Grand Hyatt New York

Grand Hyatt New York
The Grand Hyatt New York (at left); across the street is the Chrysler Building (at right)
Hotel chain	Hyatt Hotels
General information
Location	Manhattan, New York
Address	109 East 42nd Street
Opening	1919 original, 1980 reconstruction
Owner	Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Management	Hyatt Hotels
Height	295 ft (90 m)
Technical details
Floor count	26
Design and construction
Architect	1919 – Warren & Wetmore 1980 – Gruzen Samton
Other information
Number of rooms	1306
Website
http://newyork.grand.hyatt.com/

The Grand Hyatt New York is a hotel located directly east of the Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was originally built and opened on January 28, 1919, as The Commodore Hotel. In 1980, Donald Trump modernized the outside of the building and renovated the inside as part of his first construction project in Manhattan.

The Commodore Hotel was constructed by the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels group. The structure itself was developed as part of Terminal City, a complex of palatial hotels and offices connected to Grand Central Terminal and all owned by the New York State Realty and Terminal Company (NYSRTC), a division of the New York Central Railroad (NYCRR). The Commodore was named after "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, the founder of NYCRR; a statue of Vanderbilt is located outside the hotel. The Commodore was designed by Warren & Wetmore and leased by the NYSRTC to the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation, of which John McEntee Bowman was president.

The Commodore opened on January 28, 1919. Herbert R. Stone, of NYSRTC, oversaw the decor of its 2,000 rooms. The lobby, called the "Most Beautiful Lobby in The World," was the single largest room in the hotel, with modern low ceilings and a waterfall designed by John B. Smeraldi. A group of conventioneers once told Bowman that "New York City was like a circus," so the next day Bowman, ever a showman, arranged to place a circus, complete with elephants, in the grand ballroom. Another popular spot was the Century Room, which boasted its own orchestra. The Commodore shared a parking garage with its sister hotel, the New York Biltmore Hotel, which had been Bowman-Biltmore's first hotel investment. Another Terminal City property – The Roosevelt Hotel, originally a United Hotel asset – merged with Bowman-Biltmore Corporation on March 4, 1929, giving Terminal City access to all railroad passenger traffic in and out of New York City.