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Four Seasons Hotel New York
New York City, New York, United States · Four Seasons · Grand Luxury
I. M. Pei and Frank Williams raised the 52-story Magny limestone tower on East 57th Street as Pei's only New York hotel, opening in June 1993 at 682 feet as the city's tallest hotel. Ty Warner bought it in 1999 for $275 million; after a pandemic closure and owner dispute, it reopened November 15, 2024 with Peter Marino interiors still framed by Pei's 33-foot foyer.
- 219 rooms
- Opened 1993
- Neighborhood: Midtown
- Rooms from 500 sq ft (46 m²)
- Architect: I.M. Pei
- Interiors: Peter Marino (Royal Suite, Presidential Suites, Ty Warner Penthouse); Pierre-Yves Rochon (FIFTY7)
About Four Seasons Hotel New York
- I. M. Pei's sole New York hotel commission translates 1920s grand-hotel setbacks into a rare limestone skyscraper.
- The facade uses the same French Magny limestone Pei specified for the Louvre expansion, with an illuminated onyx ceiling and 33-foot grand foyer.
- At 682 feet when it opened in June 1993, it was the tallest hotel in New York City.
- Beanie Babies entrepreneur Ty Warner purchased the hotel in 1999 for $275 million, then among the highest prices paid for a single American hotel.
- Closed in 2020 amid COVID and an owner-management dispute, the hotel reopened November 15, 2024 after a deal restored the Four Seasons partnership.
History
The site on East 57th Street between Madison and Park Avenues had stood vacant for years when real estate developer William Zeckendorf assembled the 25,000-square-foot through-block parcel in the 1980s. Robert Burns of Regent International Hotels, seeking a canvas for a landmark Manhattan property, engaged EIE International Corporation of Japan and secured the commission for I.M. Pei — the Chinese-American architect then at the height of his powers, completing projects including the glass pyramid at the Louvre and the expansion of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The hotel that Pei designed with collaborator Frank Williams would be his only New York hotel commission and, by many accounts, the most formally ambitious project of his late career.
Pei's approach was explicitly retrospective: rather than produce a glass tower in the manner of his commercial work, he reached back to the grand hotel architecture of 1920s and 1930s New York. The fifty-two-story tower, clad in the same French Magny limestone used in the Louvre expansion, deploys setbacks, cornices, and lanterns that give it the presence of a Waldorf-Astoria contemporary rather than a late-twentieth-century skyscraper. The grand foyer features Pei's characteristic play of light through geometry: octagonal limestone columns, an illuminated onyx ceiling, and 33-foot ceilings that dwarf the arriving guest in a way that communicates occasion. Construction began in 1990, financed by a consortium of Japanese banks, with the reported cost of more than $1 million per room. The Four Seasons Hotel New York opened in June 1993 as the tallest hotel in the city at 682 feet — a distinction that reflected both the tower's ambition and the compressed nature of its through-block site between 57th and 58th Streets.
The hotel's ownership passed from EIE International, whose financial difficulties were casualties of the Japanese real estate collapse, to Lai Sun Group in 1996, and then in 1999 to Ty Warner, the entrepreneur behind Beanie Babies, for $275 million — at the time one of the highest prices ever paid for a single American hotel. Under Warner's ownership the property maintained its position as one of New York's most discreet addresses for heads of state, Hollywood talent, and the ultra-wealthy, with the Ty Bar — a wood-paneled cocktail room named for its owner — becoming one of Midtown's most reliably elegant spots. The hotel closed in 2020 and underwent a comprehensive multi-year renovation before reopening in November 2024, with interiors reimagined by Peter Marino and the restaurant program overseen by chef Maria Tampakis. The renovation preserved Pei's architecture while modernizing every element of the guest experience, restoring one of Manhattan's most significant postmodern buildings to operating condition for a new generation.
The setting
Four Seasons Hotel New York rises fifty-two stories at 57 East 57th Street in an I.M. Pei-designed limestone tower completed in 1993, widely regarded as one of the architect's defining works — its 33-foot lobby ceilings and Art Deco-inspired setbacks a definitive statement on Billionaires' Row between Park and Madison Avenues. Central Park is a six-minute walk, The Plaza six minutes west, and Rockefeller Center eleven minutes on foot, placing the hotel at the epicenter of Midtown's most concentrated luxury enclave. The east 57th Street corridor has historically been the address of flagship luxury brands and corporate headquarters, a prestige that I.M. Pei's tower has anchored and reinforced for three decades. 10-minute walk to Museum of Modern Art.
Restaurants and bars
- The Garden — Restaurant · Italian-inspired · Chef Maria Tampakis
- Ty Bar — Bar · Maria Tampakis
- Coffee Station — Café
Experiences
- Personalised one-on-one fitness training — Full-body workout designed around the guest's needs, including warm-up, strength and flexibility training (fee applicable), accessed through the Concierge team.
- Individualized stretching — Personalised stretch programme using three methods to improve motion and circulation.
- Private in-room fitness instruction — Warm-up, strength training and stretching in the privacy of one's room.
- Central Park workout — Walk or run with a personal fitness trainer to guide and pace.
- Off-site activities — Museums, biking, boating, ice skating, Central Park picnics and carriage rides, tennis, golf at Chelsea Piers, the Central Park Zoo and sporting events.
- Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research — Annual 5K family fun run/walk supporting cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Amenities
- Newly renovated spa (opened late 2025)
- 24-hour fitness center
- FIFTY7 private event space
- Ty Bar lobby cocktail destination
- The Garden all-day dining
- Dedicated Grand Foyer concierge
- Sauna
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Five Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
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