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Eleanor Antin

Eleanor Antin (née Fineman; February 27, 1935) is an American performance artist, film-maker, installation artist, conceptual artist, feminist artist, and university professor.

Early life and education
Eleanor Fineman was born in the Bronx on February 27, 1935. Her parents, Sol Fineman and Jeanette Efron, were Polish Jews who had recently immigrated to the United States. She had one sister, Marcia, born 1940.

She attended the Music and Art High School in New York, New School for Social Research, and the City College of New York, graduating in 1958.

At CCNY she met fellow student David Antin, a poet and art critic who would become her husband in 1961. She studied acting and had some roles, including performing in a staged reading with Ossie Davis at the first NAACP convention. She and her husband moved to San Diego in 1968 with their infant son, Blaise Antin.

She taught at the University of California at Irvine from 1974 to 1979, and from 1979 was a professor of visual arts at the University of California at San Diego.

Career
When she began her artistic career in New York, she started off as a painter and later turned to making assemblages, but starting in the 1960s she began to do the conceptual projects that would become her focus. The first was Blood of a Poet Box (1965-1968), in which she took blood samples from poets and put them on slides. The work, which was inspired by Jean Cocteau’s film Blood of a Poet, eventually held 100 samples, including blood from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and is in the collection of the Tate Modern.

In 1969, she created a portrait, Molly Barnes, out of "a lush lavender bath rug, a noisy electric Lady Schick razor, a patch of spilled talcum powder and a scattering of pink and yellow pills." Molly Barnes was just one of a series of "semantic portraits of people, sometimes real, some-times fictional, [made] out of configurations of brand-new consumer goods" that Antin created.

100 Boots is Antin's best-known conceptual work. In this project, she set up 100 boots in various configurations and settings, photographed them, and created 51 postcards of the images that were mailed to hundreds of recipients around the world from 1971 to 1973. 100 Boots relied on the recipients to remember and construct the boots' adventures, as the postcards were mailed out at intervals ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks "depending upon what [Antin] took to be the 'internal necessities' of the narrative." It documents the boots in a mock picaresque photo diary, beginning at the Pacific Ocean and ending in New York City, where their journey was presented in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

In a famous performance work of 1972, Carving: A Traditional Sculpture, Antin photographed her naked body at 148 successive stages during a month of crash-dieting. The somber, almost classical work is a staple of early feminist art, according to the New York Times art critic Karen Rosenberg.

In The Eight Temptations, 1972, Antin poses in mock histrionic gestures, resisting the temptation to eat snack foods that would violate her diet. In the 1970s/80s, she created several videos in which she played invented personae, including an Elizabethan-style king, a Romantic-era ballerina, a contemporary black movie star called Eleanora Antinova, and Eleanor Nightingale, a character that is a combination of Florence Nightingale and the artist herself.

In 1974, Antin described these impersonations as part of her overarching interest in the transformational nature of the self: "I was interested in defining the limits of myself. I consider the usual aids to self-definition—sex, age, talent, time and space—as tyrannical limitations upon my freedom of choice."

From the 70s until the 90s Antin embodied multiple alter egos in a project that she called "Selves" that implemented through several art forms. This project encompassed four videos: The King (1972), The Ballerina and the Bum (1974), The Adventures of a Nurse (1976), and From the Archives of Modern Art (1987).

In 1997, Antin was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts.

More recently, Antin completed two large scale photographic series inspired by Roman history and mythology: The Last Days of Pompeii, 2002, and Roman Allegories, 2005. Her work was profiled in Season Two of the PBS series Art:21.

She has had dozens of solo exhibitions and has been represented in countless group exhibitions, including at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Kunsthalle Wien, and documenta 12 in Kassel. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.

Her work is largely concerned with issues of identity and the role of women in society. "I was determined to present women without pathos or helplessness," she wrote in a feminist artist statement for the Brooklyn Museum.

In a 2009 interview, Antin described her path to becoming an artist: "When I was a kid, I didn't know what kind of artist I was. I knew I was an artist, I just didn't know if I was an actor, I didn't know if I was a writer, I didn't even know if I was a painter. I was fortunate that I grew up as an artist in a time when all the barriers were falling down. It was a time of invention and discovery. I was lucky."

In 2013, Antin published an autobiographical novel, Conversations with Stalin, about "a young girl's struggle to find her way from her crazy dysfunctional family of first generation Jewish Stalinist immigrants", and "her desperate, endearing, often hilarious quest for art, self, revolution and sex, abetted by a kindly avuncular Stalin dispensing bizarre advice."

Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster Some Living American Women Artists by Mary Beth Edelson.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * "100 Boots" at MoMA, 1973, New York, New York.
 * "Eleanor Antin, R.N. (Escape from the Tower, It's Still the Same Old Story)" at the Clocktower, 1976, New York, New York.
 * "The Ballerina" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1978, New York, New York.
 * "Eleanor Antin" at Marianne Deson Gallery, June 15-July 1979. Chicago, Illinois.
 * "Angel of Mercy" at Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1981, Los Angeles, California.
 * "The Man Without a World" at San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, 1991, La Jolla, California.
 * "Eleanor Antin Retrospective" at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, May 23-August 30, 1999, Los Angeles, California.
 * "Multiple Occupancy: Eleanor Antin's 'Selves'" at Columbia University's Wallach Art Gallery, September 4-December 7, 2013, New York, New York.

Selected group exhibitions

 * "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution" at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, March 4-July 16, 2007, Los Angeles, California.
 * "Elles@CentrePompidou: Women Artists in the Collection of the National Modern Art Museum" at the Pompidou Center, March 23-May 23, 2010, Paris, France.
 * "State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970", "Pacific Standard Time" at the Getty Center, October 1, 2011 – February 5, 2012, Los Angeles, California, and Bronx Museum of Art, June 23-September 8, 2013, Bronx, New York.
 * "Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1954-1977" at the Art Institute of Chicago, December 10, 2011 – March 11, 2012, Chicago, Illinois.
 * "Correspondances" at the Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, February 1-May 5, 2013, Paris, France.

Awards

 * 1997: Guggenheim Fellowship
 * 1998: National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Award
 * 2003: International Association of Art Critics, Best Gallery Show for "The Last Days of Pompeii"
 * 2009: Awarded The Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
 * 2023: UC San Diego Revelle Medal Award, highest award to an emeritus Professor bestowed annually by the University Chancellor == Awards ==

title: Eleanor Antin


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Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

The Diocese of Rockville Centre (Dioecesis Petropolitana in Insula Longa) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Long Island region of New York State in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of New York.

The current bishop is John Barres. The cathedral is St. Agnes Cathedral, in Rockville Centre, New York. Founded in 1957, this diocese was created from territory that formerly belonged to the Diocese of Brooklyn. It includes all of Nassau and Suffolk counties except for Fishers Island, which is part of the Diocese of Norwich. , it the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the United States, currently serving approximately 1.5 million people in 134 parishes.

Early history
During the Dutch and British rule of the Province of New York in the 17th and 18th centuries, Catholics were banned from the colony. Richard Coote, the first colonial governor, passed a law at the end of the 17th century that mandated a life sentence to any Catholic priest. The penalty for harboring a Catholic was a £250 fine plus three days in the pillory. In 1763, Catholic Bishop Richard Challoner of London stated that:"“...in New York, one may find a Catholic here and there, but they have no opportunity of practicing their religion as no priest visits them, and … there is not much likelihood that Catholic priests will be permitted to enter these provinces.'"After the approval of the New York Constitution in 1777, freedom of worship for Catholics was guaranteed.

1784 to 1957
In 1784, Pope Pius VI erected the Apostolic Prefecture of United States of America, including all of the new United States. In 1789, the same pope raised this prefecture to the Diocese of Baltimore. Pope Pius VII in 1808 erected the Diocese of New York, taking all of New York State from the Diocese of Baltimore.

Catholic priests started appearing in Long Island in the mid-19th century, founding missions and parishes. The first Catholic Church in Nassau County was St. Brigid in Westbury, founded in 1840. The first resident priest in Suffolk County arrived in Sag Harbor in 1852 to provide support to Irish Catholic families working on the railroads.

The Diocese of Brooklyn was erected by Pope Pius IX in 1853 from territory formerly a part of the Archdiocese of New York. All of Long Island would remain part of the new diocese for the next 104 years.

1957 to 2000
Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Rockville Centre on April 6, 1957, taking Nassau and Suffolk counties from the Diocese of Brooklyn. The pope named Bishop Walter P. Kellenberg of the Diocese of Ogdensburg as the first bishop of the new diocese. St. Agnes Cathedral was designated as the diocesan cathedral. Kellenberg founded the diocese's Catholic Charities office in 1957. He resigned in 1976.

