The Benjamin Royal Sonesta New York (formerly the Beverly Hotel and Benjamin Hotel) is a hotel at 125 East 50th Street, at the northeast corner with Lexington Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 29-story hotel was designed by Emery Roth in the neo-Romanesque style and contains 209 rooms. The Benjamin, one of several hotels developed around Grand Central Terminal as part of Terminal City, is a New York City designated landmark.
The hotel building's facade consists largely of limestone and brick. The building contains light courts facing east, as well as setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which taper to an octagonal tower at the top of the hotel. The limestone base is two stories high and contains storefronts and a main entrance on 50th Street. The upper stories are generally clad with brick and contain architectural terracotta and cast stone ornamentation. The hotel contained a double-height lobby, which was originally designed in the Spanish style, as well as a restaurant. The upper stories were divided into 177 apartments of one to four rooms each, although these were rearranged into 209 guestrooms in 1999.
Moses Ginsberg developed the structure as an apartment hotel named the Beverly, which opened in October 1927. Ginsberg continued to operate the Beverly until 1951, when he sold it to real-estate investor Irving Maidman. International Hotels Inc. bought the Beverly in 1959 and renovated it. After a series of sales in the late 20th century, Manhattan East Suite Hotels (later Denihan Hospitality Group) acquired the Beverly in 1997 and renovated it over the next two years, renaming the hotel the Benjamin. The hotel was again renovated between 2010 and 2013, and Sonesta International Hotels acquired the Benjamin in 2021.
Site The Benjamin Hotel (originally the Beverly Hotel) is at 125 East 50th Street, on the northeastern corner of Lexington Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It sits on the southwestern portion of a city block bounded by Lexington Avenue to the west, 50th Street to the south, Third Avenue to the east, and 51st Street to the north. The Benjamin occupies a nearly rectangular land lot with an area of . The site has a frontage of on Lexington Avenue and on 50th Street.
569 Lexington Avenue is to the north on the same block, and St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church and the General Electric Building are to the west. The Benjamin is also near the Waldorf Astoria New York to the southwest and 345 Park Avenue to the northwest. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Lexington Avenue/51st Street station, served by the , is across Lexington Avenue from the hotel. The Beverly was part of Hotel Alley, a collection of hotels developed along Lexington Avenue in the early 20th century. Many of the hostelries on Hotel Alley had been built in part to serve the now-demolished Grand Central Palace on Lexington Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets.
Architecture The hotel was designed in the neo-Romanesque style by Emery Roth, assisted by associate architect Sylvan Bien. The hotel's construction involved numerous contractors. Although the hotel has 29 physical stories, New York City Department of Buildings documents cite the 26th floor as the highest usable floor, skipping the thirteenth floor. Because there is no 13th floor, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) describes the hotel as having 25 habitable stories. Conversely, the author Steven Ruttenbaum characterizes the hotel as being 30 stories high.
Form and facade The first two stories of the facade are clad with limestone, above which the facade is largely made of gray-brown brick. The hotel originally contained casement windows on its facade. The building's facade has cast stone and terracotta ornamentation; over the years, some of the brick and mortar has been replaced, and air-conditioner openings have been installed on the facade.
The hotel contains various setbacks on its exterior, with its massing tapering from a rectangular base to an octagonal tower. The setbacks on three sides of the building contain terraces, which were accessed by French doors leading from the adjacent apartments. The eastern elevation of the facade contains a light court and sets back above the 23rd story, while the northern elevation sets back above the 25th story. When the Beverly Hotel opened, the rooms were illuminated by sunlight on the west, south, and east. The top of the building has a water tower with wheel windows; a pavilion with arched windows; red Spanish-tiled roofs; and a copper finial.
Base
The base of the facade contains double-height arched openings in the Romanesque style. On both 50th Street and Lexington Avenue, the first story of each arched opening contains storefronts, and the arches are each divided into three panes at the second story. The hotel's main entrance, near the eastern end of the 50th Street elevation, is sheltered by a bronze-and-glass marquee. Originally, the hotel contained a second entrance on the Lexington Avenue facade, which led to the hotel's dining room. The keystones above the arches contain corbels with foliate decoration, which are alternatively topped by sculptures of owls or pelicans.
The outermost bays contain reconstructed double arches at the first story, which include roundels and bas-reliefs. Above these are rectangular windows, which contain window sills with corbel tables and are flanked by engaged columns. On both 50th Street and Lexington Avenue, numerous objects have been installed at the base over the years, including flagpoles, security cameras, display boxes, signs, ventilation openings, and utility meters. In addition, arched corbel tables are placed above the second story and below each setback.
