Garden City Hotel - History

History

The original Garden City Hotel first started construction in the fall of 1873 and was opened to great fanfare on July 30, 1874. It was built by millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart and cost $150,000 to build. The original hotel was later redesigned and expanded.

A new Garden City Hotel was opened in 1895, designed by architects McKim, Mead and White. A nine hole golf course was opened for guests in May 1897, which later became the Garden City Golf Club. Four years after the opening of the new hotel, it burned down on the morning of September 7, 1899. A third and most famous incarnation of the hotel was opened on the same site in 1901, and was a host to the elite families of society such as the Vanderbilts and Pierpont Morgans. It continued to be so until it declared bankruptcy and was demolished in the 1973 to make way for the present Garden City Hotel, which opened on May 20, 1983.

It was reported in October 2007 that the Nelkin family was exploring the sale of the hotel as a possible option several months after the death of its owner, Myron Nelkin. The Hotel is currently in the process of being sold to the Fortuna Realty Group, with a closing expected by September 2012.

The Garden City Hotel is currently a member of the Preferred Hotel Group (Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide). Its current President is Cathy Nelkin Miller.