Kellenberg was followed by Auxiliary Bishop John McGann, named by Pope Paul VI in 1976. In 1984, the diocese closed its minor seminary, St. Pius X Preparatory, in Uniondale. Pope John Paul II in 1999 appointed Bishop James T. McHugh from the Diocese of Camden as a coadjutor bishop in Rockville Centre to assist McGann.

2000 to 2010
After McGann retired in January 2000, McHugh automatically succeeded him as bishop. However, only 11 months later, McHugh died in December 2000. John Paul II then appointed Auxiliary Bishop William Murphy of the Archdiocese of Boston as the next bishop of Rockville Centre.

Soon after Murphy's installation as bishop in 2001, he decided that his private quarters in the cathedral rectory were inadequate. He complained that they lacked privacy and sufficient space to entertain visiting clergy. Murphy decided to use the top floor of an old convent building at the cathedral for a new apartment. The diocese had been planning to create rooms for nuns on that floor, but Murphy asked them to accept different accommodations. The Murphy apartment ended up costing the diocese $800,000. As news of the project cost became public, Murphy invited a Newsday reporter and photographer to tour the apartment. They reported that it included a large suite with a new fireplace with an oak mantel, a temperature-controlled wine storage cabinet, and a marble floored bathroom.

In 2003, 52 priests requested a meeting with Murphy. In a letter, the priests spoke of anger and dissatisfaction within the diocese and "a certain lack of confidence in your pastoral leadership." They also complained about Murphy's management style, the cost of his new apartment, the sexual abuse scandal in Boston and his ban against Long Island Voice of the Faithful.

2010 to present
In 2011, Murphy announced the closing of six elementary schools in the diocese:

 * St. John Baptist de La Salle Regional School in Farmingdale
 * St. Catherine of Sienna School in Franklin Square
 * St. Ignatius Loyola School in Hicksville
 * Sacred Heart School in North Merrick
 * Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Lindenhurst
 * Prince of Peace Regional School in Sayville

In 2012, the Archdiocese of New York and the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre merged all their seminary programs.

 * The minor seminary program was designated as the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation in Queens
 * The major seminary program was set at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers. As a result, the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Lloyd Harbor closed that year.

Murphy retired in 2016. The current bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre is John Barres, the former bishop of the Diocese of Allentown. He was appointed by Pope Francis in January 2017.

In October 2017, Barres announced the creation of the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) for survivors of acts of child sexual abuse committed by clergy in the diocese. That same year, he created a video series on Telecare, the diocesan television network. Targeted to commuters, the series was entitled "The Catholic Spirituality of Commuter Delays."

In June 2020, the diocese, which suffered significant financial damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, filed court documents stating its intention to file for bankruptcy if there was no pause in nearly 100 pending sex abuse lawsuits. In October 2020, Rockville Centre became the fourth diocese in New York State to declare bankruptcy. An April 2021 bankruptcy filing documents allegations against some former priests who had not previously been publicly accused of abuse. In total, the diocese listed 101 accused clergy members, though a committee of unsecured creditors had published a list of 46 more names.

Sex abuse
In May 2000, Reverend Andrew Millar, a retired priest residing at the rectory of St. Peter and Paul Roman Church in Manorville, was arrested on sodomy charges. A parent had caught Millar sodomizing his 15 year old developmentally disabled son in a public bathroom at Tobay Beach in Nassau County. The diocese had retired Millar in 1999 after receiving an abuse complaint dating back to 1991. After pleading guilty, Millar was sentenced in November 2000 to one to three years in prison.

Reverend Michael Hands of St. Raphael's Parish in East Meadow was arrested in May 2001 on charges of sexual abuse and sodomy. He was accused of sexually abusing a 13 year old boy during 2000 and 2001. Hands in January 2003 testified before a grand jury in Suffolk County as part of a plea agreement. He accused Monsignor Charles Ribaudo of sexually abusing him as a teenager, reporting it to the diocese in 2001. Bishop Murphy removed Ribaudo from ministry at that time. However, a few months later another diocesan official allegedly asked Hands to keep his accusations secret as the diocese wanted to reinstate Ribaudo. In March 2003, after pleading guilty to abusing the boy, Hands was sentenced to two years in prison and five years probation.

In November 2006, Reverend Thomas G. Saloy, an administrator at the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Roosevelt was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. The Federal Bureau of Investigation came across Saloy while investigating an unrelated case in Wisconsin. Saloy then contacted an investigator on America Online, thinking it was a teenage boy. In May 2008, after undergoing treatment in Maryland, Saloy pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Reverend Gerald Twomey was arrested in May 2008 on charges of forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse. He was accused of forcibly touching a man in a private home in 1996. Twomey had been suspended from ministry since June 2007, when he was accused of sexually abusing a ten year old in 1964 or 1965.

By August 2019, the diocese had named 68 clergy who were "credibly accused" of acts of sex abuse. That same month, Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of the Diocese of Charleston was named in a sex abuse lawsuit in New York. A man accused Guglielmone, then a pastor at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Amityville, of sexually abusing him when he was an eight year in 1978. Guglielmone denied the allegations. The diocese investigated the allegation and found it not credible. In December 2020, the Vatican concluded its investigation and determined Guglielmone to be innocent of the charges.

In February 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act. The law created a one-year lookback period in which victims of child sex abuse could file civil lawsuits against abusers that were previously barred by the statute of limitations. Also in February 2019, two women accused Bishop McGann of sexually abusing them as children in the 1960s and 1970s.

In May 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo extended the 2019 New York Child Victims Act's statute of limitation deadline to file sex abuse lawsuits from August 2020, to January 2021. In May 2020, a Nassau County Supreme Court justice allowed pending lawsuits against the diocese to proceed. The justice rejected legal claims from the diocest that the Child Victims Act violated due process.

In October 2020, the Diocese of Rockville Centre filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while facing more than 200 sex abuse cases. In April 2024, a $200 million settlement offer was rejected by 86% of sex abuse victims who were reported to have been sexually abused by Diocese of Rockville Centre clergy.

Bishops of Rockville Centre

 * 1) Walter P. Kellenberg (1957–1976)
 * 2) John R. McGann (1976–2000)
 * 3) James T. McHugh (2000; coadjutor bishop 1998–2000)
 * 4) William F. Murphy (2001–2017)
 * 5) John O. Barres (2017–present)

Current auxiliary bishops

 * Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski (2014–present)
 * Robert J. Coyle (2018–present; previously Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, 2013–2018)
 * Luis Miguel Romero Fernández (2020–present)

Former auxiliary bishops

 * Vincent John Baldwin (1962–1979)
 * John R. McGann (1970–1976), appointed Bishop of this diocese
 * Gerald Augustine John Ryan (1977–1985)
 * James Joseph Daly (1977–1996)
 * Alfred John Markiewicz (1986–1994), appointed Bishop of Kalamazoo
 * Emil Aloysius Wcela (1988–2007)
 * John Charles Dunne (1988–2013)
 * Paul Henry Walsh (2003–2012)
 * Peter Anthony Libasci (2007–2011), appointed Bishop of Manchester
 * Nelson J. Perez (2012–2017), appointed Bishop of Cleveland, later Archbishop of Philadelphia
 * Robert J. Brennan (2012–2019), appointed Bishop of Columbus, later Bishop of Brooklyn
 * Richard Garth Henning (2018–2023), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island.

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

 * Robert E. Guglielmone, appointed Bishop of Charleston in 2009
 * William Edward Koenig, appointed Bishop of Wilmington in 2021

Media
Catholic Faith Network (CFn) formerly known as "Telecare" was founded in 1969 by Monsignor Thomas Hartman. CFn's programming includes live religious services, talk shows, devotional programs, educational programming, entertainment, and children's programs. It also presents coverage of special events at the Vatican and of papal journeys. It serves subscribers in three states.

In 2012, the diocesan weekly newspaper, Long Island Catholic, switched to a subscription-based monthly magazine.

Former seminary
Seminary of the Immaculate Conception – Lloyd Harbor (1926 to 2012) The diocese now uses St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers as its major seminary.

Diocesan

 * Holy Trinity Diocesan High School – Hicksville (1966)
 * St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School – West Islip  (1966)

Operated by religious orders and independent

 * Chaminade High School – Mineola, Marianists Fathers and Brothers (1930)
 * Kellenberg Memorial High School – Uniondale, Marianists Fathers and Brothers (1987)
 * Our Lady of Mercy Academy – Syosset, Sisters of Mercy (1928)
 * Sacred Heart Academy – Hempstead, Sisters of St. Joseph Brentwood (1949)
 * St. Anthony's High School – South Huntington, Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn (1933)
 * St. Dominic High School – Oyster Bay, independent (1928)
 * St. Mary's High School – Manhasset, Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (1949)

Closed schools

 * Academy of Saint Joseph – Brentwood, (1856 to 2009)
 * Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School – Riverhead, Sisters of Mercy (1956 to 2018)
 * St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary – Uniondale, (1961 to 1984)

Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockville Centre began operating in 1957. In 1974, it opened a residence for the developmentally disabled in Valley Stream. As of 2019, Catholic Charities operates 13 residences. Catholic Charities opened a shelter for single mothers in 1968 and in 2009 expanded it to include transitional housing. Catholic Charities is one of the largest providers of affordable senior housing on Long Island, operating over 1,300 units.

