Lapidus-designed hotel at Lexington and East 51st designated. Following the no-vote on the Crawford Clothes building at 36 East 14th Street, Landmarks voted to designate the Morris Lapidus designed Summit Hotel at 569 Lexington Avenue at East 51st Street, currently operated as the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. Lapidus’ original design included dark green tile and turquoise brick, a dramatic Scurved slab facade, a distinctive oval-lettered blade sign and aluminum globe-shaped light fixtures lining the East 51st Street frontage.

Voting to designate, Chair Robert Tierney noted that Lapidus’ choice to put the Summit Hotel on the front cover of his 1979 autobiography, The Architecture of Joy, attested to its significance. Commissioner Thomas Pike, approving, stated that he hoped the designation would be a catalyst for the new owner, Oxford Capital, to restore lost historic building elements. (read more…)