After a two-year hiatus, von Bidder and Niccolini reopened the restaurant on 49th Street in August 2018, but the Four Seasons was unprofitable in its new location and closed permanently on June 11, 2019.

Art inside the restaurant included a permanent mural by James Rosenquist; a major Richard Lippold sculpture; a curtain designed by Pablo Picasso; and various temporary exhibitions.

The Seagram Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, had been completed in 1958 to designs by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, and Kahn & Jacobs.

[5][12] Time magazine described the Four Seasons as employing "25 chefs and bakers and a battalion of 125 cummerbunded captains, waiters, wine stewards, barmen and busboys".

[8] The opening of the Four Seasons prompted other New York restaurant owners to boycott Seagram liquor, as the company had helped finance a competitor within its own building.

[9][17] For example, it hosted a birthday party for then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy in May 1962,[17][18] as well as a dinner for the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin wine-tasting organization in December 1962.

[19] The stature of the restaurant was such that, according to Peter Hellman of New York magazine, Stockli "could barely be bothered to greet" a visiting royal family who walked through the door.

[9][21] This was in part due to the New York City fiscal crisis, as well as the fact that younger audiences were not necessarily interested in the Four Seasons' unconventional menu items.

[61] Further controversy over the restaurant's artwork arose in 2014 when the Seagram Building's owner, Aby Rosen, proposed removing a tapestry by Pablo Picasso, which was not protected as a landmark.

[64] His company RFR Realty proposed changes to the Four Seasons' interior,[65] which the LPC largely rejected, except for a replacement of the carpet.

[89] The spaces contain design features similar to those in the Seagram Building's lobby, with travertine walls and floors; cement ceilings with gray-glass mosaic tiles; and bronze engaged piers.

[9] The eastern section of the 52nd Street wing has an entrance that leads directly to the Grill and Pool restaurant, bypassing the main lobby.

For instance, there were separate wine and liquor glasses, as well as different tableware for cold and hot appetizers, fruit, vegetable, cheeses, caviar, and house specialties.

[14] Some pieces of tableware were quickly removed due to their impracticality, including wobbly fruit bowls and glassware with the restaurant's logo.

[125] Every morning, between sunrise and the restaurant's opening time, all the lights were turned on at maximum brightness, and portable mercury vapor lamps were placed beneath the fig trees.

[17] The idea for the ceiling rods was devised because Johnson and Lambert wanted to make the 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) spaces seem more cozy without actually modifying the room's dimensions or the "elegance" of its design.

[129][131][132] The curtain is a portion of a Picasso tapestry used as a prop for the ballet that was purchased in 1957 by Phyllis Lambert, the daughter of the Seagram founder Samuel Bronfman, and installed prior to the restaurant's opening in 1959.

[139][140] During the period in which Rothko worked on his murals, the Four Seasons rented Jackson Pollock's painting Blue Poles from its then-owner, art collector Ben Heller.

[141] Main courses included "Violets in Summer Snow", "Sweet and Sour Pike in Tarragon Aspic", and "Piccata of Piglet in Pastry".

[126] The Four Seasons was the first restaurant in the United States to cook using fresh, wild mushrooms;[145] these were placed not only in salads but also in filet mignon, sauces, and toast.

[2][146] Jeff Gordinier of The New York Times wrote that, even though the restaurant had hired celebrity chefs such as David Chang and Daniel Humm, the food "can seem like a supporting player".

[67] Town and Country magazine described the restaurant as a gathering place for influential figures in New York City,[29] and a 1988 Newsday account said one could "fill a gossip column for a week" just by looking at which customers sat with each other.

[22][110] The Four Seasons' management gave frequent patrons special treatment; according to Alex von Bidder, the restaurant once delivered a dinner to a "prized customer" in his hospital room in Boston.

[17] The Wall Street Journal wrote in 1984: "At lunch time, serious people opt for the Bar Room, and have been doing so long before Michael Korda told them they should in his book on power.

"[143] Despite the Four Seasons' stature, the rich and famous often dined among the general public, leading GQ food critic Alan Richman to describe the restaurant as "one of the last high-level democratic institutions".

[155] In the earliest years of the Four Seasons' existence, frequent customers included lawyers Louis Nizer and Roy Cohn, U.S. senator Jacob Javits, and philanthropist Charles Revson.

In addition, film producer Joseph E. Levine often hosted parties at the Pool Room, inviting movie stars such as Sophia Loren, Franchot Tone, Robert Wagner, and Natalie Wood.

[156] Other frequent patrons included businessman Barry Diller, fashion designer Bill Blass, and businessman Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr.[145] Niccolini said in 1999 that only four regular patrons were always assigned the same table: Simon & Schuster editor-in-chief Michael Korda; the restaurant's own architect Philip Johnson; Seagram CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr.; and Seagram chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr.[157] According to lawyer Robert H. Montgomery Jr., the junior Bronfman typically sat on the balcony, which was an unpopular place to sit until Edgar Jr. became CEO of Seagram.

[147] Bryan Miller, writing for the Times in 1985, gave the restaurant three stars for its design and service,[22][148] although he objected to the quality of some dishes such as the peppery duck.

[7] Paul Goldberger wrote: "The wood‐panel bar with its Lippold sculpture is at once warm and dignified; the main dining room with its central pool and vast spaces is luxurious.