and the result is not only a vast improvement over the spiritless interior court that has become an overreaching cliche, but also—give or take a few details—one of the handsomest public spaces in New York." The Atlanta Constitution wrote that the atrium "seems vast" despite being only three stories high, while The New York Times said the lobby was a place for "sitting and watching the custom that flows back and forth before the eyes". Joseph Giovannini of the Times wrote that the lobby "exemplifies many of the architectural ideas of the 1970's and 80's, along with some of its cliches". Shortly after the hotel reopened, reporters for Newsweek said that the "glistening mass of reflecting glass" seemed to be "a world apart from that grubby cluster of porn shops and X-rated movie theaters" along the section of 42nd Street within Times Square. A writer for The Washington Post said the Grand Hyatt "reaches for the present and future", in contrast to the Helmsley Palace Hotel, which had opened the same year but had "tried to embrace the past" by incorporating the historical Villard Houses. See also List of hotels in New York City References Notes Citations Sources External links 1919 establishments in New York City 42nd Street (Manhattan) Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Grand Central Terminal Hotel buildings completed in 1919 Hotels established in 1919 Hotels established in 1980 Hotels in Manhattan Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Lexington Avenue