Hotel Mansfield

Turn-of-the-century residential hotels, which served rising professional class, among City’s newest landmarks. On June 12, 2012, Landmarks voted to designate two Midtown hotels constructed in the early 20th century as individual landmarks. The Beaux-Arts Hotel Mansfield is located at 12 West 44th Street, and the Renaissance Revival Martha Washington Hotel is located at 30 East 30th Street.

The 12-story Hotel Mansfield is on the same block as several other individual landmarks, including the Algonquin Hotel, the New York Yacht Club, the Harvard Club, and the former Yale Club. The firm of Renwick, Aspinwall and Owen designed the Hotel Mansfield, which was completed in 1902. The hotel catered to affluent single men and couples without children, who occupied rooms on a permanent and transient basis. The heavily ornamented building features a two-story rusticated limestone base, a balcony below a copper cornice, and a mansard roof with three large arched dormers. The building continues to function as a hotel. At a hearing on the designation in March (read more…)

The Martha Washington Hotel and Barbizon Hotel for Women provided housing for single women pursuing careers. In July 2011, Landmarks held public hearings for the potential designation of two residential hotels in Manhattan that served an emerging class of professional women in the early 20th Century. The Martha Washington Hotel is located at 30 East 30th Street, and the Barbizon Hotel for Women is located at 140 East 63rd Street.

Architect Robert W. Gibson designed the Martha Washington Hotel, which was completed in 1903. The hotel was run by the Women’s Hotel Company. It is one of the earliest examples of a residence catering to single professional women. The twelve-story, Renaissance Revival- style structure provided 500 long-term rooms and 150 rooms for transient tenants. The hotel began admitting male tenants in 1998. The Martha Washington Hotel is now the Hotel Thirty-Thirty.  (read more…)