St. Regis Hotel, 2 East 55th Street

A frothy confection of Second Empire Revival architecture, the immense St. Regis Hotel consists of an original building of 1904 by Trowbridge & Livingston with a 1927 addition by Sloan & Robertson.  The famed “Old King Cole” mural by artist Maxfield Parrish graces the King Cole Bar, installed in 1932; the mural was originally commissioned for the bar at the still-extant Knickerbocker Hotel at 42nd Street and Times Square.

Celebrated bartender Fernand Petoit claimed to have invented the Bloody Mary at the St. Regis Hotel in 1934; his customers included every American President from that year until 1972, with the exception, for some reason, of Lyndon Johnson.

The hotel has been featured in several films, most notably Whit Stillman’s “Metropolitan” where it is the scene of a debutante ball.

The St. Regis Hotel does not have a Fifth Avenue address; it is entered at 2 East 55th Street.

The St. Regis Hotel is one of only four buildings on Fifth Avenue constructed as hotels that still serve their original purpose; the other three are the Peninsula (across the street); The Plaza Hotel; and the Pierre.

The building is a New York City Landmark.

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