The New Plaza Hotel And The Suite Of John W. “Bet A Million” Gates- 1909
This real photo postcard by Thaddeus Wilkerson shows the new Plaza Hotel. The hotel towers above its neighbors offering its guests terrific views of the city and the park. We are looking southwest from the Hotel Netherland on 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. The southern boundary of Central Park at 59th Street is on the right and on the extreme left is a portion of the Vanderbilt mansion on Fifth Ave and 58th Street.
The original Plaza Hotel on the same site was opened in 1890 and demolished in 1905. The new Henry Hardenbergh designed Plaza Hotel was much larger than its predecessor.
The original estimate to buy the site, raze the old hotel and build the new hotel was $8.5 million. The actual cost ended up being $12.5 million. For the backers it was the largest hotel investment in the world. The hotel held a private opening on September 23, 1907 and the public opening was a week later on October 1.
Hostelry To “The 400”
Wealthy visitors were attracted to the hotel by the amenities and plush settings. More than fifty percent of the hotel’s original occupants were permanent guests, engaging rooms on an annual basis. Many were members of New York’s ultra-rich set also known as “The 400.” Among the famous residents were Alfred G. Vanderbilt; John W. “Bet A Million” Gates; George Gould; and Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Harriman.
Living in a hotel one does not conjure up visions of a real home. But “Bet A Million” Gates was essentially a part owner of the Plaza through his stock holdings of the United States Realty Company who built the hotel. Therefore the hotel could transform Gates’ rooms to his and his wife’s taste.
Gates turned his large suite of rooms into a palatial residence overlooking Grand Army Plaza, the William Tecumseh Sherman Memorial statue and Central Park.
The following photographs from the March 20, 1909 issue of Town and Country magazine, show five of the 16 rooms that comprised the posh interior of John and Dellora Gates third floor Plaza home.

A Bedroom in Circassian Walnut – Along the lines of the Louis XV period. The windows overlook The Plaza

Receptiion Room – Of the combined periods of Louis XIV and XV. The windows overlook Fifty-ninth Street and Central Park.
Gates did not not get to enjoy his Plaza Hotel home very long. Gates died in Paris on August 9, 1911 at the age of 56 from a throat tumor.
Comparing the Plaza to the buildings surrounding it in 1907, I can finally tell how impressively enormous it was at the time. Those brownstones on 59th are way more charming than what’s there now.