Catholic Health
Catholic Health System, formerly Catholic Health Services of Long Island, was founded in 1997 and operates under the sponsorship of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. CHS operates six hospitals:

 * Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center – West Islip
 * Mercy Medical Center – Rockville Centre
 * Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center – Smithtown
 * Saint Charles Hospital – Port Jefferson
 * Saint Francis Hospital and Heart Center – Flower Hill
 * Saint Joseph Hospital – Bethpage

CHS is the primary clinical affiliate and major teaching site of New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury With 17,000 employees, CHS in 2017 was the third-largest employer on Long Island. In 2021, CHSLI's name was changed to Catholic Health.

Cemeteries
In 2016 the diocese created a new corporation, Catholic Cemeteries of Long Island, to assume ownership of its cemeteries. It administers four major cemeteries:

 * Cemetery of the Holy Rood – Westbury
 * Holy Sepulchre Cemetery – Coram
 * Queen of Peace Cemetery – Old Westbury
 * Queen of All Saints Cemetery – Central Islip

In addition, the diocese contains 21 parish cemeteries. Six of them are managed by Catholic Cemeteries of Long Island and the remainder by the individual parishes.

St. Charles / Resurrection Cemeteries, despite being located within the diocese in East Farmingdale, is administered by the Diocese of Brooklyn.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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14th millennium BC

The 14th millennium BC spanned the years 14,000 BC to 13,001 BC. This millennium is during the Upper Paleolithic period. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened during this millennium, and all dates associated with this millennium are estimates mostly based on geological analysis, anthropological analysis, and radiometric dating.

Discoveries and cultural developments

 * Japan: Beginning of the ancient Jōmon period (until 10,000 BCE), invention of pottery and signs of Mesolithic (possibly Neolithic) civilisation by the Proto-Ainu.
 * United States: Probable presence of humans at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter Site in Pennsylvania, where Lithic artefacts and hearths were found.

Inventions, discoveries, innovations
Europe:
 * Development of the magdalénian civilisations in Western Europe.
 * Development of microliths in Europe.

France: Lascaux Cave, a veritable gallery of rock art, also known as the "Sistine Chapel of the Palaeolithic" because of its wealth of cave paintings.

Germany: Hamburg culture of the Epigravettian type, (ca. 13,500 BC - ca. 11,200 BC), characterised by prongs and tools used as chisels in the working of horns. It spread from northern France to southern Scandinavia in the north and to Poland in the east.

title: 14th millennium BC


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New York Biltmore Hotel

The New York Biltmore Hotel was a luxury hotel at 335 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The hotel was developed by the New York Central Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and operated from 1913 to 1981. It was one of several large hotels developed around Grand Central Terminal as part of Terminal City. The Biltmore was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Warren and Wetmore, one of the firms involved in designing Grand Central. Although the hotel's steel frame still exists, the hotel itself was almost entirely demolished and replaced by an office building in the early 1980s.

The hotel building was variously cited as having between 23 and 26 stories. The hotel had a facade of granite, limestone, brick, and terracotta. Most of its floor plan was U-shaped, with a light court facing west toward Madison Avenue. In the basement was a reception room that led directly from Grand Central Terminal. The public dining rooms, including the Palm Court and main dining room, were at ground level. There was a roof garden above the sixth story, facing east toward Vanderbilt Avenue. There were additional ballrooms and meeting spaces on the upper stories. In total, the Biltmore had 1,000 rooms and suites; the fourth floor included a private entertainment suite called the Presidential Suite.

Following the construction of Grand Central Terminal, the New York Central started planning a hotel on the city block in the early 1910s, and it officially opened on December 31, 1913. The hotel was originally operated by Gustav Baumann, who died in October 1914. The hotel's manager, John McEntee Bowman, then operated it until his own death in 1931, affiliating the Biltmore with the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain. Realty Hotels Inc., a subsidiary of the New York Central, took over the hotel in 1934 and operated it for four decades. Paul Milstein acquired the hotel in 1978 and began demolishing the interiors immediately after the hotel closed on August 15, 1981. Despite protests from preservationists, Milstein gutted the Biltmore and converted it into an office building called Bank of America Plaza, which reopened in May 1984. Bank of America relocated in 2010 and the building became 335 Madison Avenue. Following another renovation in 2019, the structure became The Company Building, which in turn was renamed 22 Vanderbilt in late 2022.

Architecture
The Biltmore Hotel was designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, which also helped design the adjoining Grand Central Terminal, in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The building had either 23, 25, or 26 above-ground stories. In addition, the hotel had two basement levels, although the site extended five stories underground. According to plans filed by Warren and Wetmore, the hotel building was 305 ft tall. About 12000 ST of structural steel were used in the hotel's construction, along with 5,000 barrels of Portland cement.

The Biltmore occupied the entire city block bounded by Madison Avenue to the west, 44th Street to the north, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, and 43rd Street to the south, measuring 200 by. The hotel replaced a four-story post office and ticket office operated by the New York Central Railroad, which was demolished at the beginning of 1912.

Form and facade
The hotel had a facade of granite, limestone, brick, and terracotta. Although the hotel's main entrance was on 43rd Street, it also had two entrances on Vanderbilt Avenue, which led to different corridors for men and women. The hotel's lowest four stories occupied the entire site. Above the fourth story, the hotel was shaped like a "U", with a light court on Madison Avenue surrounded by hotel rooms to the north, east, and south. The base was primarily clad in granite. The stories above the base were primarily clad in brick and limestone. The stories directly above the base contained a limestone facade, while the main shaft of the building consisted of a brick facade. The facade used approximately four million pieces of common brick and two million pieces of gray brick.

The building contained 3000 ST of gray architectural terracotta, which one contemporary trade journal described as being one of the largest such terracotta contracts at the time. Above the 21st story, the crown was clad entirely with terracotta and was designed in the Federal style. On all four primary elevations of the facade, there were pilasters and fluted columns extending from the 21st to 23rd stories. Above these columns and pilasters was an arched frieze with ornate spandrel panels.

Public spaces
The hotel was built above twelve of Grand Central Terminal's railroad tracks. The first story was raised slightly above the ground. The public dining rooms were all at ground level; the southern side of the hotel featured retail space, while the northern half was devoted to more upscale eateries. There were additional ballrooms and meeting spaces on the upper stories.

Basement
The Biltmore Hotel had its own reception room in the basement, which originally served as a waiting room for intercity trains and was colloquially known as the kissing room. It was completed in 1915 and later became known as the incoming train room and the Biltmore Room. The space is a 64 by marble hall northwest of the Main Concourse, serving as an entrance to tracks 39 through 42 within the terminal. The room had a 30 ft ceiling and seven entrances. The Biltmore Room still exists beneath the modern-day 335 Madison Avenue; a grand staircase, dating from the original hotel's construction, leads to 43rd Street. The room was restored in 1985 after the rest of the hotel had been demolished. In the 2010s, the room was converted to an entrance for the Long Island Rail Road's Grand Central Madison station as part of the East Side Access project.

The basement connected directly with Grand Central Terminal's upper platform level. The hotel was also connected to the New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station, as well as to neighboring buildings, via the terminal's corridors. According to The New York Times, a passenger arriving at Grand Central "will be able to go directly from his seat in the Pullman to his room in the hotel, not only without having stepped from under cover, but without once having passed beyond what will really be one structure". The passageways from the former Biltmore's basement to the terminal still exist ; the passageways are protected as New York City designated landmarks, as are other parts of Grand Central Terminal. On the 44th Street side of the hotel was a sloped driveway to the basement, which was used as a taxi ramp and featured a vaulted ceiling with Guastavino tiles. Although the driveway still exists, it leads to a garage. The Biltmore formerly shared its garage with the Commodore Hotel.

Next to Grand Central, a stairway from the main entrance descended to a grill room, bar, and men's clubroom in the basement. These spaces were all designed in the Elizabethan style, with oak furnishings; marble and wood floors; and paneled walls and pilasters that reached the ceiling. The grill room's ceiling was composed of English-style plasterwork in low relief. In 1924, these spaces were replaced with stores and an arcade that extended between 43rd and 44th Streets. There were 11 stores facing Madison Avenue, each measuring 16.5 by across, as well as three additional booths that opened into the arcade. In addition, there was a Turkish bath and a swimming pool in the basement. The Turkish baths in the basement had been converted into a health club by the late 20th century. In 1962 a women's parlor room, with red decorations, was added in the basement.

