New York Daily Photo Analytics

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Sherry

This is the Sherry Netherland (as seen from Central Park), an absolutely exquisite and remarkable building in the finest location in NYC, at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue with immediate neighbors like the Metropolitan Club and the Pierre and Plaza Hotels. If you are not familiar with it - it maybe due to its somewhat understated elegance and small lobby, unlike that of the Waldorf Astoria, e.g. The Sherry does not even have a Wikipedia entry, yet many architects consider it one of the finest skyscrapers in NYC. Built in 1927, it stands at 570 feet/38 stories. The Sherry Netherland is an apartment hotel - there are 53 guest hotel rooms and 97 cooperative apartments ($1.3 - $13.5 million; cash only). Above the 24th floor there is only one apartment per floor. Designed by renowned architect Leonard Schultze, with his partner, S. Fullerton Weaver - their firm also designed the Pierre, the Waldorf, The Breakers (Palm Beach) and The Biltmore hotels in Atlanta, Coral Gables and Los Angeles. The Sherry features travertine marble facing on the base and an elaborate Gothic-inspired minaret. Unique touches include the whimsical griffins with hanging lanterns that guard the exterior. Some of the finest retailers grace the street level such as A La Vieille Russie or Domenico Vacca. The lobby was modeled after the Vatican Library. There are classical friezes rescued from the Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion one block south where Bergdorf Goodman now stands, vaulted ceilings, ornate mirrors, crystal chandeliers, hand-loomed French carpets (removed in the summer, allowing the beautiful marble floors to show) and antique furnishings. Corridors feature vaulted ceilings, as well as faux columns hand detailed in gold leaf. They employ a full-time person to do nothing but reapply gold leaf to the hotel’s many architectural details and hand paint the exquisite detail on the room numbers and elevators. Attendants are on duty 24 hours a day in the Sherry’s original wood-paneled elevators, embellished with hand-painted Renaissance scenes. Attendants wear full livery and use approximately 140 pairs of white gloves each week. Some of the bathrooms have crystal chandeliers. And then there are the rooms that face Central Park ...

11 comments:

Neva said...

wowser....very nice....who knew??? I am impressed just looking at it.

Janet said...

Definitely exquisite! I thought I noticed gargoyles up there, and I see that is correct.

Brian Dubé said...

My photo doesn't do it justice. Check out their website (there's a link).
And by the way - they seem to make a point that those are griffins, not gargoyles :)

travelphilippines said...

wow thats nice. thanks to this site i feel like im travelling around the street of new your. keep it coming and all the best for your site.

Kate said...

You composed the photo well to highlight the building.

Anonymous said...

What a shot of a classic building.

Planet Earth Daily Photo.

Anonymous said...

Wow yes wow. Nice building and I don't think I have ever seen it pictured before. I also wonder if you had to use photoshop to straighten up the walls.

I read your description and that was interesting too.

Nice post, Brian.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville Daily Photo

Anonymous said...

It is a nice looking building...but EXPENSIVE!

It's so odd that NYC hotel rooms are more expensive (even boutique hotels) than a city like Paris. Even taking into account that we pay 30% (now 38% yikes!) more due to the weak dollar! I wonder why that is?

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Unknown said...

Nice building. You blog stays awesome, I still check out every week or so. Love the city!!

Eva said...

Your site always brings me wonderful memories from when I lived in NYC.
Especially this building. I recall trying to get into the bar with a date, but no way. It was all private.
BUT I worked as a makeup artist ....and one time I did a bride who had a suite there. OMG. The elevator alone was remarkable. Every single detail - superb.

Thanks for this great site!