Location: 3 Mitchell Place (East 49th Street) at
First Avenue, New York, New York
Architect: John Mead Howell
Date Completed: 1928
(now Beekman Tower Apartments)
Although the Panhellenic Tower was only a twenty-three story, 380 room hotel, its
brilliant design made it an instant landmark. Howell's tower seemed to rise in one
unbroken leap from its three story base containing restaurants and lounges to become one
of the city's most vivid examples of vertical force.
The sleek simplicity of the massing, with windows recessed between unbroken piers made the
building appear from most angles more like a solid mass than a hollow container.
The Panhellenic was designed as an apartment hotel and clubhouse for women college
graduates. While the individual rooms were decorated in a common manner, the public
spaces were notable.
In the lounge at the top of the tower, dark tones and sinuous patterns on the walls helped
hide the room's awkward shape. Tall lancet windows and French influenced furniture
gave the room a note of romantic mystery.
Panhellenic Tower
