Interiors of the Waldorf Astoria are landmarked in New York City

In March 2017, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark several public interior spaces of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, completed in 1931 by architects Schultze & Weaver in the high Art Deco style. The hotel’s exterior has been a New York City landmark since 1993.

Read the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission press release here.

The vote will protect the building's most lavish public spaces, including interconnected rooms and corridors on the ground, first, second, and third floors. In December 2016, the new owners of the iconic hotel, Anbang Insurance Group Company based in China, announced plans to turn three-quarters of the hotel's 1413 guest rooms into condominiums. The extensive plans raised fears the hotel’s original interiors would be gutted by the new owners. 

It turned out that Anbang supported the interior landmarking, which made the process easier for the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Art Deco Society of New York and other Art Deco societies around the world, including the Art Deco Society of California, rallied members and engaged in a campaign via email and social media to ask for an immediate review by the Landmarks Commission. The hotel’s interior had already been on the commission’s agenda for an interior landmark review since late 2016, but the campaign by concerned preservationists helped push the agenda faster. The Commission concluded that “the Waldorf is notable and unique for containing some of the finest and most culturally significant Art Deco interiors in New York City.”

The hotel was closed in March 2017 to begin the extensive project. In March 2020, the first 75 condominiums were put on the market for sale, with studios starting at $1.6 million. The hotel is currently scheduled to reopen in 2022. Skidmore Owings Merrill are the architects of record, with French interior designer Jean-Louis Denior working on the interiors of the condos. Preservation has been ongoing of the hotel’s interior public spaces, objects, and art works.

Waldorf Astoria interior paint matching and restoration in progress / Photo from The Waldorf Towers website