four apartments per floor. Above the 25th floor were the building's "tower apartments". The 25th through 32nd stories each contained two duplex apartments, one for every pair of floors. Each duplex contained a double-height, living room with an entrance foyer on its lower level and a balcony on its upper level. There were also terraces at the corners of the tower. The 33rd to 37th stories each contained one apartment. The apartments on the 25th through 34th floors were divided into three units in the 1950s.
The Ritz Tower was one such apartment hotel, developed by Arthur Brisbane, a prominent columnist for Hearst Communications during the early 1920s. He worked under newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst starting in 1897, and the two men later became close friends. Brisbane developed several buildings in New York City starting in the early 20th century, having been inspired by Hearst's precedent. While the men developed several projects together, only Brisbane was involved in the Ritz Tower's construction. When the Ritz Tower was being proposed, there were few high-rise residential buildings in Manhattan. When planning for the Ritz Tower started in 1924, the tallest residential building that had been proposed in Manhattan was 28 stories high.
Brisbane hired Emery Roth to design an apartment hotel on the site in 1924. That September, Roth publicized plans for a residential structure at 465 Park Avenue, which would be taller than any other building north of 42nd Street. The plans called for a 30-story building with 358 rooms, 165 bathrooms, 135 kitchens, a restaurant, a bank, and art galleries and exhibition space. The apartment tower would have had 144 two- and three-room units on the third through 18th floors, as well as a setback at the 19th floor to serve as a terrace for Brisbane's duplex on the 19th and 20th floors. The 21st through 24th floors would have contained two- and three-room units; the 25th through 28th floors, duplex studios; the 29th floor, a duplex apartment; and the 30th floor, a penthouse apartment. The Diana sculpture from Madison Square Garden was to be placed on the roof.
At some point afterward, Thomas Hastings was hired for reasons that were not clearly publicized. Hastings was known for his designs of numerous classical buildings in New York City, such as the New York Public Library Main Branch and Henry Clay Frick House. He recommended that the Ritz Tower be designed in a classical style, a suggestion with which Roth agreed.
By 1926, the plans had been changed, so the building would be the equivalent of 42 stories. That May, the news media reported that the building was nearly complete and was projected to cost $5–6 million, excluding furnishings. According to The New York Times, the Ritz Tower had "already attracted the attention of architects, artists and building engineers" across the United States. The New York Herald Tribune labeled it as the "tallest apartment hotel in the world". During that October, the city's tenement house commissioner Walter C. Martin issued an order that deemed about 150 "apartment hotels" citywide to be in violation of height restrictions, including the new Ritz Tower. According to Martin, the buildings were not exempt from the law because some units had their own pantries where people could cook on their own. The law was not changed until 1929, though this effectively eliminated any subsequent apartment hotels.
When Hearst had bought the Ritz Tower, he also owned the lot directly to the north, which extended to 58th Street. In 1929, one year after purchasing the structure, Hearst filed plans for a 55-story annex on the adjacent lot, to be designed by F. M. Andrews and J. B. Peterkin if it had been built. Hearst took over the adjacent lot at 110 to 114 East 58th Street in 1931 for the proposed annex. The structure was never built and the site to the north was subsequently acquired by Alcoa. In early 1932, Hearst transferred ownership of the Ritz Tower from the Apperson Realty Corporation to the Park Fifty-seventh Realty Corporation, both of which were under his control. A fire broke out in the tower's basement on August 1, 1932, causing an explosion that killed eight firemen. Seven died immediately, while one died later at the hospital. A Chrysler automobile salon opened at the base of the tower in 1937.
By the mid-1930s, Hearst was operating the Ritz Tower at a net loss, with a deficit of about $592,000 in 1935 and $458,000 in 1936. Concurrently, his own media ventures were losing large amounts of money, leading Hearst to place the building for sale. Hearst forfeited ownership of the building in April 1938 after failing to make payments on the first mortgage loan, and he moved to California from his home in the Ritz Tower. The interior furnishings remained under Hearst ownership, but operations passed to the trustee, the Continental Bank and Trust Company. Shortly afterward, a group called 103 East Fifty-seventh Street Inc. was created to operate the Ritz Tower. The operators filed documents with the New York Supreme Court in December 1938, in which they proposed that the bondholders take over ownership.
Continental Bank and Trust bought the majority of the Ritz Tower at a foreclosure auction in January 1940, excluding the portion of the base on Park Avenue. The reorganization proceedings concluded the next month. A new corporation, New York Towers Inc., acquired the Ritz Tower and issued ownership shares to bondholders. In 1945, the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company placed a ten-year, $1.07 million mortgage loan on the building. A.M. "Sonny" Sonnabend bought the rights to manage the Ritz Tower in 1952 for $17 million.
