In 2001, the historic landmark American Radiator Building was transformed into The Bryant Park Hotel. Since our opening, we have embraced a guest-centric service philosophy, consistently prioritizing our guests’ needs and desires. Our dedication to fostering a personal connection with each guest is what sets us apart, creating a truly exceptional experience.
We are fortunate to welcome guests from around the world, and our focus on outstanding service and spacious accommodations has allowed us to build lasting relationships with many over the years.
Every guest, and every moment they spend with us, is important. This commitment has earned The Bryant Park Hotel worldwide recognition as a leader in hospitality.”
In 1686, Bryant Park was designated as public property by New York Colonial Governor Thomas Dongan. During the early stages of the Revolutionary War, General Washington’s troops hurried across the site after their defeat at the Battle of Long Island. By 1807, the grid system of streets was established in what is now Midtown, extending north from the already vibrant downtown Manhattan. Fifteen years later, in 1822, the land came under the jurisdiction of New York City.
Built in between 1839 and 1842, the Croton Distributing Reservoir was a man-made four acre lake, surrounded by massive, fifty-foot-high, twenty-five-foot-thick granite walls. Along the tops of the walls were public promenades, offering expansive views of the growing city. This water-supply system was one of the greatest engineering triumphs of nineteenth-century America, and widely considered an integral part of the first supply of fresh water carried by aqueducts into the city from upstate New York. Iron pipes transported water forty-one miles to the receiving reservoir in what is now Central Park, thence to the distributing reservoir at this site. The aqueduct system, constructed at a cost of $11.5 million, officially opened on July 4, 1842. In 1846, the New York City Common Council ordered construction of a public park on the land next to the Reservoir. Reservoir Park was formed in 1870, and one year later, underwent a $72,000 renovation. The reservoir itself was eventually torn down, following numerous delays, in 1900.
Inspired by the success of The Great Exhibition of 1851, held in the famed Crystal Palace exhibition hall in Hyde Park, London, New York City began preparations for a similar exhibit on U.S. soil. The New York Crystal Palace was built on Reservoir Square, the park just west of the Croton Reservoir. Designed by Georg Cartensen and Charles Gildemeister, the glass and metal structure was built in the shape of a Greek cross and boasted a domed roof 100 feet in diameter. It remained standing until October 5, 1858, when it burned down.
The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, also commonly referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition, featured four thousand exhibitors and displayed the industrial wares, consumer goods, and artworks of the nation. Notable exhibits included mineral resources of the U.S., the newest precision steam engines, and the largest crocodile ever captured. United States President Franklin Pierce delivered a speech at the opening ceremony on July 14, 1853.
Built next to the Crystal Palace in 1853 as part of the exhibition, was the 315-foot-tall Latting Observatory. Conceived by Waring Latting, and designed by architect William Naugle, this octagonally based, iron and wood tower was the tallest building at the time of its construction and offered patrons unobstructed views of Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey. It perished in an 1856 fire.
The first of its kind in New York City, the Crystal Palace Exhibition set off one of the first major tourism booms in New York with over one million visitors. (In spite of its popularity, the exhibition’s sponsors lost $300,000 on the venture.) The exhibit closed on November 1, 1854, though the structure remained standing and was leased for a variety of purposes over the next four years.
During the Civil War, Reservoir Square was used as an encampment for Union Army troops. Shortly after, in March of 1863, the Union government issued the first draft notices in American history, setting off a series of riots throughout the city. One of the most horrendous acts of the riots was the July 1863 burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets. Throughout the late nineteenth century, many uses were suggested for the reservoir site and also the square, including a rejected petition to use the space for an armory.
In 1884, Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park, to honor recently deceased Romantic poet, longtime editor of the New York Evening Post, and civic reformer, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). Around this time, the city approved designs for the New York Public Library, submitted by architects John Merven Carrére and Thomas Hastings. The Beaux-Arts building was completed in 1911, with a raised terrace at the rear of the library and two comfort stations at the east end of Bryant Park.
Overlooking Bryant Park on its southern border, the American Radiator Building (now known as the American Standard Building) was conceived by architects John Howells and Raymond Hood and completed in 1924 for the American Radiator Company. The skyscraper features a striking combination of black brick and gold-colored masonry units.
