In 1998 the whole hotel underwent extensive refurbishing and redecorating.

At the time of its completion, the 171.5 m tall hotel was the tallest in New York.

The hotel itself has an entrance from the east end of the courtyard, as well as from the 50th and 51st Streets. The three-level lobby has also sumptuous decor and is dominated by the grand staircase.

The tower rises on its own foundations, but has been partly cantilevered over the east wing of the Villard Houses, rising over the courtyard of the hotel complex.

The target of commercial interest and a landmark since 1968, the Villard Houses (451-457 Madison Avenue, 1883-1886), a group of six brownstone private mansions by McKim, Mead & White, were sold by the archdiocese of New York to the Helmsley Corporation in 1974.

The developers used the air rights of the old mansions to build the staggeringly contrasting 55-storey Helmsley Palace Hotel (later New York Palace) in 1980.

Originally designed with a travertine facing and vertical strip-windows with arches on top, the facades were actually changed to a curtain wall of bronze-anodized aluminium and darkened glass.

The complex consists of two distinct groups of buildings, spanning almost a full century and incorporating 963 guest rooms.