Ground level
The southern half of the ground level contained writing and reception rooms for men, while the northern had similar rooms for women. Adjacent to the 43rd Street entrance was the hotel's main office. About one-third of the ground floor was underneath a skylight, above which were the hotel's air shafts.

A corridor led west from the 43rd Street entrance to the men's dining room and main dining room on Madison Avenue. Women's lounging rooms were on the north side of the corridor between the main entrance and main dining room. The main dining room covered 40 by. It had dark-oak furniture and red carpets, upholstery, and window draperies; gold-colored decorations of birds and festoons; and marble walls and pilasters. The dining room's ceiling contained three glass chandeliers and Elizabethan-style gold-on-white decorations of classical figures in low relief. The men's dining room was 40 by and was designed in a similar style to the main dining room.

The Palm Court and a main lounging room were next to the main dining room. The space connected the men's and women's rooms at ground level. The Palm Court had marble walls with bronze decorations. In the center of the room a gilded clock measuring 2.5 by across was displayed; it consisted of two dials flanked by a pair of sculpted nude figures. The room also incorporated skylights and palm trees. The Palm Court's elliptical vaulted ceiling was interrupted by elliptical arches with carved friezes. The Palm Court became a popular meeting place; after the Biltmore Hotel closed, the Palm Court's clock was reinstalled in 335 Madison Avenue's lobby.

To the east of the lobby was a nightclub known as the Bowman Room, which opened in October 1936. The space hosted performers such as Horace Heidt and Carmen Cavallaro. The room was renovated in 1942, and a bar was installed in the room in 1947. The shows in the Bowman Room were discontinued permanently in September 1949 after the federal government imposed a 20 percent excise tax on such shows. The Bowman Room was converted into a furniture storage room at some point before the hotel closed in 1981.

Upper stories
There were mezzanines above the ground level. The mezzanine contained writing rooms for both genders, as well as hairdressing, reception, and cloak rooms for women. Directly above the dining room were the kitchen and refrigeration boxes. Similar hotels at the time had kitchens in their basements, but the Biltmore Hotel had a limited amount of space in its basement because of the presence of railroad tracks. There was also a library on the second floor, while the fourth floor had private dining rooms. The kitchen, mezzanines, and dining spaces were all illuminated by natural light. In 1928, Leonard Schultze of Schultze & Weaver designed a Gothic-style meditation room on the third floor, with oak paneling, stained glass windows, and red draperies.

On Vanderbilt Avenue, there was a roof garden along the sixth-story setback, with flower beds, shrubs, grass, a fountain, and shaded walkways. Known as the Italian Garden, it was transformed into an ice skating rink during the winter months. This roof garden also featured terracotta caryatids. It was sheltered by a pergola that ran the entire width of the facade from 43rd to 44th Street. Initially, the roof garden was open only during tea time.

On the 23rd story of the hotel was the grand ballroom and banquet hall. The grand ballroom was called the Cascades because there was a large waterfall at one end. It was designed in the Louis XVI style and was decorated in a gold and blue color scheme. The ballroom and banquet hall contained loges, with box seating, on three sides. The ballroom also had movable windows, which measured 10 by. The ballroom was typically used for lunch, dinner, and banquets, although visitors could only enter by invitation. The center of the ballroom was used as a dance floor at night. During the summer months, the hotel's managers could open the windows and convert the ballroom into an open-air loggia; this was a major amenity for guests before air conditioning became popular. The ballroom also had its own foyer, assembly room, lounging room, bar, and kitchen. The space could have a capacity of 600 people. North of the grand ballroom was a first-aid wing.

Hotel rooms
The Biltmore had 1,000 rooms and suites, about 950 of which had their own bathrooms. These rooms were expected to accommodate over 1,200 guests. All rooms and suites faced either the street or the interior light court. Most rooms measured 15 by across, although there were several smaller rooms measuring 12 by.

The doors within each room were "noiseless" and had silent locks; according to The Construction News, "no person will be able to disturb another hotel guest by carelessly slamming his door". W. & J. Sloane furnished the rooms. A sample room generally had light-colored walls with white-enameled woodwork; a neutral-colored carpet; cream-colored electric chandeliers; and mahogany bureaus, chairs, dressers, and writing tables. In addition, the curtains were Chinese-inspired designs in blue, black, mulberry, and soft red. The bathrooms had white tiles, while the rooms had "unusually large closets" with coatracks, umbrella holders, and space for hanging clothes. The Biltmore's rooms were generally smaller than those of older hostelries, such as the Hotel Manhattan, which had 600 rooms and had about the same floor area as the Biltmore.

The fourth floor included the Presidential Suite, a private suite for entertaining guests. The Presidential Suite included a parlor, reception room, dining room, foyer, and dressing room, as well as a small ballroom with a capacity of 300 guests. The Presidential Suite had its own elevator leading directly to Grand Central Terminal. During the construction of the Biltmore Hotel, Warren and Wetmore had included space for 12 to 14 private apartments on the 18th through 20th floors. Each of these apartments faced 43rd Street or Vanderbilt Avenue in addition to a light court, and they had between eight and twelve rooms. In contrast to the remainder of the hotel, these private apartments were to be sold to tenants, who would then hire their own architects to design each apartment. The private apartments did not have their own kitchens; instead, they received meals from the hotel's catering service. Otherwise, these suites functioned separately from the rest of the hotel and were rented out for yearlong terms. The hotel also had bedrooms and lounges for the staff.

Mechanical features
There were eight passenger and five service elevators, as well as several dumbwaiters leading from the kitchen to the upper stories. The elevators were enclosed within glass vestibules on each floor, preventing noise from the elevators from reaching the bedrooms. The elevators led directly from the basement to the ground-floor lobby and upper stories. According to The Sun, guests could have their baggage delivered from the train directly to their rooms without going outdoors.

When the Biltmore was constructed, it had several communication systems; a telautograph, dictograph, telephone, and pneumatic tube systems. The New York Times characterized the systems as "the most complete in existence". In addition, the hotel had a steam plant that was powered by filtered water. Each of the guestroom stories also had a small kitchen for room service, and several of the larger apartments had their own kitchens. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that some of the Biltmore's mechanical features "threaten the extinction of the bellboy".

History
In the 19th century, New York Central Railroad lines north of Grand Central Depot in Midtown Manhattan were served exclusively by steam locomotives, and the rising traffic soon caused accumulations of smoke and soot in the Park Avenue Tunnel, the only approach to the depot. After a fatal crash in 1902, the New York state legislature passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan by 1908. The New York Central's vice president William J. Wilgus proposed electrifying the line and building a new electric-train terminal underground, a plan that was implemented almost in its entirety. The old Grand Central Depot was torn down in phases and replaced by the current Grand Central Terminal. Construction on Grand Central Terminal started in 1903, and the new terminal was opened on February 2, 1913. Passenger traffic on the commuter lines into Grand Central more than doubled in the years following the terminal's completion.

The terminal spurred development in the surrounding area, particularly in Terminal City, a commercial and office district created above where the tracks were covered. Terminal City soon became Manhattan's most desirable commercial and office district. A 1920 New York Times article stated, "With its hotels, office buildings, apartments and underground Streets it not only is a wonderful railroad terminal, but also a great civic centre." Most of these buildings were designed by Warren and Wetmore, which had also designed the terminal itself. According to Christopher Gray of The New York Times, the Biltmore was "the linchpin of what was called Terminal City", being one of the district's first large buildings. Warren and Wetmore had co-designed the terminal with Reed and Stem, but Warren and Wetmore took full credit for the design of Terminal City. This was because, after Charles A. Reed of Reed and Stem had died in 1911, Warren and Wetmore had secretly renegotiated their architectural contract with the New York Central. The Biltmore was one of several hotels developed in Terminal City, along with other hostelries such as the Commodore, the Roosevelt, and the Barclay.

Development
As part of the construction of Grand Central Terminal, the New York Central started planning a hotel on the city block bounded by Madison Avenue, 44th Street, Vanderbilt Avenue, and 43rd Street. It was to be one of two hotels adjacent to the terminal; there would be another hotel on Lexington Avenue to the east. The New York Central formally announced plans for the 23-story Biltmore Hotel on Madison Avenue in February 1912; the railroad wanted to maximize usage of the site, which was largely occupied by the new terminal's railroad tracks. The hotel was to be named after the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, itself named for the last syllable of the Vanderbilt family's name. the hotel would be developed by the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The New York State Realty and Terminal Company, a division of the New York Central, leased the hotel to Gustav Baumann, operator of the Holland House hotel. In March 1912, Warren and Wetmore filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for the 26-story hotel, which was projected to cost US$4.5 million. Baumann hired John McEntee Bowman that May to manage the hotel, and Bowman supervised the Biltmore's development.

