Isidore Zimmer, Samuel Resnick, and Frank Locker developed the Hotel Paramount starting in 1927, and it opened on June 12, 1928.

The Paramount became popular after Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub (now Sony Hall) opened in the basement in 1938.

When the Diamond Horseshoe closed in 1951, the hotel began to decline, and the property was sold multiple times over the next few decades.

The Paramount Hotel is at 235 West 46th Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[16] Along 46th Street, the first eleven stories occupy nearly the entire site (except for the light courts), extending outward to the lot line.

[13] At ground level, the 46th Street facade consists of a double-height colonnade with twelve round arches, spanning the width of the hotel.

The two outermost bays on either side have stone balustrades, while the remainders of the outer pavilions contain iron railings and metal security grates.

[22] The modern lobby design dates to a 1990 renovation by Philippe Starck, who drew inspiration from science-fiction themes[23] and 19th-century ocean liners.

[25] When the hotel was renovated, Pierre Sabatti redesigned the mezzanine restrooms with stainless-steel sinks, shaped like cones and decorated with etchings of leaves and feathers.

[36][37] The design was based on that of grill rooms and restaurants in Europe,[7] with pink, blue, and white Celanese satin at the entrance.

[40][41] The main room's interior, is largely new construction but takes design cues from Lamb's original intent, such as lunettes and a frieze.

[20] The hall's ceiling is designed with multiple domes and trim framing out a center ellipse containing a fiber optic night sky.

[41] The hotel's original decorative features included bronze elevator doors in the Baroque style, as well as marble stairs with iron handrails.

Newsday compared the sizes of the suites to a "janitorial supply closet",[46] and a reviewer from the Orlando Sentinel wrote that his single room "was very small, verging on confining".

[56][57] Zimmer, Resnick, and Locker further expanded the site in March 1926 with the acquisition of two lots at 243–245 West 46th Street,[58][59] which could accommodate a structure of up to 23 stories.

[85] Following a yearlong investigation, in mid-1930, the United States government requested an injunction against the hotel's grill room because it violated Prohibition-era ordinances.

[96][97] In late 1938, entertainer Billy Rose hired Albert Johnson to design a nightclub in the hotel's basement,[98][99] within the old grill room.

In October 1953, after 14 months of negotiations, the government agreed to take over the hotel and convert it into offices for the Internal Revenue Service, but this conversion did not occur.

[116] The hotel's operators leased the Paramount's basement as a theater in December 1960[117] to the partnership of Irving Maidman and Norman Twain.

[108] During the mid-1980s, The New York Times characterized the hotel as "a scruffy tourist stop off Eighth Avenue",[129] appealing to "low-budget European travelers willing to sleep four to a room".

[25][138] Schrager fired all of the hotel's 130 workers, interviewing 4,000 people to fill the positions;[130] he advertised in entertainment magazines like Playbill and Variety, hosting auditions for candidates.

The city's hotel-occupancy rate at the time was relatively high, and the surrounding neighborhood was rundown, leading one observer to write: "That Schrager would spend more than $1 million on ads right now is questionable.

[149][150] Schrager planned to spend $2 million on renovating the vacant basement into a nightclub similar to Studio 54, but it remained empty.

[11] The LPC designated the hotel's exterior as a New York City landmark on November 17, 2009, citing the Paramount's importance as one of Lamb's few non-theatrical buildings.

[170] The cost included a $20 million conversion of the long-abandoned basement into the Diamond Horseshoe entertainment venue, which opened at the end of 2013.

The renovation, designed by Stonehill & Taylor and Meyer Davis Studios, included the guestrooms, lobby, and other public areas.

[178] According to Curbed, the hotel's quality had degraded by then, and "complaints on review sites ranged from mold on the ceiling to stained carpets to a cockroach in the bed".

[179] Breaking Ground formally proposed in early 2022 that the hotel be converted into 510 housing units and a 136-unit shelter for homeless adults.

[180] The plan required the support of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council (HTC), a labor union representing the Paramount's workers.

[51] Similarly, a review in Oyster.com described the hotel as having a trendy yet unpretentious design, despite its small rooms and lack of on-site amenities.