The Lost Park Lane Hotel - 299 Park Avenue

 

The American Architect, November 5, 1924 (copyright expired)

Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver formed the architectural firm of Schultze & Weaver in 1921.  Their first commission was on the other side of the continent, designing the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel.  In 1922, they received their first New York commission--to design the Park Lane Hotel that would engulf the Park Avenue blockfront from 48th to 49th Streets.  

On September 19, 1922, the New-York Tribune reported that the "thirteen-story hotel apartment which the 299 Park Avenue Company will erect...will contain 600 rooms."  The article said, "Close to $11,000,000 will be involved in the project."  That amount, which including leasing the site from the New York Central Railroad, would translate to a staggering $200 million in 2024.

To ensure light and ventilation on all sides, the owners reserved a 50-foot-wide strip of property at the rear as a private street called Park Lane.  Schultze & Weaver further assured natural light and air to all the suites by designing the building in an H configuration.  The architects drew their inspiration for the Park Lane from Renaissance Italy.  Clad in red brick above a limestone base, the upper floors were sparsely decorated with balconies and pediments.  Schultz & Weaver reserved the bulk of the ornament for the ground floor.  Aristocratic doorways were capped by broken pediments, and the two Park Avenue wings were joined by a single-story, arcaded section that held the main dining room.

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The New-York Tribune said, "The apartments will vary from one to six rooms in size, although the building will be so constructed as to be able to furnish any number of rooms in one suite...The central portion of the Park Avenue facade will be occupied by a restaurant, which will be for the use of the public as well as tenants in the building." 

The lobby carried on the Italian theme with a polychromed wooden ceiling.   The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

A private entrance on 48th Street accessed the main ballroom.  "There also will be a smaller ballroom to accommodate between 250 and 300 persons," said the New-York Tribune.  Larger suites included maids' rooms, and additional servants' rooms were included on each floor, "so that tenants having personal maids may have them adjacent to their suites if they so wish," explained the article.

Because the Park Lane was an apartment hotel, suites did not have full kitchens, only a "serving pantry."  Therefore, reported the New-York Tribune, "Meals will be served in the apartments from the kitchen below with no extra room service charge."

The American Architect published a photo of "a typical living room" in the Park Lane on November 5, 1924.

On March 1, 1924, as the Park Lane neared completion, the Record & Guide wrote, "While the apartments will be rented by the year and be unfurnished, there will be complete hotel service throughout."  Rents started at $2,940 a year for a two-room apartment (bedroom, bathroom, pantry and living room).  That figure would translate to $4,400 per month today.

Real Estate Record & Guide, March 1, 1924 (copyright expired)

According to The Architectural Forum in November 1924, the larger suites included "boudoirs or dressing rooms," which had "proved a very attractive feature, and one which has been shown to have a strong appeal to women."  The magazine was especially taken with the "ample closet space."  The main closet, which included a window, "is large enough to store a trunk in, with enough spare space to walk around it" and could store "about 20 suits or dresses."

An advertisement for the Park Lane in 1924 called the residential hotel "the pioneer example of a new type of metropolitan living," saying the building "combines the comfort of the highest class of residence with the advantages and conveniences of hotel operations."  

The main dining room.  The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

Among the initial residents was one of its designers, S. Fullerton Weaver.  A bachelor, Weaver came from a distinguished family of Fairfax Court House, Virginia.  He was the great-great-grand nephew of President James Buchanan.  His summer home, Spencecliff, was in East Hampton, Long Island.  On June 3, 1929, The New York Times reported that Weaver's engagement to Lillian Leacock Howell had been announced.  They were married on June 27 in the Howell residence on East 84th Street.  The New York Times reported, "Following the ceremony there was a reception in the Tapestry Room of the Park Lane, which was decorated with cybotium [sic] ferns."

Other early residents were Clarence M. Wooley, president of the American Radiator Corporation; C. H. Duell, former chairman of the New York Republican Party; and Chris G. Hupfel, secretary of the Hupfel Brewing Corporation, founded by his father John C. G. Hupfel. 

The extended Hupfel family owned real estate, as well, and for years, Chris Hupfel and his brothers had been harassed by a former tenant, Mrs. Kossara Spanaljowitch, the sister of the Serbian Ambassador to France.  In 1917, she was committed to Bellevue Hospital for ten days.  She sued Chris Hupfel and two of the doctors for $250,000 each for conspiring to have her declared insane.  She additionally accused Hupfel of having tried to persuade her to become a German spy during World War I.

The main ballroom.   The Architectural Forum, November 1924 (copyright expired)

On the afternoon February 9, 1925, Chris Hupfel was headed home on Lexington Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets when Kossara Spanaljowitch stepped out from the crowded sidewalk and began firing a gun.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Hupfel was struck by two shots.  One entered his left cheek and the other his neck on the left side, barely missing the spinal column, and lodged near the nasal cavity."

