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Hotel des Artistes
General information
Location	New York City, New York
Address	1 West 67th Street
Design and construction
Architect(s)	George Mort Pollard

Hotel des Artistes is a historic residential building located at 1 West 67th Street, near Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1917, the ornate 17-story, 119-unit Gothic-style building has been home to a long list of writers, artists, and politicians over the years.

History

In 1914, a group of artists—including Walter Russell, Frank DuMond, Willard Metcalf, and Penrhyn Stanlaws—paid $250,000 to buy a parcel of land on the west side of Central Park with the plans of building Hotel des Artistes. At the outset, they planned to erect a 20-story building where 10 stories would be dedicated to artists' studio space and the other 10 would be dedicated to apartments.

Designed by George Mort Pollard, when it opened in 1917, the Hotel des Artistes boasted a large swimming pool, grand ballrooms, rooftop squash courts, a gym, and a restaurant. Apartments had as many as six rooms apiece, and many of the units featured 20-foot lofted ceilings. Kitchens were small, as tenants were able to use their dumbwaiters to receive meals prepared in a kitchen on the second floor. The building is also noted for its pastoral floor-to-ceiling paintings by Howard Chandler Christy, one of its earliest residents.

In 1970, the building transformed into a full co-operative after a new owner purchased it. Several longtime tenants were evicted after a lengthy court battle.

In 1975, violinist turned restaurateur George Lang took over the run-down ground-floor cafe and renovated it, bringing in new diners. Lang and his wife Gloria ran Cafe des Artistes until 2009, when they decided to close it during the recession. In 2011, it reopened under new management as the Leopard at des Artistes.

Notable residents

• Earnest Andersson, who had developed the concept of the Hotel des Artists, and owned several apartments therein
• Rolf Armstrong
• Peter Benchley
• Howard Chandler Christy
• Noël Coward
• Harry Crosby: Writer Harry Crosby—nephew of J.P. Morgan—killed himself and his mistress, Josephine Bigelow, in the building in 1929.
• Charles Dana Gibson
• Frank DuMond
• Isadora Duncan
• Dean Fausett
• Edna Ferber
• Peter Gelb
• Joel Grey
• Elizabeth Hardwick, writer
• Fannie Hurst, novelist, died in her apartment in the building in 1968.
• Ellsworth Kelly
• John Lindsay
• Peter Martins
• Willard Metcalf
• James Montgomery Flagg
• Alla Nazimova
• LeRoy Neiman
• Mike Nichols
• Gary Oldman
• Jean Pigozzi
• Alice Pike Barney
• Zasu Pitts
• Norman Rockwell
• Walter Russell
• Gloria Schiff
• Penrhyn Stanlaws
• Richard Thomas
• Rudolph Valentino
• Margaret Widdemer
• Alexander Woollcott

In popular culture

• Audrey Rose (1977): Hotel des Artistes plays a prominent role in the supernatural drama Audrey Rose. The film's set designers re-created one of the building's apartments on a sound stage in Hollywood.

References

1. ^ Carter, James T. (November 2, 1958). "Books and Things". The Victoria Advocate. p. 24. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
2. ^ Rush, George; Molloy, Joanna (June 15, 1995). "Fab West Triplex Just Isn't Good Enough for Babs". Daily News. p. 629. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
3. "Russell Heads Artists". The Sun. December 25, 1914. p. 13. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
4. "Plan Hotel des Artistes Solely for Illustrators". The Washington Times. February 10, 1915. p. 12. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
5. ^ "Model Apartments for Artists on West Side". The New York Times. March 28, 1915. p. 95. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
6. ^ "Hotel des Artistes to Go Up". The Sun. December 24, 1914. p. 14. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
7. "Art Pays the Artists". The Los Angeles Times. December 24, 1914. p. 6. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
8. Heller, Ann (January 23, 1985). "A Little Romance". Dayton Daily News. p. 21. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
9. "Upper West Side". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. March 30, 1997. p. 93. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
10. Meislin, Richard J. (December 13, 1976). "Painter, 80, Loses Studio in Eviction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
11. ^ Grimes, William (July 6, 2011). "George Lang, Mastermind Behind Café des Artistes, Dies at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
12. Slim, H. Colin (Summer 2009). "Lessons with Stravinsky: The Notebook of Earnest Andersson (1878–1943)". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 62 (2). University of California Press: 334–335. In New York developed the idea for and was on the board of directors of the Hotel des Artistes ... By 1929 he had amassed at least a million dollars and owned several other apartments in the building...
13. "The lost, wild world of Caresse Crosby, notorious queen of 1920s Paris society". the Guardian. February 25, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
14. Barbanel, Josh (June 14, 2017). "How a Manhattan Artists Colony Survived a Century of Changes". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
15. "Novelist Fannie Hurst Dies". Bennington Banner. February 24, 1968. p. 1. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
16. "NY Ghosts "Aggressive"". Press and Sun-Bulletin. October 31, 1996. p. 15. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
17. Cain, Scott (April 17, 1977). "Coburn Film to Show Here at Last". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 190. Retrieved December 28, 2020.

External links

• Christoper Gray's May 14, 2000, Streetscapes column: Hotel des Artistes, 1 West 67th Street; Cornerstone Building on a Block of Artists' Studios

40°46′25″N 73°58′44″W / 40.77361°N 73.97889°W / 40.77361; -73.97889

• 1917 establishments in New York City
• Residential buildings completed in 1917
• Residential buildings in Manhattan
• Gothic Revival architecture in New York City