About the hotel
The Plaza opened in 1907 as a French Renaissance château at the corner of Central Park, and has spent a century as America's ceremonial hotel — the place where New York stages its biggest entrances. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1969, the first New York City hotel so designated.
The 2008 conversion split the building between private residences and a smaller hotel, but the public rooms — the Palm Court under its stained-glass ceiling, the Grand Ballroom, the Oak Room's panelling — remain the city's gilded-age showpieces.
Suites & dining
The Eloise Suite, designed with Betsey Johnson, monetises the hotel's most famous fictional resident; the Royal Plaza Suite comes with its own private elevator. Afternoon tea at the Palm Court is the classic booking; the Champagne Bar overlooks the Pulitzer Fountain where Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald allegedly bathed.
The celebrity connection
The Beatles stayed at the Plaza on their first American visit in February 1964, waving to screaming crowds from its windows. Truman Capote threw the Black and White Ball — "the party of the century" — in its ballroom in 1966. It is Hollywood's favourite New York set: "North by Northwest", "The Great Gatsby", "Home Alone 2" (with a cameo from its then-owner Donald Trump) all shot here, and "Eloise" made it the most famous hotel in children's literature.
Location
Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, New York
Worth knowing
- ★First NYC hotel declared a National Historic Landmark (1969).
- ★The Beatles' first US base — February 1964, during the Ed Sullivan visit.
- ★Capote's 1966 Black and White Ball was held in the Grand Ballroom.
- ★Kay Thompson's Eloise "lives" on the tippy-top floor; her portrait hangs in the lobby.
Questions & answers
Which movies were filmed at The Plaza?+
"North by Northwest", "The Great Gatsby" and "Home Alone 2" all shot here, and Kay Thompson's Eloise "lives" on the tippy-top floor — her portrait hangs in the lobby.
What historic parties happened here?+
Truman Capote's Black and White Ball — "the party of the century" — filled the Grand Ballroom in 1966, two years after The Beatles waved to crowds from its windows on their first US visit.
Is The Plaza landmarked?+
Yes — in 1969 it became the first New York City hotel designated a National Historic Landmark. Since 2008 the building splits between a smaller hotel and private residences.
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