New Yorker Hotel

The New Yorker Hotel is a mixed-use building at 481 Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1930, the building was designed by Sugarman & Berger in the Art Deco style and is 42 stories high, with four basement stories. The building is owned by the Unification Church of the United States, which rents out the lower stories as offices and dormitories. The upper stories comprise the hotel, which has 1,083 guestrooms and has been operated by Lotte Hotels since 2025. The 1-million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) building also contains three restaurants and approximately 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2) of conference space. The facade is largely made of brick and terracotta, with Indiana limestone on the lower stories. There are setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, as well as a large sign with the hotel's name. The building contains a power plant and boiler room in its fourth basement, which was an early example of a cogeneration plant. The public rooms on the lower stories included a Manufacturers Trust bank branch, a double-height lobby, and multiple ballrooms and restaurants. Originally, the hotel had 2,503 guestrooms from the fourth story up. The New Yorker was built by Mack Kanner and was originally operated by Ralph Hitz, who died in 1940 and was succeeded by Frank L. Andrews. Hilton Hotels bought the building in 1954 and, after conducting extensive renovations, sold it in 1956 to Massaglia Hotels. New York Towers Inc. acquired the building in 1959 but surrendered the property to Hilton in 1967 as part of a foreclosure proceeding. The hotel was closed in 1972 and sold to the French and Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center, which unsuccessfully attempted to develop a hospital there. The Unification Church purchased the building in 1976 and initially used it as a global headquarters. After the top stories of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994, the lower stories were used as offices and dormitories. The hotel rooms have undergone multiple renovations since the hotel reopened. The New Yorker joined the Ramada chain in 2000, then it was transferred to the Wyndham brand in 2014 and to Lotte in 2025.