InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel

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InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel: A Midtown Landmark

The InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel sits at 111 East 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan, on Lexington Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets. The 14‑story brick-and-limestone building, opened in 1926, was designed by Cross and Cross in a Colonial style. It was originally built as an apartment hotel with many smaller rooms and private foyers, and it is arranged in an “H” shape with light courts facing north and south.

History in brief
- Opened on November 4, 1926, as part of the Grand Central area known as Terminal City. It was operated by Realty Hotels, a New York Central Railroad subsidiary.
- Over the decades it changed hands several times. After the New York Central merged into Penn Central and faced financial trouble, the hotel was sold and renovated multiple times.
- Loews Hotels bought it in 1978 and then sold it to InterContinental Hotels, which renamed it Inter-Continental New York in 1982 after a major renovation.
- It was rebranded as the InterContinental Barclay New York in 2001 and then as the InterContinental New York Barclay in 2009.
- In 2013–2014, Constellation Hotel Holdings bought a majority stake and funded a large renovation. The hotel reopened in May 2016 after about $180 million in work, which redesigned public spaces, restored guestrooms, and added two ballrooms.

Today’s features
- The Barclay now has roughly 700 rooms with several suites, including the Presidential Suite and the Penthouse Sky Suite (which comes with a large outdoor terrace).
- Public spaces include a grand lobby with a bar and dining areas, six storefronts on Lexington Avenue, and a Barclay Terrace with a main dining room.
- The 2016 renovation added two ballrooms on the second-floor light courts: the Grand Ballroom (about 4,954 square feet) and the Empire Ballroom (about 3,000 square feet). A new Club InterContinental lounge and Gin Parlour bar were also created.
- The hotel has modernized guestrooms with larger bathrooms and better soundproofing, while preserving design elements that nod to its historic character. The lobby once featured a famous bird cage (installed in 1945) as a meeting spot; it was removed during a 1995 upgrade.

Notable history and people
- The Barclay hosted many celebrities and influential guests over the years, including Marlon Brando and Bill Clinton (the latter used it as his New York campaign headquarters in 1992). It has also housed clubs and organizations such as the Cornell Club of New York, the Wellesley College Club, and the Bryn Mawr College Club.
- The hotel’s location and elegant design have made it a longtime standout in Manhattan’s hotel scene, admired for its classic luxury and refined atmosphere.

Today the InterContinental New York Barclay remains a historic, stylish hotel in the heart of Manhattan, blending a rich past with modern comforts for guests visiting New York City.