Baumann ordered $1 million worth of furniture from W. & J. Sloane, and $800,000 of silverware from the Gorham Manufacturing Company, in mid-1912. The New-York Tribune described the latter contract as "one of the largest ever placed for hotel silverware". That July, the New York Central awarded the Fuller Construction Company a $5.5 million general contract for the hotel's construction; at the time, it was expected that the hotel would be completed by the beginning of October 1913. In addition, the American Bridge Company was hired to manufacture 14000 ST of structural steel for the hotel. By the end of that year, workers were completing excavations on the hotel's site. The Biltmore's construction started in March 1913, and the hotel's structural steel was topped out on August 15, 1913. The construction of the hotel coincided with the completion of Grand Central Terminal's final phase.

The Biltmore was scheduled to open with a party on New Year's Eve 1913, and every table in the hotel's main dining room was reserved in advance of the opening. In the two weeks before the hotel opened, the project employed 1,300 construction workers, who worked 24 hours a day to complete the hotel on schedule. The total cost of construction, including furnishings, was estimated at $10 million. The hotel itself accounted for $5.5 million of this cost, the furnishings $1.5 million, and the land $3 million. At the hotel's opening, its rooms had already been leased for a combined $20 million. In describing the Biltmore's location above a portion of Grand Central Terminal, the Real Estate Record and Guide wrote: "The new Biltmore Hotel will, so far as we can recollect, be the first station hotel of any importance erected in this country." The Biltmore's operators rented the air rights above Grand Central Terminal's tracks, paying the New York Central $100,000 annually.

Baumann and Bowman operation
The Biltmore hosted its first dinner on December 28, 1913, with a celebration featuring various officials involved in the hotel's construction. The hotel informally opened on December 30, and the first guests arrived at the hotel the next day, December 31. There were also two brokerage offices in the hotel when it opened. In its first year of operation, the Biltmore became extremely popular. Baumann operated the hotel for less than a year; he died on October 15, 1914, after falling from the hotel's roof while observing employees. At the time of Baumann's death, the hotel was valued at $4 million, of which $1.5 million was appraised as goodwill created by the hotel's prominent location in midtown Manhattan. Even so, Baumann had been operating the Biltmore at a net loss at the time of his death. Meanwhile, Allen H. Stem of Reed and Stem had sued Warren and Wetmore over Terminal City's architectural contract. After a protracted legal battle, the New York Supreme Court ordered Warren and Wetmore to pay Stem one percent of the Biltmore's construction cost.

Bowman took control of the hotel's lease shortly after Baumann died. Under Bowman's management, members of the social elite began to frequent the Biltmore. By 1918, the hotel had an annual payroll of over $1 million. After Bowman and rival hotel operator Benjamin L. M. Bates agreed to merge their respective companies in May 1918, the Biltmore became part of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain. Later the same year, Bowman said that the Biltmore, as well as his other hotels near Grand Central and Penn Station, were "doing more business than ever before". Bowman also developed other Biltmore hotels across the United States, all named after the hotel in New York City. After Prohibition in the United States came into effect in 1919, the Biltmore's bar was closed and replaced with a lunch counter. The hotel remained successful through the early 1920s, amid rapid increases in Grand Central's passenger traffic following the terminal's completion.

Bowman announced in July 1924 that the grill room, bar, and men's clubroom would be replaced with stores at a cost of $500,000. By then, the upper-class residences that had characterized the adjacent portion of Madison Avenue in the 19th century were being replaced with retail establishments. Warren and Wetmore designed the modifications. These storefronts were initially leased to tenants in the clothing and textile industries, such as the Gotham Silk Hosiery Company and Edward Gropper Inc., as well as a drug store. Bowman continued to operate the New York Biltmore until he died in 1931, and David Mulligan took over as Bowman-Biltmore's president the next year. During the 1930s, the Biltmore was one of the most expensive hotels in New York City, along with the Chatham, Park Lane, Roosevelt, and Waldorf Astoria. The Canadian Club of New York moved to the Biltmore in 1930, and the Traffic Club of New York relocated its clubhouse to the Biltmore's 18th and 19th floors in 1934. After New York state repealed a Prohibition-era ban on standing bars in May 1934, Bowman-Biltmore Hotels installed a 50 ft long bar at the Madison Avenue end of the hotel, replacing a haberdashery there. When the bar opened in 1936 it was open only to men; its guests included New York governor Al Smith.

1930s to 1950s
The New York Central canceled Bowman-Biltmore's lease of the Biltmore Hotel in December 1934. The railroad formed a holding company called Realty Hotels Inc. to operate the Biltmore, and Realty Hotels' president David B. Mulligan became the Biltmore's managing director. The New York Central retained full ownership of the Biltmore and other properties around Grand Central Terminal. The Bowman Room, a nightclub at ground level, opened at the hotel in October 1936. When the Chatham and Park Lane hotels became part of the Realty Hotels chain in 1940, Frank Regan, who had managed the two other hotels, took over the Biltmore's management. The Biltmore was booked to capacity during World War II, when politicians and members of the U.S. Armed Forces frequented the hotel. Regan renovated all of the hotel's rooms in the 1940s, although the hotel remained open during the project. The work included replacing the guest rooms' decorations, adding automatic elevators, refurbishing the restrooms, and installing mechanical equipment.

Harry M. Anholt took over as Realty Hotels' president in 1954. During that decade, as part of a $5 million project spanning three hotels, Realty Hotels added 54 guest rooms to the Biltmore's top floor. In addition, the hotel's managers added several executive suites, which were then rented to industries and businesses for year-long terms. The Biltmore also began offering discounts and other sales packages to attract groups and conventions; by 1958, conventions at the hotel were being booked up to two years in advance. Additionally, the Grand Central Art Galleries (founded in 1922 by a group that included Walter Leighton Clark, John Singer Sargent, and Edmund Greacen ) moved from Grand Central to the Biltmore in May 1959. The new space, on the hotel's second floor, contained six exhibition rooms and an office. Although the hotel was still profitable, the New York Central as a whole had begun to lose money by the late 1950s.

During this time, the New Haven and the New York Central were involved in a long-running dispute; New Haven officials argued that they were entitled to half of the Biltmore's profits, as the two railroads were equal partners in the terminal's operation. In November 1958, the New Haven indicated that it did not want to renew Realty Hotels' lease of the Biltmore, which was about to expire, as Realty Hotels was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York Central. The New Haven wanted Realty Hotels to start paying rent directly to Grand Central's manager, which would split the profits evenly between the two railroads. In response, the New York Central ordered the terminal's manager to refuse the payments. A New York state court granted the New York Central a temporary injunction against the New Haven. The New York Supreme Court ruled in September 1960 that the New Haven had the right to collect income from the Biltmore. The Supreme Court's Appellate Division upheld the ruling in 1961, as did the New York Court of Appeals the next year. The New Haven had filed for bankruptcy by then, so a state judge ordered the New York Central to pay $1.6 million to the New Haven's trustees in July 1962.

1960s and 1970s
The Parlor Car, a women's parlor room, opened at the hotel in 1962, within a passageway known as the Pullman Corridor. The same year, amid competition from other hotels, the Biltmore, Commodore, and Roosevelt hotels formed an alliance to attract conventions with 1,500 to 5,000 guests. The alliance allowed the three hotels to host a single convention across 4,000 guestrooms, 90 meeting rooms, 15 restaurants, and 50000 ft2 of exhibit space. By then, rail traffic had begun to decline with the beginning of the Jet Age and the construction of the Interstate Highway System, and there was also rising demand for office space in Manhattan. During this decade, Realty Hotels replaced about half of the manually operated elevators at the Barclay, Biltmore, Commodore, and Roosevelt, and it renovated these hotels as part of a $22 million modernization plan. Realty Hotels' president said the renovations had helped attract new and returning customers to the hotels. Thomas J. Kane was appointed as the hotel's managing director in 1968.

After the Plaza Hotel opened its formerly men- only Oak Bar to women in 1969 following a series of protests by some women, the Biltmore became the scene of similar protests. The bar's patrons attempted to discourage women from entering by staring at any who tried to enter and applauding until they relented and left. After a 1970 court ruling against gender discrimination, women began entering the bar. The Biltmore initially did not rename the Men's Bar, prompting complaints. The New York City government ordered the Biltmore's managers to rename the bar in 1973, and a New York Supreme Court judge upheld this decision in 1974. The Barclay, Biltmore, Commodore, and Roosevelt began showing in-room movies in 1972. As part of a small refurbishment project, Realty Hotels renovated the main dining room in the mid-1970s. The Palm Court reopened in 1975 as a bar named "Under the Clock", a reference to the famous expression "Meet me under the clock", which the hotel claimed to have been inspired by the famous clock at the Palm Court's entrance. The Biltmore Bar closed permanently at the end of June 1977.

