In the magazine, Conde Nast Traveller, they devote the last page to a feature they called room with a view in which regular people would send in interesting photos taken from hotel rooms that they had stayed in with an unusual and interesting view with hopes of being published. Those selected were interesting, unusual, often quite good, and generally international. So, prompted by Jackie, I began to take photos from rooms with views and finally came up with a winner (so says I). The above photo was taken from room 407 of the Russell Hotel on Park Ave and 39th St, a few blocks south of Grand Central Station. The hotel itself was a small gem of turn of the century architecture, plush, warm, wood paneled, and welcoming, a home away from home for the carriage trade stopping over in NYC for a few days between here and there back in the day when traveling by train was the only way to go and had taken on a life of its own. To enter the hotel these days was to be transported back in time and elevated in one's station in life, a character in an Edith Wharton novel maybe, maybe House of Mirth.
We loved the Russell and often stayed there, so I was eager to return to put the finishing touches on the details I would need for the entry. Jackie went on line to make reservations, but to no avail. The web connection was disconnected. Phone disconnected as well. On our next trip to NYC, we went over and indeed found the hotel closed and in a state of disrepair inside that seemed to indicate a major renovation was in progress, but why, the place was perfect as it was. A few months later we returned and got the news. The Russell had been demolished and in its place they were building a modern metal and glass condominium building, out of place in the neighborhood, cold and impersonal with no architecturally redeeming qualities. Another piece of NYC history joins the old Penn Station in the scrap heap of of horribly poor decisions made those rich people who have been granted the privilege of rebuilding NYC in their own image. Bland and characterless with an eye on the bottom line and no commitment to posterity.
This is my most recent photo in the room with a view series. It is from a room on the 5th floor of a generic Radisson hotel in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, grey, gloomy and gothic, just as I remember it. A lively and exciting city in spring and summer, but the winters are cold, very snowy, and deadly, if you are prone to depression.
Pablo
