Designated November 22, 2016
*The Hotel Lexington is one of the premiere hotels constructed along the noted “hotel alley” stretch of the avenue north of Grand Central Terminal. It was built as part of the redevelopment of this section of East Midtown that followed the opening of Grand Central Terminal and the Lexington Avenue subway line. Constructed after the passage of the 1916 zoning law, the tiered massing of the building represents the early evolution of skyscraper design.
The Hotel Lexington is designed in a neoRomanesque style, complexly massed with ornamented setbacks, clad in limestone, brick, and terra cotta, and features a differentiated base, continuous piers, and a distinguished skyline profile as it rises 27 stories including the pyramidal roofed towers.
*excerpt from the Landmarks Preservation Commission Hotel Lexington designation report