The Plaza's legacy in New York City

Construction begins on the first Plaza Hotel at the former site of the NY Skating Club but funding falls short. New York Life Insurance Company forecloses, hiring architects McKim, Mead & White to complete the hotel and redesign the interior.

The new Plaza Hotel, constructed in twenty-seven months at a cost of $12.5 million, opens its doors on October 1, 1907.

Summer Garden, a seasonal restaurant, opens in the area later known as The Rose Room.

The Champagne Porch, an outdoor cafe along Fifth Avenue side of the hotel, opens.

Volstead closes Men’s Bar. It later become The Oak Room.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published, with scenes set in the hotel.

A new ballroom opens on October 3, 1921.

The hotel enforces a three-day maximum stay during the war years.

In October of 1943, Conrad Hilton and Atlas Corporation acquire the hotel for $7,400,000.

The Oak Bar opens on January 13, 1945.