The Ritz Tower's units were sold at rates ranging from $7,200 for a single room to $43,200 for five rooms. Most of the cooperative units were two-bedroom apartments with four total rooms. There were also studio units and one- to three- bedroom apartments with a varying number of rooms. The old 19th and 20th story duplex was retained as one unit. The Ritz Tower was one of several New York City apartment hotels that had converted to cooperative operation in the mid-20th century. Le Pavillon, one of the first authentic French restaurants in the U.S., moved to the Ritz Tower from 55th Street in 1957, after the renovation was completed. The New York Savings Bank placed a ten-year, $2.74 million mortgage on the building in September 1958. The New York Bridge Whist Club and the Cavendish Club, two contract bridge clubs, were among the groups housed in the Ritz Tower at this time.
By 1980, the Ritz Tower contained 136 co-op units and several short-term units. Brisbane's old duplex was occupied by Mitsukoshi president Shigeru Okada. The other units ranged from between $17,000 and $20,000 for a studio apartment to $100,000 for a penthouse. During that decade, Paul Goldberger described the building as "the ideal pied-à-terre building in New York". The Ritz Tower stopped allowing short-term rentals in 1987. Within the same time period, Henry Hart Rice bought the corner lot along Park Avenue.
Mitsukoshi closed its boutique and restaurant at the base in 1991, and the bank at the building's base moved out the same year. With these closures, Mitsukoshi announced plans to open a department store across the building's lowest four stories during 1993. Ownership of the Ritz Tower was split into two . Mitsukoshi bought one condominium, consisting of within the basement and most of the lowest three stories, for $17.25 million. The residents' cooperative took over the other condominium, consisting of two cellars, the residents' lobby, and all residential stories. The following year, with the early 1990s recession, Mitsukoshi indefinitely postponed its plans to open a department store in the base. Borders leased the retail condominium unit in early 1997 and opened a bookstore there the same year.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark on October 29, 2002. The same year, Borders was looking to close its bookstore at the building, as its other Manhattan location at the World Trade Center had been destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. Ultimately Borders remained in the space until 2011. Businessman Charles S. Cohen bought the retail condominium for $22 million in 2009, but after Borders' closure, was unable to lease the space until 2017, when fashion retailer Richard James and shoe store Harrys of London occupied the space. During the early 21st century, the roof was renovated to plans by Howard L. Zimmerman Architects. In late 2020, luggage retailer T. Anthony leased space in one of the 57th Street storefronts.
The Ritz Tower was particularly popular as a residence for those in the media. The building's tenants have included actresses Greta Garbo, Kitty Carlisle, Paulette Goddard, Deborah Kerr, and Arlene Francis, as well as Francis's husband, actor Martin Gabel. William Randolph Hearst Jr., the son of the publisher, also had a suite in the building. Other tenants have included music producer Clive Davis; radio comedian Goodman Ace; English author Elinor Glyn; TV producer Norman Lear, the creator of All in the Family; and William Hays, the head of the "Hays Office" which censored Hollywood movies. Playwright Neil Simon also occupied the Ritz Tower from the 1980s until he died in 2018; he had vowed to live in the building after visiting Ace's apartment, eventually combining three of the apartments.
The Ritz Tower has been home to non-media tenants as well. George Gustav Heye, who founded the Museum of the American Indian, lived in the Ritz Tower until his 1957 death. Additionally, Charles S. Cohen combined six of the apartments when he lived there, including two apartments owned by the oil magnate Warren Alpert.
Other critics praised the detail, as well as the tower's impact on the development of residential apartments. Will Irwin wrote that the building was "a genuine tower building as comely as any in Manhattan" and suggested that visitors would "lose the sense of exclusiveness and exclusion" while looking at the building. Another critic wrote: "Its easy proportionate narrowings bear spikes and fleches; it leaps upward like a flame." In a book published in 1932, W. Parker Chase wrote that the building was "'just a little bit of Paris' fitted into the American setting of magnificent Park Avenue". According to Fiske Kimball, structures such as the Ritz Tower "have emboldened imagination to conceive a city with lance-like towers set in open plots of greenery". Georgia O'Keeffe also depicted the building in her 1920s painting Ritz Tower, Night.
The building continued to be critically appraised in later years. Elizabeth Hawes wrote that the Ritz Tower's construction "changed the direction of residential architecture" with its vertical emphasis. Carter Horsley described the building as having a "somewhat odd" setback on Park Avenue, although the building was "still very impressive" despite being overshadowed by taller structures in the area. In 1986, Steven Ruttenbaum wrote that the Ritz Tower was not "just an exemplary building from the golden age of New York apartment-houses; it was a prestigious apartment hotel, the symbol of an elegant and conservative life-style that came of age just before the Great Crash".
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