The Plaza Hotel will close next January and remain shut for at least four years while workers repair and restore its historic facade, ending daily access to one of New York City’s most recognizable landmarks for a long stretch. The building’s operator, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, says the project will focus on the hotel’s exterior and will require detailed planning and coordination.
That makes the timing matter now. Guests who expect to stay at the Plaza in the coming seasons will have to make other plans, and the closure will take the 18-story hotel out of service for a renovation that is tied to historic preservation requirements. The hotel opened its doors in 1907, and more than 119 years later it is still known for its architectural character and craftsmanship.
The Plaza has been part of the city’s image for generations, and not only because of its age. It appeared in the 1992 movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, where Kevin McAllister checks into the hotel with his father’s credit card, giving the property a place in pop culture that has outlasted the film itself. The closure was first reported by, but the bigger news is simpler: a hotel that has long been treated as a fixture of Midtown Manhattan is about to disappear behind renovation work for years.
That is where the friction lies. A landmark can be protected by preservation rules and still require a shutdown this long, which tells you how demanding the restoration will be. The hotel has not given a reopening date, so next January is the only fixed point on the calendar for now.