Upper stories On the upper stories of the Lexington Avenue and 50th Street elevations, each of the outer bays has one window per floor, while the center bays each have two windows per floor. On the third story, the center bays have terracotta frames and are separated by mullions with terracotta decoration, while the outer bays contain corbels that depict warriors' heads. The fourth-story windows contain corbel tables, as well as spandrel panels with rosettes and plaques, beneath their window sills. At the fifth story, a band course runs horizontally across the facade; it contains spandrel panels with roundels, in addition to a carved window sill beneath each fifth-story window.
The windows on the 14th story are designed similarly to an arcade, with three arched windows per bay; each of the windows contains columns and imposts that are topped by curved lintels. The spandrel panels above the 14th story contain rosettes, and the center bays have balconettes with corbel tables. The outer windows on the 15th and 16th stories contain terracotta frames and are flanked by ornamental piers that contain carvings of pelicans. The center bays at the 15th story have flat-headed windows with ornate frames, in addition to lintels with rosettes, while the outer bays contain balconies with cartouches and spandrel panels with balustrades. At the 16th story, the center windows are designed like arcades, with columns, imposts, and curved windows. On the 17th through 19th stories, the windows in the center bays contain terracotta frames, balconettes, and spandrels with rosettes. In addition, the 17th story contains niches with pelicans and finials, and the 19th story contains terraces sheltered by porticos. The 19th-story terraces on 50th Street contain balconettes with rosettes, while those on Lexington Avenue contain niches with pelicans.
On both the Lexington Avenue and 50th Street elevations, the 20th story contains a bay that is angled away from the rest of the facade; this bay contains arcaded windows, balconettes, and corbel tables. Both elevations have arcaded windows on two additional stories, which contain balconettes. These arcaded windows are located on the 22nd and 24th stories of the 50th Street elevation and on the 22nd and 25th stories of the Lexington Avenue elevation. The top levels have setbacks with crenelation, and the 50th Street elevation contains a chimney with ornamental cap.
Interior
Base Initially, the hotel had six ground-level storefronts facing Lexington Avenue, as well as eleven offices on the second floor facing Lexington Avenue or 50th Street. The hotel originally contained what The New York Times described as a "voluptuous Spanish-style lobby, encrusted like a galleon, in blue, maroon, gold and amber". The double-height lobby contained ornate plaster decorations. The room was surrounded by marble wainscoting, with inlaid panels above a black-marble baseboard; the window frames and doorways were also clad with inlaid multicolored marble. The lobby floor had a velvet carpet decorated with blue floral motifs and silver and gold accents. The lobby had a vaulted ceiling, which contained six hanging bronze lanterns with amber panes. One wall contained a set of three stained glass windows. Floor lamps and wall brackets provided additional illumination, and there was red furniture. The hotel's main elevator banks were placed across from the stained-glass windows. Almost all of this decoration has since been removed.
The hotel had a two-story restaurant that could fit 300 people. The upper story of the restaurant contained private dining rooms and connected with the lobby's mezzanine. The restaurant had art glass windows, as well as a ceiling that was painted to give the impression of inlaid woodwork. By 1999, the hotel had a lounge above its lobby. The hotel operated the Woodstock Spa as well.
Upper stories The Beverly originally operated as an apartment hotel with 177 apartments. These units were served by two passenger elevators, a freight elevator, and two staircases. The units were located on the third through 26th floors and had between one and four rooms. The apartments on the lower floors contained one or two rooms, a serving pantry, foyer, and bathroom and were placed on either side of a corridor. Some of these apartments contained dining alcoves. Many apartments on the upper floors, above the 15th story, contained three rooms. The apartments on these stories were generally larger and included outdoor terraces on the setbacks, as well as full-sized dining rooms. When the hotel opened, there was high demand for apartments with outdoor terraces. The top four stories contained mechanical equipment.
The modern-day bedrooms begin at the fifth floor. When the hotel was renovated in 1999, there were 209 rooms; these included 97 one-bedroom suites, as well as one suite with two bedrooms. The rooms ranged from , larger than typical hotel rooms in Manhattan. Each of the rooms had a refrigerator, a microwave, and high ceilings and was decorated in a cream-and-beige color scheme. The suites had pull-out sofas and wet bars, and several suites had access to outdoor terraces. The bathrooms had stainless-steel furnishings. All of the units were soundproofed. , the hotel has 209 units. The hotel has 98 suites (including two named suites, the Beverly and the Benjamin) with Manhattan–themed artwork and lounge seats. The Beverly Suite has a marble dining table and a "library wall" in its living room, while the Benjamin Suite has a conference table and an "art wall" in its living room.
History