1970s sale
The New York Central experienced financial decline during the 1960s, merging with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 to form the Penn Central Railroad. Penn Central continued to face financial issues and failed to make mortgage payments. By late 1970, the Biltmore Hotel was facing foreclosure, as were several other buildings that Penn Central owned around Grand Central Terminal. After Penn Central went bankrupt that year, the company sought to sell its properties, including the land below the Biltmore Hotel. The buildings were placed for auction in October 1971, and UGP Properties made a low bid of $11.65 million for the hotel. The proceedings were delayed for several years. UGP and Penn Central proposed a 56-story skyscraper for the Biltmore Hotel's site in 1972 after Penn Central unsuccessfully tried to replace the adjacent Grand Central Terminal with a skyscraper. Penn Central had placed all of Realty Hotels' properties for sale but subsequently withdrew its offer to sell the hotels. Instead, Penn Central spent $4.5 million renovating the Biltmore, Barclay, and Roosevelt hotels in 1976.

In April 1978, Penn Central requested permission from a federal district court to sell the Biltmore, Barclay, and Roosevelt hotels for $45 million to Loews Hotels. The New York City government also offered the Biltmore Hotel's unused air rights to Penn Central in exchange for allowing the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate Grand Central Terminal as a city landmark, a move that Penn Central opposed. A consortium of Middle Eastern investors subsequently offered to buy the hotels for $50 million. Loews raised its offer for the three hotels to $55 million, and a federal judge approved the sale at the beginning of June 1978. Carter B. Horsley wrote that Loews's purchase of the three hotels "may save their future". At the time, the hotel had 907 rooms.

Loews resold the Biltmore and the Roosevelt to developer Paul Milstein in July 1978 for $30 million. The old Biltmore Bar was replaced in 1978 by the Cafe Fanny restaurant, operated by George Lang, which closed in April 1979. The space, in turn, became a computer store. In the hotel's final years, it became visibly dilapidated, and the owners refused to buy new furnishings, despite a shortage of such objects as tableware and linens. In addition, the Biltmore faced increasing competition from newer hotels, and it was only able to secure "cheap conventions and tourist groups", according to its manager. The New York Times reported that, during the late 1970s, there were rumors that the Biltmore would be converted to another use, rebuilt, or demolished.

Closure and replacement with offices
In March 1981, Milstein filed plans with the city to gut the hotel and rebuild it as an office building. Initially, Milstein had planned to replace the facade with a glass exterior similar to that of the Hyatt Grand Central New York. A few months later, Paul Milstein presented plans to the LPC for a proposed modification of the hotel's interior. On July 29, Milstein agreed to rent half of the building to Bank of America. Over the next two days, registered letters were sent to the hotel's residential guests, informing them they would have to move in the near future. After Bank of America's announcement, Seymour and Paul Milstein modified the design of the planned office building, which would now be made of granite. Variety magazine wrote: "The end of the Biltmore comes at a time when the city's hoteliers believe that the golden era of the hotels, which started in 1976, is over."

Final days and preservation controversy
The Biltmore ceased operations abruptly on August 14, 1981, two weeks before it had been scheduled to close. Overnight guests were informed that the hotel was closing, and permanent residents were given 30 days to leave. Demolition crews entered the same day and began removing decorations, boarding up the Madison and Bowman rooms even as other parts of the hotel remained open. The Palm Court's clock was removed and placed into storage. All but 150 guests had relocated within a day of the announcement, and the Grand Central Art Galleries closed shortly afterward. Describing the end of the Biltmore and the Grand Central Art Galleries' final show there, John Russell of The New York Times wrote: "Hardly since Samson tore down the great temple at Gaza has a building disappeared as rapidly as the Biltmore Hotel. But people have shown a rare persistence this last day or two in pushing their way upstairs at the entrance on Vanderbilt Avenue to where the Grand Central Galleries has been holding its own."

The New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Municipal Art Society filed for and received a temporary restraining order on August 15. Preservationists claimed that the Milsteins had destroyed the public spaces as quickly as possible to prevent it from being preserved. Conversely, a lawyer for the Milsteins said that preservationists had failed to act despite knowing that the hotel building had been leased to Bank of America. Although preservationists requested another restraining order on August 17, they were unable to raise a $75,000 bond to keep the restraining order in place. By then, the Palm Court's French doors, balustrades, and fixtures had already been removed. The Environmental Protection Agency also notified the demolition contractors that they had violated federal asbestos regulations as they were demolishing the Biltmore's interior. The LPC had been considering giving the hotel's interiors landmark status, preventing the Milsteins from further modifying these spaces. By August 18, the restraining orders had expired or been overruled. When LPC officials toured the hotel that same day, the 19th-floor Grand Ballroom was the only public room that was still extant.

The LPC scheduled a hearing on whether the ballroom and exterior should be designated as city landmarks, thus preventing significant modifications to these parts of the hotel. A New York state judge declined to grant further injunctions against demolition. The condition of the ballroom remained uncertain, even though the Milsteins promised to notify preservationists when demolition of the room was to start. On September 9, a week before the landmarks hearings, the Milsteins agreed to reconstruct the hotel's Palm Court, lobby, and main 43rd Street entrance within the office building, so long as the LPC did not designate the spaces as landmarks. The LPC voted against granting exterior and interior landmark statuses on September 16, despite concerted protests by preservationists. In addition, the interiors had been demolished so rapidly that almost nothing was salvageable.

Reconstruction as office building
The firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates (HHPA) was hired as a consultant for the restoration of the Biltmore's public spaces. In August 1982, HHPA resigned, stating that the demolition work had made any re-creation impossible. Norman Pfeiffer of HHPA said the firm had discovered that further demolition had occurred the previous month, to the extent that "there was nothing left to give you even the beginning of a restoration". A settlement was brokered in September 1983, in which the Milsteins contributed $500,000 to a fund operated by the Landmarks Conservancy. The Conservancy had accepted the agreement because a recreation of the rooms inside the office tower would "rightly be perceived by architectural historians and the public at large as resulting in a design that would amount to little more than a caricature." According to Brendan Gill of the Conservancy, the alternative was a lawsuit that might have lasted for several years.

Another firm, Environetics, redesigned the Biltmore. The old hotel was almost entirely gutted, although most of the steel framework was retained. Paul Milstein estimated that the existing steel frame increased construction costs by 25 percent, but it also allowed him to include 200000 ft2 more usable space than a completely new building on the site. The two ends of the Biltmore's U-shaped massing were connected, turning the hotel into an "O"-shape. A new elevator core was built and a 28-story atrium was created in the center of the building. The facade was also rebuilt with brown granite, and elevators, heating, cooling, and other mechanical systems were entirely replaced. The lowest three stories were converted into 25000 ft2 of retail space.

The Palm Court's clock was the only decoration from the hotel that was preserved. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority owned the driveway on 44th Street and the Biltmore Room in the basement, and a Catholic bookstore occupied a storefront at 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue; these three spaces remained intact. The hotel's redevelopment was temporarily halted in April 1982 after leaks developed in the Biltmore Room. Milstein subsequently paid for a restoration of the Biltmore Room, which reopened in April 1985 following a renovation designed by Giorgio Cavaglieri.

Office use
Bank of America had started moving into the 2nd through 14th floors of the structure by late 1983, and the former Biltmore reopened on May 15, 1984, as Bank of America Plaza. Initially, Bank of America only occupied half of the 28-story building. Other tenants included telephone company NYNEX on the 20th and 21st floors; real-estate services firm Landauer Associates on the 18th floor; and the Union Bank of Bavaria and Westpac on one floor each. When Bank of America Plaza opened, several other large banks were relocating to Madison Avenue. Paul Goldberger criticized the new design, saying, "Now the East Coast headquarters of the Bank of America, this is a bloated, heavy form of glass and polished granite, unrelieved by any of the gracious ornament that made the old Biltmore so beloved a presence." Further tenants moved into the building in the 1990s, such as the American Management Association and the New York Life Insurance Company.

Bank of America relocated to 1 Bryant Park in 2010 and the structure became known by its address, 335 Madison Avenue. By the 2010s, the building's tenants included several technology companies, such as Addepar and Facebook Inc. During that decade, city government officials sought to change zoning regulations around Grand Central Terminal as part of the Midtown East rezoning plan. After the Midtown East rezoning was announced, Paul Milstein's son Howard Milstein indicated in 2015 that he wanted to construct a larger office tower with a luxury hotel on the site. Milstein subsequently decided to renovate the existing building and add an atrium lobby for US$150 million to designs by SHoP Architects. In addition, 335 Madison Avenue was rebranded as The Company Building, and its space was advertised to technology startups.

