The lowest three stories above ground, as well as three basement levels, are used as commercial space and carry an alternate address of 6 Park Avenue.

After several years of planning and construction, the Vanderbilt Hotel opened on January 10, 1912, as one of the first large commercial developments in Murray Hill.

A group led by John Marqusee bought the building in 1966 and spent the next year converting the hotel into residences and offices.

[19] The ornament consisted of cream-colored low reliefs, while the walls were made of mottled, semi-glazed brick in blue-grey and plum colors.

[15] Some of the original ornamentation from the lowest floors, including three medallions measuring 3 ft (0.91 m) and twenty-four pieces of relief, are preserved in a private garden at 433 East 58th Street in Sutton Place, Manhattan.

[23] On the top three stories, the building was ornately decorated with terracotta motifs such as lozenges, lions' heads, helmets, and colonnettes.

[25] Instead of a protruding cornice, the Vanderbilt Hotel was topped by a curved parapet that contained classical heads and lace decorations, as well as electric lights.

[27] Renovation architect Peter Claman, an unnamed art dealer, and the Brooklyn Museum each took some of the busts,[15] which ended up as far away as Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Each stoker was supplied by a traveling hopper with a capacity of about 1,500 lb (680 kg), filled by a coal conveyor with continuously moving buckets.

[37] A "Far East Room" was created in the lobby after World War I in advance of a dinner in which Ferdinand Foch was a guest; it remained in operation through the late 1950s.

[16][42] The frieze was a dull gold color, while the reliefs were designed in the style of Italian ceramic artist Luca della Robbia.

[57] Along with the Rathskeller at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, the Della Robbia Room contains one of the few extant examples of Rookwood tiles in the world.

[58][59][60] The piers were covered in tiles, decorated with tropical birds, fish, flowers, and foliage "in a slightly humorous vein";[60] they contained fretwork at their corners and capitals.

The bar's original floor was made of marble, but this has since been covered by multiple types of materials, including carpets and hexagonal ceramic tiles.

[54] The vaulted ceilings of the room and bar were made of Guastavino tiles in a blue, tan, and aqua color scheme.

[4][73] Later that month, Warren and Wetmore filed plans for a 21-story office and loft building, to be built on the west side of Park Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets.

[80] The New York Times said the Vanderbilt Hotel, along with the Cameron Building at Madison Avenue and 34th Street, was evidence of the "weakening" of the Murray Hill restricted zone.

[17] That July, Warren and Wetmore filed plans for a two-story structure at 45–47 East 33rd Street, directly to the west, to protect westward views from the hotel.

[99] In its early years, the hotel hosted events such as luncheons,[100] meetings for the private Paul Jones Club,[101] and a party for Warren G. Harding's 1920 presidential campaign.

[130] The architectural firm of Finn and Jenter filed plans in 1956 for the installation of a central air conditioning system at the hotel, which was to cost $500,000.

Marqusee planned to market the apartments to office workers who lived in the suburbs and needed to stay in the city during weekdays.

[69] Other early commercial tenants included Childs Restaurants,[139] a branch office of stock brokerage EF Hutton,[140] and United Cerebral Palsy.

[26] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) conducted studies in 1984 to determine whether the former Vanderbilt Hotel was eligible for city-landmark status.

The LPC found that, because the lower section of the facade had been substantially altered, the exterior did not hold as much architectural significance as the remaining parts of the interior.

[142] After the demolition of the Art Deco-style Marine Grill at nearby Herald Square in 1991, preservation group Friends of Terra Cotta started advocating for the remaining section of the room, the onetime Crypt, to be designated as an interior city landmark.

[148][149] At the time, the building's other commercial tenants included ground-level stores for Duane Reade and Wolfgang's Steakhouse, as well as two companies within the basements.

"[20] Another magazine called the hotel "one of the most distinctive and imposing buildings in New York, and its position is commanding", as it was close to Grand Central.

[35] A contemporary observer said the Della Robbia Room was "an example of the most successful work of this kind that has been accomplished by American potters".

[19] Christopher Gray of The New York Times described the Della Robbia Room as a "vast double-height grotto of ceramic art", comparing the columns to trees and the ceiling to a forest canopy.

As the building was being constructed in 1910, Alfred Stieglitz took a picture entitled Old and New New York, contrasting the growing steel frame of the emerging Vanderbilt Hotel with the old low-rise blocks of the street below.