The Plaza opened in 1907 and was immediately declared a National Historic Landmark. It occupies the corner where Fifth Avenue meets Central Park South — the most cinematically potent real estate in Manhattan — and the building's French Renaissance châteauesque silhouette remains the definitive image of the city for everyone who has not visited it. For those who have, it remains exactly that: the building is as good in person as it is in photographs, which is almost never true.
The 282 rooms include more than 100 suites, all furnished in a style that could be described as Edwardian optimism — gilded, mirrored, unapologetic. Gold-plated bathroom fixtures are not an accident but a statement of position. The 24-hour butler service provides the kind of continuity that prevents the grandeur from tipping into mere decoration. The Royal Suite, at 5,000 square feet, remains the largest hotel suite in New York by a margin that makes comparison irrelevant.
The Palm Court, designed with Tiffany stained-glass ceiling, has been the destination for afternoon tea in New York since the building opened. The Champagne Bar, the Rose Club, and the Plaza Food Hall in the basement — curated by Todd English — provide enough dining variety within the building to make departure optional. The Eloise Suite, inspired by the Kay Thompson character who lived at the Plaza in the children's books, remains one of the most requested rooms in the hotel's history.
The location is without peer in New York for families. Central Park begins at the front door. The Fifth Avenue shopping district is adjacent. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is fifteen minutes' walk. The building's fame means that children arrive already knowing where they are, which produces a particular quality of excitement that no amount of programming can replicate.
The Plaza's family credentials run deeper than the Eloise mythology, though that helps. The Central Park location — with horse-drawn carriages at the front entrance, the park itself for cycling, rowing, and simply running — creates an outdoor programme that supplements the hotel's own family services. The suites are large enough to function as apartments. The Palm Court's afternoon tea is an occasion children remember. And the building itself, simply by being what it is, elevates the family trip to something worth a photograph of the building alone.
From $700/night. Central Park at the front door.
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