Murray Hill Hotel, New York City defunct hotel
The Murray Hill Hotel was a seven-story stone and brick building at 112 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It had around 600 rooms and two interior courtyards, with a large entrance lobby featuring marble staircases and floors laid in colorful stone patterns.
The hotel opened in 1884, just steps from Grand Central Depot, which had begun receiving passengers 13 years earlier. It operated for over 60 years before being demolished in 1947 to make way for an office building.
The hotel took its name from the Murray Hill neighborhood, which was named after a family that owned land there in the 18th century. The building became a meeting place for politicians, businessmen, and public figures who gathered in its lounges and dining rooms.
The hotel stood one block from Grand Central Depot and two blocks from the elevated train station, making it easy to reach by rail. Coach services to Post Office Square ran from directly across the street, and Madison Avenue was just a short walk away.
Fires and explosions in 1902 and 1904 damaged both the building and the subway tunnel running beneath it, yet the hotel reopened each time. It had been built with stone, iron, and cement rather than wood, which was an unusual choice for the period and helped it survive both incidents.
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