There are scattered remnants of the original interior design, including an entrance that formerly led from the New York City Subway's Times Square station to the hotel's basement.

The Knickerbocker Hotel is on the southeastern corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, at the south end of Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.

[11][12] John Jacob Astor and William Cutting bought a large tract of land in modern-day Times Square from Metcef Eden in 1803.

[i][17] With transit improvements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New York City's theater district relocated from further south in Manhattan to modern-day Times Square.

[20] The Knickerbocker Hotel's Broadway and 42nd Street facades are articulated into three horizontal sections: a two-story base, a ten-story shaft, and a three-story mansard roof.

The pediments atop windows on each story are variously made of segmental arches, sculptured decorations, or swans' necks.

[26] When the Knickerbocker was re-converted back into a hotel in the 2010s, the double-height first story was altered for a service entrance that takes up the entire width of the 41st Street facade.

[30] The modern Knickerbocker Hotel also contains a restaurant, a coffee shop, and a roof bar overlooking Times Square.

[9][44][45] Displayed in the basement bar was a Frederic Remington painting entitled "The United States Cavalry Charge",[39][44][46] interspersed with mirrored wall panels and gold-colored hangings.

[9] One doorway still exists on the platform adjacent to the 42nd Street Shuttle's track 1, topped by a lintel containing the carved word "Knickerbocker".

[56] The original design had a lobby facing 42nd Street, with marble columns, bronze pendant lanterns, and red-and-gold foyer decorations.

[60] It had a Caen stone cladding; a 22-foot-high (6.7 m) beamed ceiling modeled after the Palace of Fontainebleau; marble statues and tapestries on the walls; and two bronze-and-marble electric fountains by Frederick MacMonnies.

[11] When the hotel reopened in 2015, Charlie Palmer was hired to operate Jake's @ The Knick, a "grab-and-go" takeout eatery on the ground level.

[78] John Jacob Astor IV leased the hotel to the International Realty and Construction Company (IRCC) of Philadelphia, organized by J.E.

[81] James B. Regan, former manager of the adjacent Pabst Hotel, leased the site from the IRCC for seventeen years in July 1902.

[39][94] Other guests and residents included opera singer Geraldine Farrar, baritone Antonio Scotti, film director and producer D. W. Griffith, novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as numerous politicians and diplomats.

[96][97] The next year, two men stole gems from a guest and attempted to escape through the basement, squirting tabasco sauce into the eyes of the responding patrolmen, who arrested the burglars anyway.

[98][99] There were also several murders at the Knickerbocker, including in 1912, when the hotel's in-house violinist Albert de Brahms killed his wife and tried to seal her body in plaster.

[102][103] Vincent Astor, Nicholas Biddle, and S. B. Thorn formed the Knickerbocker Holding Company on June 14, 1920, two weeks after the hotel's closure.

[108] The Old King Cole painting was loaned to the Racquet and Tennis Club on Park Avenue by 1925[109] before being installed permanently at the St. Regis Hotel in 1935.

The underlying land was simultaneously sold to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Harry Helmsley's Helmsley-Spear company and Irving S. Wolper, for $2.75 million.

The land was held by the Inch Corporation, a shell company representing the true owner, the British royal family.

[71] SL Green sought to attract small office tenants to the top seven floors,[71] so the company decided in late 2001 to rebrand the building as 6 Times Square, which it believed was a more prominent address.

[144][145][146] Danske subsequently resold the building to a joint venture of Highgate Holdings, Ashkenazy Acquisitions, and Stanley Chera.

A critic for British newspaper The Daily Telegraph gave the Knickerbocker a 7/10 rating, saying that the hotel "adds a pinch of sophistication to Times Square.

Yet, with its sleek, low-slung furnishings and neutral palette, the interiors are the antithesis of Beaux Arts, and Bellhops in baggy knickerbockers and chunky Doc Martens set the tone the moment you arrive.

"[162] A reviewer for Oyster.com also contrasted the hotel's Renaissance-style exterior and modern interior, saying: "Some guests find this minimalist style cold and uninviting, especially paired with the lack of seating in the lobby.

"[163] Conversely, a reviewer for Fodor's said the hotel provided a "serene counterpoint to the mass of people, lights, and excitement that converge at the crossroads of Broadway and 42nd Street".

[164] A critic for Business Insider wrote in 2020: "It's comparable in price to other big brand hotels but offers a sleeker, more boutique vibe, with upscale rooms and five-star service.

"[165] Visitors also praised the hotel's central location, large rooms, and rooftop bar, but criticized the fact that it lacked a pool and a spa.