Herald Towers, 50 West 34th Street

At the end of the 19th Century, many cities were inspired by the Beaux-Arts movement and the Colombian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago to create new and monumental civic environments. New York was no exception and Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station were two of the most important projects that helped transform midtown.

The primary architects of the terminal, Warren & Wetmore, went so far as to create a "Terminal City" that included many hotels around the new terminal in a very elegant style that included rusticated bases and considerable decoration at the top of the brown-brick buildings. These hotels included the Biltmore and Roosevelt on Madison Avenue and the Commodore on 42'd Street at Lexington Avenue. The Biltmore was rebuilt and reclad in polished red granite and converted into an office building and the Commodore was reclad in reflective glass. Only the Roosevelt at 45th Street remains essentially unchanged.

This 25-story building was erected as the McAlpin Hotel in 1913 and was very similar in style to the three "Terminal City" hotels, although it was designed by a different architect, F. M. Andrews.

It was converted in 1980 to one of the city's largest rental apartment buildings with 693 units, mostly studios and one-bedrooms, that became known as McAlpin House.

In 1999, the property was bought by JEMB Realty, owners of the Herald Center retail store on the southeast corner of 34th Street and the Avenue of the Americas, for $150 million and the new owners announced plans to upgrade the apartments as they become vacant. JEMB Realty said it would convert 70 apartments to furnished units, which section became known for a while as Churchill Residence Hotel.

In 1999, a New York Times article on the building said that 290 apartments were rent-stabilized and that 403 were free of rent controls.

Architecturally, the exterior of this hotel was the equal, if not better than the "Terminal City" hotels, although its interior spaces were not as lavish.

For m...