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LPC votes to calendar Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo's Ambassador Grill and Lobby

Preservation Win

LPC votes to calendar Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo's Ambassador Grill and Lobby

Today the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to calendar Kevin Roche and John Dinkerloo’s Ambassador Grill and Lobby at ONE UN New York Hotel, previously known as the United Nations Hotel. Now that it’s on on the LPC’s calendar, the space is safe from demolition (for now).

The luxe late modern United Nations Plaza Hotel Lobby (completed 1983) and Ambassador Grill & Lounge (completed 1976) at One United Nations Plaza were threatened with demolition when the current owners, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, closed the restaurant to commence a significant renovation that would have stripped the space of its characteristic mirroring, white-veined black stone, and trompe l’oeil skylights.

Preservationists, naturally, were outraged. Advocacy groups like Docomomo’s national chapter and MAS were joined by local preservationists Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Theodore Grunewald, vice president of the Committee to Save the New York Public Library, and members of local Docomomo chapters who together rallied to save the spaces by asking the LPC to consider designating the lobby and grill as interior landmarks. There are currently 117 interiors that are New York City landmarks, and only four of those are restaurants.

When reached for comment, a member of ONE UN New York Hotel’s management team told The Architect’s Newspaper that, with the General Assembly in session, the hotel couldn’t answer questions about the status of the Ambassador Grill. “You picked the wrong time to call,” said a woman who would only give her first name, Pat.


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