The renovation was largely completed by the end of 2019. The building was again renamed in late 2022, becoming 22 Vanderbilt. , the building's major tenants included Bain & Co..

Guests
Among the hotel's early guests was William H. Newman, president of the New York Central Railroad, who lived there until his death in 1918, as well as architect William Rutherford Mead of the firm McKim, Mead & White, who was recorded as living at the Biltmore in 1919. During the 1920s, New York governor Al Smith also occupied a suite of rooms in the Biltmore Hotel.

Use as meeting place
Christopher Gray wrote in 2013, "The Biltmore, and in particular its clock, became almost as much an institution as Grand Central itself." The reclusive writer J. D. Salinger frequently met William Shawn, the editor of The New Yorker, under the Biltmore's lobby clock. Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was also among those who met "under the clock at the Biltmore". In the hotel's heyday, hundreds of young women met with each other under the Biltmore's clock. Additionally, for several decades, the Belmore Cafeteria at the Biltmore Hotel was a common gathering place for New York City's taxi drivers.

The hotel was a popular meeting place for college students because of its proximity to Grand Central Terminal, as well as to several clubs for Ivy League alumni. The New York Herald Tribune wrote in 1956 that up to 2,000 students gathered at the hotel on Fridays and Saturdays. During some holidays, more than half of the hotel's total revenue came from college students; in many cases, 16 to 18 students would book rooms at the same time. To attract these students, the hotel offered discounts of 40 to 60 percent. The New York Times wrote in 1957 that the hotel was "the unofficial headquarters here for college and preparatory schools". In 1970, the Young Women's Towne House took over 32 rooms at the hotel, renting the rooms to young women at discounted rates.

Democratic Party use
The Biltmore was also frequented by Democratic Party politicians, who frequently conducted deals at the hotel's Turkish baths and rented the function rooms during elections. This trend had started in the 1930s, when Democratic Party chairman James A. Farley established a command post there. During the 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948 U.S. presidential elections, the Democratic National Committee operated its national campaign out of the Biltmore Hotel. Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt also had his national campaign headquarters there in 1932, 1936, and 1940. The Democratic Party occupied all of the hotel's second floor until 1962. Employees frequently described Farley, merchant Bernard F. Gimbel, and boxer Gene Tunney as part of "the Order of the Biltmore Baths" because they frequented the hotel's Turkish baths. At the time of the Biltmore's closure in 1981, several prominent Democrats still occupied offices on the mezzanine, including Tammany Hall chief Carmine DeSapio and former New York Democratic Party chairman Michael H. Prendergast.

Events
Soon after the Biltmore opened, it began hosting annual events, including New York Hotel Men's Association parties, Old Guard balls, and National Horse Show dinners. Additionally, in 1915, Henry Ford tried to broker a truce agreement to halt World War I while headquartered at the Biltmore. On August 4, 1916, the Treaty of the Danish West Indies was signed at the hotel, which transferred possession of the Danish West Indies, now the United States Virgin Islands, from Denmark to the United States. Other events at the hotel included a 1915 luncheon in honor of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson; a 1931 dinner in which the main ballroom was decorated to resemble the horse-racing track at Belmont Park; and a 1936 luncheon in honor of Madison Avenue's centennial.

From May 6 to 11, 1942, the hotel was the location of the Biltmore Conference, a meeting of Zionist groups that produced the Biltmore Program, a series of demands regarding Palestine. Soviet president Nikita Khrushchev and industrialist Cyrus S. Eaton ate lunch at the hotel in 1960, drawing widespread protests. In its later years, the Biltmore largely hosted conventions, such as a biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress.

title: New York Biltmore Hotel


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For You (Prince album)

For You is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Prince. It was released by Warner Bros. Records on April 7, 1978. All tracks were produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince. Prince started recording in September 1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he had previously made a demo. Friend and producer David Rivkin (later known as David Z) provided advice and engineering assistance.

For You reached No. 163 on the Billboard 200 and No. 21 on the Billboard Soul chart. "Soft and Wet", the album's lead single, became a minor hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 92. However, it became a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at No. 12. In 2016, after Prince's death, the album re-charted on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 138.

Production
Prince started recording in September 1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he had previously made a demo. Friend and producer David Rivkin (later known as David Z) provided advice and engineering assistance. Rivkin was being considered for the role of executive producer, but Warner Bros. instead chose Tommy Vicari, known for his work with Gino Vannelli. Vicari suggested taking the project to a studio in Los Angeles, but Prince's manager Owen Husney chose the Record Plant in Sausalito, California. Shifting the project to California, Prince, Vicari, Husney, and Husney's wife settled into an apartment in Mill Valley, California, with a view looking down at Sausalito and out to the San Francisco Bay.

Starting in October, the basic tracks were recorded over three months at the Record Plant. Vicari tried to exert his influence as producer but Prince shrugged off any advice that was contrary to his wishes. Prince worked obsessively on the project, singing all vocals and playing all instruments, including acoustic, electric, and bass guitar; acoustic and Fender Rhodes piano; synth bass; various keyboard synths by Oberheim, Moog, and ARP; orchestra bells; drums and percussion. He used the Oberheim to provide the sound of a horn section, but with guitar lines layered into the mix. The basic tracks were finished in late December 1977. Husney later observed that Prince had drained Vicari during the recording process, such that Vicari was "heartbroken" because he had just been "treated like shit".

In January 1978, Prince and Vicari moved the project to engineer Armin Steiner's Sound Labs studio in Hollywood to begin overdubs and final mixing. Prince distanced himself further from Vicari, concentrating on laying down multiple vocal lines to create a polished commercial sound. Warner Bros. selected an art director to design the album cover but Prince booked his own photography session with Joe Gianetti, resulting in a head shot taken in a dark room with Prince's face lit by candlelight. Prince completed the final mixes on February 28. The total project cost $170,500—US$0 in dollars—three times the original budget. With all the work, including 46 vocal lines layered into the first track, Prince was exhausted. He later said that he was a "physical wreck" when he finished.

Singles
"Soft and Wet", the album's lead single, became a minor hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 92. However, it became a top 20 hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, peaking at number 12. The second single released from the album, "Just as Long as We're Together", reached number 91 on the R&B charts.

Critical reception
Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote, "Like most in-studio one-man bands, the nineteen-year-old kid who pieced this disco-rock-pop-funk concoction together has a weakness for the programmatic—lots of chops, not much challenge. But I like 'Baby,' about making one, and 'Soft and Wet,' ditto only he doesn't know it yet. And his falsetto beats Emitt Rhodes."

Commercial performance
On release in 1978, For You reached number 163 on the US Billboard 200 chart and number 21 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart. It went on to sell approximately two million copies worldwide. In 2016, after Prince's death, the album re-charted on the Billboard 200, reaching number 138. The album also reached number 200 on the French Albums Chart and number 156 on the UK Albums Chart, although it did not originally chart in those countries.

Personnel

 * Prince – lead vocals, backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, clavinet, ARP Pro Soloist, ARP String Ensemble, Minimoog, Polymoog, Oberheim 4-Voice, Yamaha CS80, bass guitar, drums, Pollard Syndrums, slapstick, wind chimes, finger cymbals, handclaps, fingersnaps, water drums, bongos, congas, brush trap, bell tree, wood block, producer, arranger, engineer, dust cover design

Technical
 * Tommy Vicari – executive producer, engineer, remixer
 * David Rivkin – vocal recording engineer (uncredited)
 * Patrice Rushen – synth programming (uncredited)
 * Charles Veal – string arrangement on Baby (uncredited)
 * Steve Fontano – assistant engineer
 * Dave Roeder – assistant engineer
 * Bernie Grundman – mastering (A&M)
 * Jeff Farmakes – art direction (The Ad Company)
 * Joe Giannetti – photography

title: For You (Prince album)


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title: Talk:For You (Prince album)


text:
Talk:Mary Lindenstein Walshok

Cleanup?
Not sure why this has a cleanup tag. Not extremely notable but not deleteable. Tamarkot 01:49, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

VfD
On April 6, 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was keep. See Votes for deletion/Mary lindenstein walshok for a record of the discussion. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 01:50, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mary Lindenstein Walshok


text: User talk:68.32.25.195

title: User talk:68.32.25.195


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Karl Friedrich Plattner

Karl Friedrich Plattner (2 January 1800 – 22 January 1858) was a German metallurgical chemist.

