The project was developed by Hilton Hotels Corporation, the Rockefeller Group, and the Uris Buildings Corporation. The original architect was Morris Lapidus and he proposed to build a curved Fontainebleau Hotel-style building. However, Lapidus had to withdraw since he was also designing the competing Americana of New York hotel a block away. William B. Tabler was then tapped to finish the project and he designed it with slabs. It opened June 26, 1963, as the New York Hilton and offered 2,153 rooms, making it the largest in the city. Hilton Hotels & Resorts asserts that the lyrics to John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" were composed in the hotel. In June, 1972 Elvis Presley stayed here while performing four sold out concerts at nearby Madison Square Garden. He held a press conference before the first show at the Mercury Ballroom at the Hilton hotel. Martin Cooper made the world's first handheld cellular phone call in public April 3, 1973, when he called Joel S. Engel at the New York Hilton with a two-pound Motorola DynaTAC phone. Cooper, a Motorola inventor called his rival at Bell Labs to tell him about the invention. The cell phonebase station was next door atop the 1345 Avenue of the Americas. The hotel owned the property immediately west of it which was the site of the Adelphi Theatre where episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed. The Adelphi was torn down in 1970. In 1989, an office tower, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, was built on the site. The tower is connected to the Hilton with a walkway and keeps the Hilton's Sixth Avenue address even though it is midblock and closer to Seventh Avenue. Exterior shots of Elaine's workplace at the J. Peterman Company in Seinfeld show the building. In 1990, a $100 million renovation decreased the number of guest rooms to 1,980. The property underwent further renovations in 1991–1994 and a $100 million renovation in 1998–2000 that included a complete overhaul of the lobby, the addition of an Precor USA Fitness Center on the fifth floor. Around that time the name was changed to Hilton New York, as all Hilton hotels were rebranding the name Hilton to go before the city name at the time. In 2007, the hotel completed its fourth renovation. It now has 47 suites on floors 42 through 44. Each suite includes between of space. In 2013, the hotel was renamed the New York Hilton Midtown in honor of its 50th anniversary. At that time, the management announced that it ended room service and established a new unique restaurant concept with room delivery called "Herb n' Kitchen". In the 2016 United States presidential election, US President Donald J. Trump held his election night victory party in the hotel's grand ballroom. Ownership of the hotel was transferred in 2017 to Park Hotels & Resorts when that company was spun off from Hilton Worldwide. The hotel is home to a number of award ceremonies, including the International Emmy Awards presented by the International Academy. Each Spring, the hotel serves as the venue for the Inner Circle Show, the annual charity dinner produced by New York City journalists satirizing city, state and national politics, and current events, which also includes rebuttal skits produced by the mayor featuring major show business personalities.
