Stay & Play
Westgate New York Grand Central
Historic hideaway in Tudor City, a quiet slice of Midtown East
by Randy Mink
We don’t normally associate the word “cozy” with New York City, but a snug feeling swept over me while making a new discovery on my recent trip there. I’m familiar with most neighborhoods in the borough of Manhattan but probably would not have stumbled across historic Tudor City had I not stayed at the newly renovated Westgate New York Grand Central.
Tucked in the Murray Hill district on Midtown Manhattan’s eastern flank, Tudor City, a leafy residential oasis brimming with Old World charm and the architectural flourishes of high-rise buildings almost a century old, proved to be a great base of operations. Grand Central Terminal and the heart of tourist activity were short walks from my East 42nd Street hotel. United Nations Headquarters, an East River landmark, was just two blocks in the other direction.
The 500-room Westgate New York Grand Central occupies two red-brick towers in Tudor City, an ambitious development started in 1927. Designed to be a self-contained community, Tudor City was the first residential skyscraper neighborhood in the world. The Westgate originally was the Hotel Tudor and for many years a Hilton.
Westgate Resorts opened the hotel in 2018 and celebrated a grand reopening three years later. In a major makeover, the 20- and 17-story towers from 1927 were completely gutted, but original mouldings and outer windows with wrought-iron grids survive. There are 38 different room configurations, and 13 rooms have a private balcony or terrace.
The lobby’s most striking features are artworks depicting glamorous women, including reproductions of iconic Gustav Klimt paintings. Most recognizable is the Klimt work popularly called The Woman in Gold, a portrait of Viennese socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer set against a field of gold, Byzantine-like mosaics. The painting was the subject of Woman in Gold, a 2015 movie starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds.
The rustic Tudor City Tavern, with its exposed brick walls and columns, serves as the hotel’s social center and breakfast room. Signature cocktails include Moon Over Manhattan, a blend of vodka, elderflower liqueur and white cranberry juice garnished with an edible orchid frozen inside an ice sphere.
Guest room amenities include a jumbo LED TV, mini refrigerator, laptop-size safe and coffee maker. Sparkling bathrooms feature a large, backlit LED mirror, quartz vanity and magnifying makeup mirror.
Triple-pane windows keep out much of the traffic noise, and they open for fresh air. I had views of balconies, terrace gardens and penthouses of vintage Tudor City buildings accented with the terra cotta medallions, limestone window trim and castellated rooftop turrets typical of those found throughout the neighborhood. It was like waking up to merry olde England or a university campus in Collegiate Gothic style. Some rooms afford views of the East River.
After a busy day of Manhattan sightseeing, it’s comforting to know a good night’s sleep awaits at the Westgate New York Grand Central in peaceful Tudor City.
A member of Historic Hotels of America, the hotel is one of 22 U.S. properties of Westgate Resorts.
