Wurts Bros., Savoy Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, 1942

Until its demolition in 1964, the Savoy Plaza Hotel formed part of the ring of buildings framing Grand Army Plaza at the southeastern tip of Central Park at Fifth Avenue. Along with the Sherry-Netherland Hotel to the north, the Squibb Building, Bergdorf Goodman, and the Paris Theater to the south, and the Plaza Hotel, these buildings filled in the street wall around the Carrère and Hastings–designed pedestrian plaza, which opens to the park on its north side. Built by McKim, Mead & White in 1927, the Savoy Plaza Hotel fronted on Fifth Avenue with a line of retail shops at its base, concentrating activity at the street while contributing to the sense of enclosure within the central square. CY