A look at what remains of one Fifth Avenue’s premier hotels

Holland House at Fifth Avenue and 30th Street was once one of the city’s premier hotels. Today, it is an office building, but there are still remnants of its Gilded Age splendor.

An original detail from the hotel (source: Ephemeral NY)

“Every window in the Holland House, at Fifth Avenue and 30th Street, was glowing with light last night when the doors were opened to hundreds of visitors bidden to see the beauties of the new hostelry,” the New York Times wrote December 6, 1891.

The Times went on to write that “Holland House presents many novelties—and extremely attractive ones too . . . In the main hall, leading from the Fifth Avenue entrance, the walls and the carved staircase are of Sienna marble.”

An original staircase from the hotel (source: Ephemeral NY)

According to Ephemeral New York, the hotel also boasted a famously extensive wine cellar, numerous banquet and drawing rooms, a popular restaurant and a staff of 180 employees. President Taft even stayed there in 1912.

But as the elite moved uptown and competition from even more luxurious hotels like the original Waldorf Astoria became more intense, the hotel passed into history.

But unlike many of its betters, Holland House still stands — marble staircases and ornamental motifs and all. [Ephemeral NY] – Christopher Cameron