Russian Tea Room
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, located at 150 West 57th Street
57th Street (Manhattan)
57th Street is one of New York City's major east-west thoroughfares, which runs east-west in the Midtown section of the borough of Manhattan, from the New York City Department of Sanitation's dock on the Hudson River at the West Side Highway to a small park overlooking the East River built on a...
between Carnegie Hall Tower
Carnegie Hall Tower
Carnegie Hall Tower is a 60-story skyscraper located on 57th Street in New York City. Part of a cluster of three very tall buildings , the tower was built in an architectural style in harmony with its western neighbor Carnegie Hall, a New York landmark.The tower is 231 meters tall and was...
and Metropolitan Tower.
History
The Russian Tea Room was opened in 1927, by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, as a gathering place for RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s and became famous as a gathering place for those in the entertainment industry. The founder is often considered to be Polish-born Jacob Zysman, but in that year, a corporation directory gives Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch was a naturalized American dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Born in Vienna in 1891 to a family of Polish Jewish descent, Rasch studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet school and became leading ballerina at the New York Hippodrome in...
as the president and her name appears along with Russian Art Chocolate and Russian Tea Room, in early photographs of the shopfront at 145 W. 57th St. In 1929, the business moved across the street to its present location, which at that time was an Italianate brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
, built in 1875 by German immigrant John F. Pupke, a tea and coffee merchant, whose son later moved the large clan to Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, seeking a more relaxed lifestyle.
By 1933, the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
Alexander Maeef was running the Russian Tea Room and was the main personality associated with the restaurant for the next fifteen years.
In 1955, the restaurant was purchased by Sidney Kaye, who, in 1967, left the restaurant to his widow, Faith Stewart-Gordon.
In 1981, Harry B. Macklowe
Harry B. Macklowe
Harry B. Macklowe is a New York City real estate developer and investor.His firm, Macklowe Properties owns a number of New York landmarks including 400 Madison Ave., 540 Madison Ave. and Two Grand Central Tower....
, the developer of the Metropolitan Tower, planned a large office tower that would have included not only his own site at the Metropolitan Tower, but also the restaurant's and the lot on which Carnegie Hall Tower
Carnegie Hall Tower
Carnegie Hall Tower is a 60-story skyscraper located on 57th Street in New York City. Part of a cluster of three very tall buildings , the tower was built in an architectural style in harmony with its western neighbor Carnegie Hall, a New York landmark.The tower is 231 meters tall and was...
was erected. There was an agreement with Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
about their lot, but Stewart-Gordon, who owned the lot dividing the project, refused to sell. Macklowe also offered to buy the air rights
Air rights
Air rights are a type of development right in real estate, referring to the empty space above a property. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building gives one the right to use and develop the air rights....
only and to give room for her restaurant inside the new tower building, but Stewart-Gordon declined. No matter what she was offered, Stewart-Gordon refused to sell the lot. During the planning of the Carnegie Hall Tower at 152 W. 57th St., on the other side of the Russian Tea Room, again Stewart-Gordon declined to sell its site or its air rights. The result is the narrow twenty-foot gap, separating the Metropolitan and Carnegie Hall towers.
In December 1996, Warner LeRoy
Warner LeRoy
Warner LeRoy , was a New York businessman. LeRoy was the son of film producer-director Mervyn LeRoy and Mervyn's second wife, Doris Warner, and was the grandson of Harry Warner, one of the founders of Warner Bros...
, who owned Tavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green was a privately owned American cuisine restaurant located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It remained in operation from 1934 to 2009 under various owners...
, bought the restaurant from Stewart-Gordon for $6.5 million and closed it down, much to the despair of New York high society
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
. After four years and $36 million in renovations, it reopened, but it was never the same; it closed with little notice on Sunday, July 28, 2002, after declaring bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. LeRoy's health was failing. Also, the local economy did not recover quickly enough to make payments on the substantial loans for the renovations.
After Warner LeRoy died, his estate sold the property for $16 million to the United States Golf Association
United States Golf Association
The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...
in December 2002. The Association had planned to reconfigure the property as a dining room and museum, in which to showcase its extensive collection of golf memorabilia, but instead sold the building in 2004 to the RTR Funding Group of Gerald Lieblich. The 20-foot-wide building goes all the way from 57th Street (the restaurant's main entrance) to 56th Street. The plans are to replace some of the current building facing 56th Street with a 29-story condominium, which is to be designed by Costas Kondylis
Costas Kondylis
Costas Kondylis and Partners, LLP, is an architectural firm headquartered in Manhattan. Their influence on New York City’s skyline has been commented on by New York Living Magazine – "Costas Kondylis and Partners might be the architects most responsible for the way New York City looks and lives...
. The original restaurant will be kept undisturbed.
The Russian Tea Room reopened on November 1, 2006. The restaurant's interior hasn't been touched and the over-the-top decor is the same as when it closed in 2002. However, several restaurant reviews have noted that the food and service leave significant room for improvement.
In culture
- The BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedian, Rowan AtkinsonRowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
, married Sunetra Sastry there, in 1990. - Scenes from ManhattanManhattan (film)Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen about a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl before eventually falling in love with his best friend's mistress...
, When Harry Met Sally, The Turning PointThe Turning Point (1977 film)The Turning Point is a 1977 film written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Browne, Tom Skerritt, Martha Scott, Anthony Zerbe, Marshall Thompson and James Mitchell.-Plot:This film tells the story of...
, TootsieTootsieTootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
and New York StoriesNew York StoriesNew York Stories is a 1989 anthology film; it consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City.The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by...
, were filmed at the restaurant, as well as The Wrath of Con episode of Gossip GirlGossip GirlGossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
. - It was a favored dining place of, among other notables, Ayn RandAyn RandAyn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
and Wanda Toscanini Horowitz. - The Russian Tea Room is depicted in a painting by Beryl CookBeryl CookBeryl Cook, OBE was an English artist best known for comical paintings of people she encountered in her home city. She had no formal training and did not take up painting until middle age.- Early life :...
. - In 1982, MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
worked there, as a coat-check clerk.
External links
- Official site
- "Recreating the Sizzle, Going Easy on the Butter", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, October 22, 2006 - Fabricant, Florence, "Tea Room Coming Back", The New York Times, October 4, 2006
- "The Russian Tea Room: Sweet Deals Fail to Tempt", The New York Times, September 11, 1988
- "LeRoy in Russian Tea Room buy, plans $10M renovation", Nation's Restaurant News, June 26, 1995
- Russian Tea Room at New York Architecture Images
- Video of the restaurant