Vanderbilt Avenue · Established MCMXXVIII
Manhattan's Jazz-Age landmark, brought back to its original gold-leafed splendor — where the light has been kept burning since 1928.
I · The House
The Meridian opened its doors in the last gilded spring before the Crash, and has kept them open — through blackouts, renovations, and the slow forgetting of Vanderbilt Avenue — ever since. The medallion above the elevator bank, eleven feet of water-gilded bronze, was restored by the same hands that keep Grand Central's zodiac; it has watched every arrival since Coolidge was in office.
The house does not chase the hour; it keeps it. The marble is the original marble. The sconces are the original opaline, rewired. What is new — and much is new — has been made to apologize for itself quietly, in the manner of good staff.
Guests are received from three o'clock, and the lobby lamps are never off. That is not a metaphor. There is a man whose job this is.
II · Rooms
A quiet room on the avenue side: walnut, brass, linen heavy enough to matter, and a bath of Calacatta marble that predates your grandmother's opinions on it.
FROM $385 / NIGHT
The colonnade below, the avenue beyond, and a bed set so the morning gold arrives across it at the correct angle. We measured. In 1929, and again last spring.
FROM $465 / NIGHT
Two exposures, a proper sitting room, and the spire framed in the east window like a picture the house hung there on purpose. It did.
FROM $720 / NIGHT
The thirtieth floor keeps one apartment and no neighbors: a private elevator landing, a terrace over the avenue, a library assembled by someone who read, and — above the bed — the medallion's twin, a second sunburst in gilded plaster. The staff will not mention it first. Guests always do.
III · Dining
A menu that remembers 1928 without living in it: oysters on crushed ice, a chop with serious intentions, and a soufflé that takes the time a soufflé takes. Jackets are not required. They are, however, noticed.
DINNER · TUESDAY–SUNDAY · 5:30 UNTIL 11
Aperitifs under lamplight at a bar of black glass and brass rail. The Meridian Sidecar has been poured here since Repeal, and before Repeal it was poured here quietly. Ask the barman about the hour; he keeps it too.
DAILY · FOUR O'CLOCK UNTIL LATE
IV · The Hour
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New York · Lobby Time
Every grand hotel keeps a clock; ours keeps the city. The lobby clock has told Vanderbilt Avenue the hour since 1928 — wound weekly then, disciplined now, and never more than a breath from Naval Observatory time.
Wherever in the world you are reading this, the clock at left is showing New York's hour — the hotel's hour — this very second. When it is golden here, you will know.
V · Reserve
Reservations are taken by wire, by telephone, and by the more modern methods, which the house tolerates graciously. State your dates, your party, and whether you take the avenue side or the quiet side. The avenue side is correct.
VANDERBILT 3-1928 · RESERVATIONS@THEMERIDIAN.NYC
Reserve a StayShould you arrive early, the bar keeps the hour until your rooms do.