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…)

Summit Hotel and Crawford Clothes Building considered for designation. On March 29, 2005, Landmarks held a joint public hearing on two buildings designed by the modern architect Morris Lapidus: the 1961 sea-foam brick Summit Hotel at Lexington and East 51st Street and the 1948 Crawford Clothes Building, also known as the Paterson Silk building, at West 14th Street and University Place.

brothers Preston Robert and Laurence Tisch, following the success of his modern Florida hotels, designed a dramatic 21-story, S-curved slab facade hotel, clad in turquoise brick and green Italian tile. The S-curve shape, both dramatic and practical, permitted Lapidus to increase the hotel room count to 800 from the 500 projected from a traditional box design. When challenged about the dramatic shape and its bright interior following its opening, Lapidus responded, “Why be exotic in private.” The three-story Crawford Clothes store, one of Lapidus’ earliest distinguished works, was noted for the slanted center glass tower that separated its metal-screen and Roman brick facades. (read more…)