Context Charles Pierre Casalasco left his father's restaurant in
Ajaccio,
Corsica, where he had started as a busboy, assumed Charles Pierre as his full professional name, and began work at the Hotel Anglais in
Monte Carlo. Charles Pierre went on to study
haute cuisine in Paris, and he later traveled to London where he met the American restaurateur,
Louis Sherry, who offered him a position. After Pierre arrived in New York as a 25-year-old immigrant, he made his first mark as first assistant at Sherry's Restaurant and became professionally acquainted with members of the
Social Register, as well as newer millionaires like
J. P. Morgan and the
Vanderbilts. After nine years at Sherry's, Pierre left, first for the
Ritz-Carlton on Madison Avenue at 46th Street, then opening his own restaurant on 45th Street immediately west of Fifth Avenue, and finally at Pierre's on Park at 230 Park Avenue.
Development and early years At the height of his success, dissatisfied with the increasing democratization of public manners, Pierre sold his restaurant and entered a joint venture with a group of Wall Street financiers, "among them
Otto H. Kahn, Finley J. Shepherd (who had married
Helen Gould),
Edward F. Hutton,
Walter P. Chrysler, and
Robert Livingston Gerry, Sr. (the son of
Elbridge Thomas Gerry, lawyer, philanthropist and grandson of
Elbridge Gerry, the inventor of '
Gerrymandering')". The 714-room, 41-story hotel that rose Its topmost floors render it an easily recognizable landmark on the New York skyline; they are modeled after
Mansart's
Royal Chapel at Versailles, a system of Corinthian pilasters and arch-headed windows, with octagonal ends, under a tall, slanted, copper roof that is pierced with bronze-finished bull's-eye
dormers. New York society turned out to attend the gala dinner that marked the opening of The Pierre; it was prepared by
Auguste Escoffier, "the father of French chefs", who served as a guest chef at The Pierre in its early years. As markets continued to collapse during the
Great Depression, The Pierre went into bankruptcy in 1932. The oilman,
J. Paul Getty, bought it for $2.35 million in 1938 (approximately $ million in ).
Mid- and late 20th century Beginning in 1948, New York City's ABC television and FM radio station (then called WJZ-TV Channel 7 and WJZ-FM 95.5, now WABC-TV and WPLJ) broadcast from a tower atop The Pierre, until moving to the Empire State Building a few years later. In 1959, 75 apartments were sold to a cooperative of private residents, while Getty retained control of the hotel's services and guest rooms. Among the permanent residents at The Pierre have been
Elizabeth Taylor,
Aristotle Onassis, Viacom entertainment-company chairman
Sumner Redstone,
Mohamed al-Fayed, then the owner of
Harrods, and the late designer
Yves Saint-Laurent. Thirteen of the apartments have since become "grand suites". In 1967 and 1968,
Edward Melcarth painted a
trompe l'oeil mural in the rotunda of the hotel. The mural included mythological characters prominent members of New York's elite like
Jacqueline Kennedy and
Erik Estrada. After criticism, the hotel painted over the telltale facial details and gave the figures a more generic look. President-elect
Richard M. Nixon stayed at The Pierre for several months in 1968-69 before moving to Washington, D.C. The Pierre was the scene of the
Pierre Hotel robbery in 1972, organized by the
Lucchese crime family. This robbery of $27 million would later be listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the largest, most successful hotel robbery in history. The Pierre came under the management of
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in 1981.
21st century In 2005, the hotel's 75th anniversary,
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a global chain of fine luxury hotels and resorts, succeeded Four Seasons as the new lessee and operator. In 2010, Taj completed a $100 million top to bottom renovation of the hotel. Taj Hotels is part of India's
Tata Group. In 2016, the hotel restored the murals, the decorative plaster ceiling, marble stairs and stone walls. They also added LED strip-lighting runs the perimeter of the floor, shedding up-light onto the murals. The hotel contains 189 guest accommodations, including 49 suites, of which 11 are grand suites. Dining options in the hotel include Perrine restaurant, The Rotunda and Two E Lounge. In December 2024, the Pierre was placed for sale.
Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, expressed interest in buying the hotel. Many residents of the hotel opposed the sale, since they could be evicted if the building were sold. Some of these opponents accused the hotel's largest shareholder—U.S. Commerce Secretary
Howard Lutnick, who owned the penthouse—of being involved in the idea to sell the building. ==Triplex==