building designed for modern New York." Two New York Times writers called the Shelton "a stately, breath-taking building", while Lewis Mumford characterized the hotel as "buoyant, mobile, serene, like a Zeppelin under a clear sky". In a 1932 survey of 50 American architects, four ranked the Shelton as the United States' best building. Architectural historian Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that, by the 1960s, the hotel's architecture had largely been forgotten and that only architectural historians and real-estate developers were interested in it. Huxtable, in a retrospective review of the hotel, called the style "rather indeterminate, ranging from simple traditional with fine marble and ironwork, to early Schrafft's." In the 1970s. The New York Times described the gargoyles on the facade as "benevolent beasts". After the late-1970s renovation, Paul Goldberger said the Shelton's "loss would have inflicted not only visual blow to the city's skyline but scholarly blow to the history of architecture", although he said the redesigned interiors, while "well-intended", were "no match for the original building". Hotel commentary After the guestrooms were renovated in 2007, Oyster.com wrote: "These days, the original Shelton is only apparent in fragments, an original staircase here, an old stained-glass window there. [...] The 646 guest rooms above, however, are all modern." The U.S. News & World Report wrote: "Some recent visitors said this Midtown East Marriott, just about a mile walk from Central Park, gets the proverbial job done – it's a pleasant place to hang your hat, but it doesn't offer anything too exciting." Influence According to architect and writer Robert A. M. Stern, the hotel's design "unleashed a trend toward skyscraper apartments and hotels as intense as the passion for skyscraper offices". The facade and massing of the Barbizon 63 hotel, on 63rd Street, was directly influenced by that of the Shelton. Architectural historians have described the Shelton's design as having influenced various 20th-century skyscrapers such as the Barclay–Vesey Building, 26 Broadway, and the lower stories of the Empire State Building. Architectural historian Carol Willis wrote that the Shelton, along with the Barclay–Vesey Building, "helped to popularize an aesthetic of simple, sculptural mass that became the benchmark of progressive design" by the mid-1920s. See also List of former hotels in Manhattan List of hotels in New York City List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets References Citations Sources 1924 establishments in New York City 2020