The architects blended Gothic and modern styles in the building's design, using black brick on the façade to symbolize coal and convey a sense of solidity. In contrast, other sections of the façade are adorned with gold bricks, representing fire. The entrance is embellished with marble and black mirrors, and Howells and Hood collaborated with their frequent associate, Rene Paul Chambellan, for the building's ornamentation and sculptures.
While the overall aesthetic of the skyscraper is Neo-Gothic, the general ornamentation leans toward abstract forms that hint at the emerging Art Deco style, which would gain prominence in subsequent years and influence nearby structures, including the Empire State Building.
The American Radiator Building is notable for being the first New York skyscraper to feature dramatic exterior lighting. Architect Raymond Hood directed that the building’s upper floors be illuminated with floodlights, as he preferred not to have lights turned on after dark. This visual impact made the structure "one of the sights of the city" at night, attracting the attention of passing pedestrians. Fittingly, the building was designed to resemble the company’s signature product: the radiator. The black brick symbolizes coal, and when illuminated at night by its floodlights, the entire structure has been compared to a "giant glowing coal."
With its striking appearance, the building essentially serves as an advertisement for the American Radiator Company.
Spying the building shining in the night from her apartment on the top floor of the Shelton Hotel, Artist Georgia O’Keeffe captured the drama in the building’s luminous crown, searchlights shooting up into the evening sky, some catching a neighbor’s heating fumes, and the name “Alfred Steiglitz” in red neon to “advertise” the work of her publicity-shy husband-photographer. The dynamic 1927 painting “Radiator Building — Night, New York” was one of a series of New York City skyscraper paintings she created between 1925 and 1929.
A 1920's period of decline, brought on by neglect and the effects of Sixth Avenue subway construction, prompted the Architects' Emergency Committee to open a 1933 competition for rejuvenation of Bryant Park to architects idled by the Depression. Lusby Simpson of Queens produced the winning design, and it was implemented within a year by the Parks Department under its new Commissioner Robert Moses, with Aymar Embury II serving as architect to the department. The design featured a 300 by 215-foot Great Lawn by Gilmore Clark, promenades planted with London plane paralleling the lawn. In 1936, a wrought-iron fence enclosure was added with cast-iron embellishments fabricated by New York's J.W. Fiske Ironworks.
The American Standard Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1974, it was designated a landmark by The Landmarks Preservation Commission. The 26-story tower is notable for its striking colors—black brick trimmed in gold—and its unconventional shape, making it a distinctive feature of the skyline.
Until World War II, Bryant Park served as an open-air reading room for the New York Public Library. However, by 1974, it had once again slipped into obscurity, prompting the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate it a scenic landmark.
The further decline of the park in the 1970s led to the establishment of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation by the Rockefeller brothers. Daniel A. Biederman, then a 26-year-old systems consultant and chairman of the local community planning board, was chosen to lead this new initiative alongside Andrew Heiskell, the Chairman of the Library. On January 3, 1980, they co-founded the BPRC, with Biederman devising a plan for private management and funding of the park. The revitalization was inspired by urbanist William H. Whyte, Jr.’s theories on public spaces, emphasizing the importance of social interaction and comfort over isolation.
The landscape architecture was crafted by Hanna/Olin Ltd., while the park's buildings were designed by the architectural firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer & Associates. After extensive renovations, which included the addition of 84 miles of shelving in two levels of underground storage for the library, the new Bryant Park opened in 1992.
The park's resurgence confirmed Whyte's findings in the Street Life Project: city dwellers seek connection, comfort, and care in public spaces, rather than solitude. Today, Bryant Park is often favorably compared to the great parks of London and Paris. In recognition of its transformation, it received the Urban Land Institute Excellence Award for Public Projects in 1996.
In 1998 the building was sold. Several years later the American Standard Building was converted to The Bryant Park Hotel which opened on February 14, 2001, with 128 guest rooms. The conversion also included a film studio screening room in the sub-basement, a cocktail lounge in the lower lobby space, and a restaurant in the lobby. The exterior of the building is a National Historic Landmark building so none of the exterior features of the building could be changed when converted to a hotel. Only the interior space was changed during the conversion.
New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells gained widespread recognition in 1922 after winning the international competition to design the Chicago Tribune's office tower. This success led to numerous high-profile opportunities, including a commission from the American Radiator Company to design its New York City headquarters overlooking Bryant Park. The American Radiator Building was Hood's second skyscraper design, following the Tribune Tower.