Few buildings in New York City enjoy the same level of recognition as the Plaza Hotel. Featured in novels, songs, and movies, the hotel is famous for its high-profile residences and guests.
First built in the 1880s, the development of the hotel was a daring endeavor since Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and Central Park South was still relatively undeveloped and sparsely built up with unremarkable brownstones yet to be replaced with stately mansions. Thirty blocks away, on the west side of Central Park,The Dakota stood surrounded by a wasteland sparsely dotted with small farms and vegetable gardens.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the area around The Plaza had become a rapidly growing commercial district on Fifth Avenue. In 1902, The Plaza and three adjustment lots were purchased by a conglomerate of developers, and the construction of a new building began. When The Plaza reopened in 1907, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt became the first guest to sign its register. Other notable residents were Harry Frank Guggenheim, Kay Thompson, who wrote the Eloise book series about a girl who lived at the hotel, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy, a prominent portrait painter who shared a suite with a pet lion.
Digital archiving and restoration of the rare photograph of the Original Plaza Hotel as it appeared before it was replaced with the new building was commissioned by one of New York City's exclusive social clubs dedicated to the preservation of New York history and heritage. The photograph required careful cleaning and retouching of some missing parts of the building and its surroundings. Following the client's request and directions, clouds were added to fill in the empty sky, and the photograph was colorized to give it a similar appearance to vintage hand-colored photographs.