The Four Seasons Restaurant

The Four Seasons Restaurant (known colloquially as the Four Seasons) was a New American cuisine restaurant in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City from 1959 to 2019. The Four Seasons operated within the Seagram Building at 99 East 52nd Street for most of its existence, although it relocated to 42 East 49th Street in its final year of operation. The restaurant was themed around the seasons of the year, with menus, decorations, and vegetation that changed every three months. It attracted numerous high-profile personalities and often hosted "power lunches". Despite mixed commentary of the restaurant's food, the Four Seasons was highly popular, winning the James Beard Award many times. The Four Seasons was created in order to fill a vacant space next to the Seagram Building's lobby. Originally operated by Restaurant Associates, the Four Seasons opened on July 20, 1959, and soon became a popular luxury restaurant. Following a downturn in patronage in 1973, Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi acquired the Four Seasons, which became known for its power lunches. In 1994, Margittai and Kovi passed operation of the restaurant to their junior partners, Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini, who operated the restaurant until the Seagram Building location closed in July 2016. After a two-year hiatus, von Bidder and Niccolini reopened the restaurant on 49th Street in August 2018, but the Four Seasons was unprofitable in its new location and closed permanently on June 11, 2019. The interior of the original restaurant was primarily designed by Philip Johnson, who worked with several designers, including L. Garth and Ada Louise Huxtable. The interior consisted of two discrete spaces known as the Grill Room and the Pool Room, connected by a corridor, as well as a basement lobby on 52nd Street. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated these spaces as an interior landmark in 1989. The spaces had plantings and custom tableware and furniture. Art inside the restaurant included a permanent mural by James Rosenquist; a major Richard Lippold sculpture; a curtain designed by Pablo Picasso; and temporary exhibitions that included works by Joan Miró, Frank Stella, Ronnie Landfield, and others. The restaurant attracted celebrities, businessmen, and politicians including Anna Wintour, Henry Kissinger, Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, George Lois, Bill Bernbach, Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Diana.