Garden City Hotel
Encyclopedia
Garden City, New York
Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is located on Long Island, to the east of New York City, from mid-town Manhattan, and just south of the town of...
, the only four-star hotel on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. The first incarnation was built in 1874 by A.T. Stewart and the current fourth incarnation was built in 1983 by the late Myron Nelkin. It is famous for having hosted many world leaders and celebrities, including John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, who stayed at the hotel the night before his famous transatlantic flight to Paris.
History
The original Garden City Hotel first started construction in the fall of 1873 and was opened to great fanfare on July 30, 1874. It was built by millionaire Alexander Turney StewartAlexander Turney Stewart
Alexander Turney Stewart was a successful Irish American entrepreneur who made his multi-million fortune in what was at the time the most extensive and lucrative dry goods business in the world....
and cost $150,000 to build. The original hotel was later redesigned and expanded.
A new Garden City Hotel was opened in 1895, designed by architects McKim, Mead and White. A nine hole golf course was opened for guests in May 1897, which later became the Garden City Golf Club. Four years after the opening of the new hotel, it burned down on the morning of September 7, 1899. A third and most famous incarnation of the hotel was opened on the same site in 1901, and was a host to the elite families of society such as the Vanderbilts and Pierpont Morgans. It continued to be so until it declared bankruptcy and was demolished in the 1973 to make way for the present Garden City Hotel, which opened on May 20, 1983.
On the afternoon of October 20, 2005, a former worker at the Garden City Hotel ran into the building wearing a respirator mask and poured a yellow liquid throughout the lobby, prompting the evacuation of 200 people. Among the guests that were evacuated were players from the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
hockey team, who had stayed over the previous night before a game against the New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. Subsequent laboratory tests indicated that the liquid was non-hazardous and made up to 40 different ingredients including eggs, yeast, and Alfredo sauce.
It was reported in October 2007 that the Nelkin family was exploring the sale of the hotel as a possible option several months after the death of its owner, Myron Nelkin.
The Garden City Hotel is currently a member of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and its current President is Cathy Nelkin Miller.