Vanderbilt Hotel (at right), date unknown.

Built by the great-grandson of railroad magnate, Cornelius Vanderbilt, in 1912, the Hotel Vanderbilt was designed by Warren and Wetmore, one of the firms involved in the creation of Grand Central Terminal. At 22-stories, the facade was largely restrained, though with fanciful terra cotta ornamentation at the top. The interiors were grand and packed with new modern technologies: a Gustavino ceiling graced the basement Della Robbia Room and pneumatic tubes carried messages between floors.

Vanderbilt, who lived in a lavish two-story apartment on the top floors died saving a fellow passenger when the Lusitania sank in 1915. His family sold the hotel in 1925 and in 1967 it was converted into office and residential spaces. During and after this conversion the lower floors were stripped and reclad with a modern facade and much of the terra cotta was removed (some of it has ended up in the garden at the Brooklyn Museum).

Today the building looks as it has since the 1970s. The Della Robbia Room was designated an interior landmark in 1985, though the building's exterior remains unprotected.