The limestone base is two to three stories high and contains storefronts, a main entrance on 48th Street, and an archway on Lexington Avenue.

DiamondRock Hospitality acquired the hotel in 2011, and the Lexington left the Radisson chain and became part of Marriott's Autograph Collection.

[11] The center of the Lexington Avenue facade contains a round arch, which was originally an entrance but has since been converted to a storefront.

The arch is flanked by black-marble piers, and there is an overhanging marquee and a semicircular glass window directly above the entrance.

In addition, the facade contains sculptural details such as griffins, rosettes, and six sculpted figures (two sitting, four standing) that signify the seasons.

[11] To the north and south of the Lexington Avenue archway are two-story wings, which are divided into multiple bays by angled piers.

[11] The 48th Street facade is similar in design to that on Lexington Avenue, except that some of the windows have been infilled and replaced with ventilation grates.

[13] The center of the 48th Street elevation contains the main entrance, which is three bays wide and is shielded by a projecting marquee with the hotel's name.

A narrow tower, with round arches and a pyramidal roof, rises above the Lexington Avenue facade on the 21st story.

[13] Unlike in older hotels, the Lexington's ground level originally had retail space instead of meeting areas.

[16][17] Jac Lessman redesigned the Hawaiian Room with a wall mural painted by Carl Koeck,[17] a blue ceiling, and palm-tree decorations.

The ground level contains a pair of Art Deco-style meeting rooms known as the Speakeasy and the Interlude, which can collectively fit 120 people.

The rooms are designed with neutral colors and purple hues, as well as artwork by Mao Kudo and Rose Dickson.

[20] The hotel also contains a two-story lobby with furnishings and art from the early 20th century, as well as a bar called the Mixing Room.

[24] In the 19th century, New York Central Railroad lines north of Grand Central Depot in Midtown Manhattan were served exclusively by steam locomotives, and the rising traffic soon caused accumulations of smoke and soot in the Park Avenue Tunnel, the only approach to the depot.

[25] After a fatal crash in 1902,[26] the New York state legislature passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan by 1908.

[27] The New York Central's vice president William J. Wilgus proposed electrifying the line and building a new electric-train terminal underground,[28] a plan that was implemented almost in its entirety.

[36] A 1920 New York Times article said, "With its hotels, office buildings, apartments and underground Streets it not only is a wonderful railroad terminal, but also a great civic centre.

[43][44] At the time, many hotels, commercial structures, and office buildings were being developed on Lexington Avenue north of 42nd Street.

[48] From the outset, customers were banned from tipping the waitstaff at the hotel's bar and restaurant; instead, a 10 percent gratuity was applied to all guests.

[52][53] Reliance Property Management, headed by Frank W. Kriedel, was placed in charge of the Lexington's day-to-day operations.

[66][67] As part of the agreement, Rochester was to continue operating the hotel, and general manager George W. Miller remained in his position.

[22][iv] The shareholders of Hotel Lexington Inc. approved the sale in early February 1955; Schleiffer would buy 83 percent of the corporation's 91,110 outstanding shares of common stock for $5.25 million.

[83] Indian conglomerate Tata Group acquired the Lexington in September 1981,[84] and the Taj Hotels chain began managing the hostelry.

[7][21] The project, completed in 2016,[20] involved restoring architectural elements including the original brass elevator doors with songbird motifs.

[91] Later in the Lexington's history, its guests included U.S. President Bill Clinton, tennis player Roger Federer, and singer-actresses Patti LaBelle and Jennifer Lopez.

[111] During the Hawaiian Room's existence, the room hosted numerous Hawaiian musicians such as Alfred Apaka, Kui Lee, Emma Veary, Mahi Beamer, and Hilo Hattie, as well as bands led by Andy Iona, Ray Kinney, and Lani McIntyre.

[14] In a book published in 1932, W. Parker Chase wrote of the Lexington: "They term it 'The Hotel with a Heart' as everybody connected with the place from Bell Boy to President seems to have been drilled in the art of courtesy and a desire to please.

"[10] George Shepard Chappell, writing in The New Yorker under the pseudonym "T-Square", said the Lexington was "a romantic addition" to the avenue with which it shared a name.

[114] Christopher Gray wrote for The New York Times in 2009 that the hotel's Lexington Avenue entrance was a "Frappuccino gauntlet" because there was a Starbucks on both sides, but that the flagpoles were a "disrespectful, throwaway cast.