Commodore Hotel, 1919.

The second Terminal City hotel named for railroad baron, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, this 2,000-room hotel was completed in 1919 to the designs of Warren and Wetmore, one of GCT's architectural firms. The hotel boasted the "Most Beautiful Lobby in The World," which was also the world's largest. A successful venture for more than 50 years, the hotel suffered in the 1970s as the railroad company which owned the building, (then) Penn Central filed for bankruptcy. The suffering hotel was sold in 1977 to the Donald Trump Organization in partnership with the Grand Hyatt Corporation (with some shady dealings which gave the buyers an unprecedented 40-year tax abatement).

Under the new ownership, the hotel was gutted and its masonry facade was covered by a reflective glassy skin. So though the Grand Hyatt New York may look like a 1980s glassy structure, the 1919 building remains hidden beneath. Today only the single smoke stack of the original building peaks out from the glass building.