He was born at Kleinwaltersdorf, near Freiberg in the Electorate of Saxony, on 2 January 1800. His father, though only a poor working miner, found the means to have him educated first at the Bergschule (mining school) and then at the Bergakademie of Freiberg. After he had completed his courses there in 1820 he obtained employment, chiefly as an assayer, in connexion with the royal mines and metal works. Having taken up the idea of quantitative mouth blowpipe assaying, which was then almost unknown, he succeeded in devising dependable methods for all the ordinary useful metals. In particular his modes of assaying for nickel and cobalt quickly found favour with metallurgists. He also devoted himself to the improvement of qualitative blowpipe analysis, and summed up his experience in a treatise Die Probierkunst mit dem Löthrohr (1835), which became a standard authority.

In 1840 he was made chief of the royal department of assaying. Two years later he was deputed to complete a course of lectures on metallurgy at the Bergakademie in place of W. A. Lampadius (1772–1842), whom he subsequently succeeded as professor. He died at Freiberg on 22 January 1858.

In addition to many memoirs on metallurgical subjects he also published Die metallurgischen Rostprocesse theoretisch betrachtet, and posthumously Vorlesungen über allgemeine Hüttenkunde.

title: Karl Friedrich Plattner


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Elisha Kent Kane

Elisha Kent Kane (February 3, 1820 – February 16, 1857) was a United States Navy medical officer and Arctic explorer. He served as assistant surgeon during Caleb Cushing's journey to China to negotiate the Treaty of Wangxia and in the Africa Squadron. He was assigned as a special envoy to the United States Army during the Mexican–American War and as a surveyor in the United States Coast Survey.

He was senior medical officer in the First Grinnell expedition to rescue or discover the fate of the explorer Sir John Franklin. He was credited with the discovery of an encampment and gravesite from Franklin's lost expedition on Beechey Island. He led the Second Grinnell expedition to the Arctic which was unsuccessful in discovering the fate of Franklin's expedition. His explorations of the Arctic went further North than any other expeditions at the time and led to the eventual path to the North Pole taken by subsequent explorers.

He spoke frequently to large audiences about his Arctic expeditions. He published two books chronicling his explorations; The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative in 1856 and Arctic explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853,'54, '55 in 1857. Two United States Navy ships, a lunar crater and a waterway in the Arctic were named in his honor.

Early life and education
Kane was born in Philadelphia on February 3, 1820. He was the first son of John Kintzing Kane, a U.S. district judge, and Jane Duval Leiper. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Leiper, American Revolutionary War patriot and a founder of the Philadelphia City Troop. His brother was attorney, diplomat, abolitionist, and Civil War general, Thomas L. Kane.

In 1837, Kane entered the University of Virginia in Charlottesville to study civil engineering. He worked closely with geology Professor William Barton Rogers and participated in several outings into the Blue Ridge Mountains to map geological formations. However, health concerns due to rheumatic fever forced him to withdraw from school and return home. His illness progressed to endocarditis and the family feared he would die. After recovering, concerned that the physical demands of civil engineering would be too much for his health, he turned to the study of medicine. On October 19, 1840, he became a resident physician at Blockley Almshouse while also studying at the University of Pennsylvania. In the Spring of 1841, he became Senior Resident Physician at Blockley. He was the author of a publication in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences on original research on urinary markers of pregnancy. Kane graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1842.

Career
On September 14, 1843, he became an assistant surgeon in the Navy. The post allowed him to travel the world including to Bombay, Ceylon, Macao, Madeira and Rio de Janeiro. He served in the China Commercial Treaty mission on the USS Brandywine under Caleb Cushing. While Cushing negotiated the Treaty of Wangxia with the Chinese, Kane and the crew of the USS Brandywine explored the island of Luzon in the Philippines. He descended into the Taal Volcano to obtain water samples, was almost overcome by the toxic fumes and angered the locals who considered the volcano sacred. He served in the Africa Squadron and in February 1847 contracted "coast fever" (most likely a strain of malaria) and returned to the United States to recover.

In the Fall of 1847, he petitioned Secretary of State, James Buchanan, to be assigned as a special envoy to deliver a message to General Winfield Scott in Mexico City. Scott had taken Mexico City during the Mexican–American War but had stopped communicating with the White House. Buchanan and President James Polk feared that Scott was exceeding his authority and negotiating with the Mexicans. Kane was deployed to deliver a message to Scott reiterating the previous order to discontinue negotiations. Kane was deployed and received official orders from the Navy with a cover story that he was being sent to Mexico City to report on military hospitals and medical conditions. While approaching Mexico City, Kane's entourage was attacked at Nopalucan on January 6, 1848. During the battle, Mexican General Antonio Gaona and his son were both wounded. Kane treated a severed artery in the son's chest and saved his life. Kane also refused to allow the Mexican prisoners to be killed in retaliation for the attack and delivered them to U.S. forces in Mexico City. Kane returned to the U.S. in February 1849 and was honored by the city of Philadelphia with the presentation of a ceremonial sword.

Kane was assigned to the United States Coast Survey under Alexander Dallas Bache and had responsibility for the hydrophgraphic survey of the southeast coast of the United States.

Kane was appointed senior medical officer of the Grinnell Arctic expedition of 1850–1851 under the command of Edwin de Haven, which searched unsuccessfully for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. Kane was present along with Edwin de Haven and William Penny at the discovery of an encampment and three graves from the Franklin expedition on Beechey Island.

From 1851 to 1853, Kane spoke multiple times to audiences hundreds in size on his Arctic explorations and was well regarded due to his oratorical skills. His eloquence and frequency in speaking may be why he was credited with the discovery of the three graves. He began to write the book The U.S. Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. He convinced Grinnell and several scientific organizations to fund a second expedition to continue to explore the Arctic and search for Franklin.

Kane organized and headed the Second Grinnell expedition on the USS Advance which sailed from New York on May 31, 1853. The expedition stopped in Fiskenaesset, Greenland to pick up the Inuit hunter, Hans Hendrik and at Upernavik, Greenland to pick up the sled driver and interpreter Johan Carl Christian Petersen and wintered in Rensselaer Bay. Though suffering from scurvy, and at times near death, he pushed on and charted the coasts of Smith Sound and the Kane Basin, penetrating farther north than any other explorer had done up to that time. At Cape Constitution he discovered the ice-free Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, later followed by Isaac Israel Hayes, Charles Francis Hall, Adolphus Greely, and Robert E. Peary in turn as they drove toward the North Pole.

Kane finally abandoned the icebound brig USS Advance (1850) on May 20, 1855, and made an 83-day march to Upernavik on the west coast of Greenland. The party, carrying the invalids, lost only one man. Kane and his men were saved by a sailing ship. Kane returned to New York on October 11, 1855, and the following year published his two-volume Arctic Explorations. Despite the unsuccessful expedition, he was welcomed home as a hero. He received hundreds of speaking invitations and stage producer James Wallack planned to turn the expedition into a play. Although in poor health, Kane completed his second book Arctic explorations, the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. Kane used his celebrity and charisma to promote the idea of an open and temperate polar sea, which he claimed to have seen, and helped to link exploration of the High Arctic with nationalism and nation-building, adding a northern frontier for the United States to conquer in the pursuit of scientific progress.

Personal life
In 1852, Kane met the Fox sisters, famous for their spirit rapping séances, and he became enamored with the middle sister, Margaretta. Kane was convinced that the sisters were frauds, and sought to reform Margaretta and paid for her education. She would later claim that they were secretly married in 1856 – she changed her name to Margaretta Fox Kane – and engaged the family in lawsuits over his will. After Kane's death, Margaretta converted to the Roman Catholic faith, but would eventually return to spiritualism.

Death and legacy
After visiting England to fulfill his promise to deliver his report personally to Lady Jane Franklin, he sailed to Havana in an attempt to recover his health, after being advised to do so by his doctor. He died there on February 16, 1857. His body was escorted to New Orleans by the governor of Cuba and carried by steamboat and a funeral train to Philadelphia. His funeral was the largest in American history until it was surpassed by that of Abraham Lincoln. After lying in state at Independence Hall, he was transported to Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery where he was placed in the hillside family vault.

Kane received medals from Congress, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Société de géographie. The Geographical Society of Philadelphia created the Elisha Kent Kane Medal in his honor. In 1851, Kane was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was also elected to the American Antiquarian Society in 1855.

The Anoatok historic manor at Kane, Pennsylvania, was named to honor Kane's Arctic expeditions. The destroyer USS Kane (DD-235) was named for him, as was a later oceanographic research ship, the USNS Kane (T-AGS-27). A lunar crater, Kane, was also named for him. In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 22 cent postage stamp in his honor, depicting his route to the Arctic. The waterway between Greenland and the northernmost Canadian islands, previously named Peabody Bay, was renamed Kane Basin in his honor. Cape Kane in Peary Land was named in his honor at the time that it was the nearest land to the North Pole that had been put on the map.

In popular culture
In 2010, a young adult book, Tombstone Tea, by Joanne Dahme takes place in Laurel Hill Cemetery and Kane is one of the characters in the book.

title: Elisha Kent Kane