| 525 Lexington Avenue | |
|---|---|
 The building with FOUND branding in 2023 | |
 | |
| Former names | New York Marriott East Side Shelton Hotel Shelton Towers Hotel Halloran House |
| Alternative names | FOUND Study Turtle Bay |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival, other |
| Address | 525 Lexington Avenue |
| Town or city | Manhattan, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′20″N 73°58′22″W / 40.75556°N 73.97278°W |
| Construction started | 1922 |
| Completed | 1923 |
| Opened | January 1924 |
| Closed | March 2020 (as hotel) |
| Height | 387 ft (118 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 35 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Arthur Loomis Harmon |
| Developer | James T. Lee |
| Awards and prizes | Gold Medal of Honor, Architectural League of New York (1925) Gold Medal, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (1925) |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 655 |
| Designated | November 22, 2016 |
| Reference no. | 2557 |
525 Lexington Avenue (also FOUND Study Turtle Bay; formerly the Shelton Hotel, Shelton Towers Hotel, Halloran House, and the New York Marriott East Side) is a student dormitory and former hotel building at 525 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 34-story, 387 ft (118 m) building was designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon in a classical style and was developed by James T. Lee, grandfather of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. It was constructed between 1922 and 1923 as the Shelton Hotel, an apartment hotel. The Marriott East Side, one of several large hotels developed around Grand Central Terminal as part of Terminal City, became a New York City designated landmark in 2016.
The building contains setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution; at the time of its construction, the Shelton was quoted as the world's tallest hotel. The first two stories of the facade are clad with limestone, while the upper stories are faced with grayish-brown brick, interspersed with terracotta and limestone trim. When it opened, the hotel featured numerous amenities similar to those in a clubhouse, such as a gymnasium, a bowling alley, Victorian-style Turkish baths, a swimming pool, a barber, squash courts, and billiard tables. The upper stories originally contained 1,200 rooms, which was decreased to about 650 rooms in the late 1970s, as well as outdoor terraces on the 15th and 31st floors. The Shelton Hotel was widely praised by architectural critics upon its completion. Its design has been cited as an influence for that of other structures, such as the Empire State Building.
Lee acquired the site in 1922 from the International Sporting Club, which had unsuccessfully attempted to build a clubhouse there. The hotel was completed in January 1924 as a men-only hostelry and opened to women later that year; it attracted tenants such as Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe. The New York Life Insurance Company acquired the hotel in 1935, and the Knott Management Corporation took over the hotel's operation, buying it in 1946. The hotel was sold multiple times in the 1950s. Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo Jr. bought the hotel in the 1960s and leased it to Stanley Stahl, who closed the hotel in May 1971. Tishman Realty & Construction planned to build a skyscraper on the site in the 1970s but canceled its plans after several holdout tenants refused to relocate. The contractor Edward Halloran acquired the hotel in 1976 and renovated it into the Halloran House, a Howard Johnson's hotel. Marriott Hotels & Resorts took over the hotel in 1990 and operated it until 2020, when the hotel closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawkins Way Capital and Värde Partners bought the building in early 2023 and renovated it into a student housing facility, FOUND Study Turtle Bay, which opened that September.