The 50-year-old was taken to Bellevue Hospital and Spanaljowitch was quickly apprehended.  At the stationhouse she denied having shot Hupfel, but admitted having "had trouble with the family" for years.  Six months later, on August 4, the New York Evening Post reported that Spanaljowitch "was today committed to the State Asylum for Insane Criminals at Matteawan."  She had been diagnosed as "suffering from paranoia, with 'mania-depressive traits," according to the article.

The family of James A. Moffett Jr. were also early tenants of the Park Lane.  He and his wife, the former Adelaide Taft McMichael had four children.  Moffett's father had been president of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana and later vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.  The younger Moffett joined the Standard Oil company on October 1, 1906.  On June 10, 1924, The New York Times reported that he had been elected a vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, saying, "Mr. Moffett now ranks among the highest officials of the Standard Oil organization."

Society columnists followed the movements of Park Lane residents closely.  On October 6, 1924, for instance, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. George E. Dunscombe, who have been at the Ambassador, have gone to their apartment, 299 Park avenue."  On February 20, 1935, The New York Times reported that the couple "gave a dinner last night in the Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria," and the following year, on May 28, 1936, the newspaper reported, "Mr. and Mrs. George E. Dunscombe gave a dinner last night in the Starlight Roof Garden of the Waldorf-Astoria."

The entrance to the main dining room.  Arts & Decoration September 1924 (copyright expired)

Like all monied New Yorkers, residents of the Park Lane spent their summers elsewhere.  On June 26, 1925, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Healy have closed their apartment at the Park Lane and are passing the summer at the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club at Rye, N. Y."  The article continued, "Mr. and Mrs. David Huyler have also closed their apartment there and have gone to their country house.  Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Offerrman of the Park Lane will pass the summer at the New Monmouth Hotel, Spring Lake, N. J."

On August 18 that year, the New York Evening Post reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Colt came in from Currey Farm, Garrison, N. Y., and are at their apartment in the Park Lane for a day or two.  Mrs. Colt was a luncheon hostess yesterday at the Park Lane.  Among her guests was Mrs. Charles D. Dickey of Villa Nova, Pa."  (On the same page, the newspaper noted, "Mrs. George Dunscombe entertained Mrs. Charles D. Orth, jr., at luncheon yesterday at the Park Lane.")

A retired exporter, Richard C. Colt had graduated from Yale in 1885.  His wife, the former Mary Adelaide Sloan, was the daughter of Samuel Sloan, described by The New York Times as the "famous railroad builder noted for his philanthropy."  The couple had three adult children.

Maude Emery Smith was the widow of Alfred Holland Smith, president of the New York Central Railroad.  He was killed in a fall from his horse in Central Park on March 8, 1924, leaving Maude with an estate "of several million dollars," according to the New York Evening Post.  Her country home was in Chappaqua, New York.

It seemed that scandal was about to erupt in the Park Lane in the fall on 1926.  During the last week of October, interior decorator Harold F. Le Baron moved into Maude Smith's apartment.  Two weeks later, however, it was discovered that the two had been secretly married in Maude's apartment on October 23.  No explanation of why the marriage was kept secret was disclosed.

Benjamin Joel Duveen and his wife, the former Gertrude Moss, lived here at the time.  The couple had two children, Benjamin and Rhoda.  Duveen was the son of Sir Joseph Duel Duveen of England and was associated with the family's high-end art gallery, Duveen Brothers, at 720 Fifth Avenue.   Gertrude died in the apartment on February 2, 1927 at the age of 39.

The dressing room of the Hamilton Kerr apartment in 1930.  photo by Samuel H. Gottscho from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In June 1932 James A. Moffett began receiving alarming letters.  The first demanded $30,000 or his daughter Margaret would be kidnapped.  Just three months after the infamous Lindbergh baby's kidnapping, the threats were taken seriously.  The New York Age reported on July 2, "This letter was followed by others until one came that stated that Mr. Moffett would receive a telegram informing him how to send $30,000."  Moffett turned the communications over to police, who alerted telegraph companies to notify them immediately of any messages intended for Moffett.  Moments after 18-year-old William H. Duff sent his final telegram, he was arrested.

With the crisis behind them, the Moffetts returned to their upscale lifestyle.  On December 29, 1933, The New York Times reported from Palm Beach, Florida, "James A. Moffett entertained tonight with a dinner aboard his yacht, the Bidou."  Among the guests were Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, and Lady Mendl.

Attorney George J. Gillespie and his wife, the former Leonore  Tierney, lived here by mid-century.  An attorney, he was highly involved with the Roman Catholic Church and served as the consul for the Archdiocese of New York.  He was made a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XI in 1921, and later made a Knight of Malta.  Upon his death at the age of 82 on February 17, 1953, he left Leonore a trust fund of nearly $3.5 million in today's dollars.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

On July 8, 1965, The New York Times reported, "Demolition of the 14-story Park Lane Hotel has begun in preparation for a 42-story office tower."  The article noted that the "new building of stainless steel, glass and granite" would be designed by Emery Roth & Sons, reminiscing that the Park Lane had been "a gathering place for New York Society."

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for suggesting this post

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