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New York City on Tuesday landmarked some lavish public interiors at the Waldorf Astoria to save them as the hotel's Chinese owners start a renovation that will produce hundreds of private condominiums.
Nine members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to preserve two dozen original spaces of the grand Park Avenue hotel that opened in 1931. The commission must approve any future changes.
China's Anbang Insurance Group Co. bought the Waldorf in 2015 for nearly $2 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. The makeover involves converting hundreds of guest rooms into condominiums, while Hilton will continue to run a diminished hotel when it reopens in two to three years.
The landmarks vote protects parts of the first three floors of the 47-story building, including the grand ballroom and balconies, the entrance floor mosaic assembled with 140,000 marble tiles, and the lofty lobby with its chiseled tower supporting a small Statue of Liberty.
Also landmarked are vestibules, foyers, lounges and arcades in various parts of the building graced with gilded plaster reliefs, metalwork and exotic wood paneling. On the third floor is a mirrored hallway with a black-and-white mosaic floor linking four additional ballrooms.
Architect Meenakshi Srinivasan, who chairs the commission, calls the newly landmarked areas "some of the most internationally renowned rooms in all of New York City."
The Waldorf's exterior was landmarked in 1993.
The hotel hosted U.S. presidents, royalty and celebrities for eight decades before closing on March 1.