The Benjamin Royal Sonesta New York

The Benjamin Royal Sonesta New York
View of the Benjamin Hotel's southwest corner from the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 50th Street
Map
General information
Location125 East 50th Street, New York, NY, 10017
Coordinates40°45′24″N 73°58′19″W / 40.7566°N 73.9720°W / 40.7566; -73.9720
Construction started1926
Opening1927
OwnerSonesta International Hotels
Technical details
Floor count29
Design and construction
Architect(s)Emery Roth, Sylvan Bien
Website
Official website

The Benjamin Royal Sonesta New York (formerly the Beverly Hotel and Benjamin Hotel) is a hotel at 125 East 50th Street, at the northeast corner with Lexington Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 29-story hotel was designed by Emery Roth in the neo-Romanesque style and contains 209 rooms. The Benjamin, one of several hotels developed around Grand Central Terminal as part of Terminal City, is a New York City designated landmark.

The hotel building's facade consists largely of limestone and brick. The building contains light courts facing east, as well as setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which taper to an octagonal tower at the top of the hotel. The limestone base is two stories high and contains storefronts and a main entrance on 50th Street. The upper stories are generally clad with brick and contain architectural terracotta and cast stone ornamentation. The hotel contained a double-height lobby, which was originally designed in the Spanish style, as well as a restaurant. The upper stories were divided into 177 apartments of one to four rooms each, although these were rearranged into 209 guestrooms in 1999.

Moses Ginsberg developed the structure as an apartment hotel named the Beverly, which opened in October 1927. Ginsberg continued to operate the Beverly until 1951, when he sold it to real-estate investor Irving Maidman. International Hotels Inc. bought the Beverly in 1959 and renovated it. After a series of sales in the late 20th century, Manhattan East Suite Hotels (later Denihan Hospitality Group) acquired the Beverly in 1997 and renovated it over the next two years, renaming the hotel the Benjamin. The hotel was again renovated between 2010 and 2013, and Sonesta International Hotels acquired the Benjamin in 2021.