The Eldorado

Facts

• Originally designed as a 16-storey building, the design was revised to 29-storeys with twin towers, as enabled by the Multiple Dwelling Act.
• With the Depression affecting the economics, the developer Louis Kiosk had to sell the building to the Central Park Plaza Corporation before its completion.
• The building was landmarked in 1985.
• The Eldorado was built in 1929-1931 and replaced the eight-storey Hotel El Dorado by Neville & Bagge (1902).
• A stainless steel archway leads through intricate glass doors into the classical entrance lobby, with wood panellings and marble floor, as well as muralled walls.
• The building has a cast stone base with bronze reliefs and a massive un-setback bulk with a series of darker vertical bands.
• The towers have similar bands and end in setbacks and top finials intruduced to the design by Emery Roth.
• Designed as a less extravagant development of the earlier multi-towered apartment buildings, the apartments were generally smaller in size, although not less sumptuous, with Art Deco-r, hardwood floors and 3-meter ceilings.
• The building was converted to a co-op in 1982 and incorporates at the present 216 apartments, with a total of 1,300 rooms.
• The towers house only one apartment per floor, resulting in a true all-around view from these apartments.
• The famous Eldorado residents include Marilyn Monroe, Faye Dunaway and Groucho Marx.