Bryant Park serves as the backyard to the main New York City public library and it is a jewel of a park. Twenty years ago, it was a place where you would go to be hit over the head and robbed, but New York City is now Disneyland North so there are no longer any worries.
Looking down from West 40th Street is the 36-story Bryant Park Hotel, which is fronted with black brick, designed to look solid and massive, like hard coal. The crenellated roof of this gorgeous, landmarked building is made of gold bricks, which simulates fire. This is the old American Radiator Building and it stands as a monument to the once-great promise of hydronic heating in America. The sprawling main floor was once a showroom for radiators and boilers. Imagine that.
The American Radiator Co. eventually blended into American Standard and that company replaced the radiators and boilers in the huge showroom with plumbing fixtures. The radiators and boilers got flushed.
Then the Japanese bought the building and kept it vacant for years. That was sad to watch. Then, in 1998, after a small carousel and great lawn replaced the lead pipes and other bludgeons in Bryant Park, a developer bought the building and turned it into this crazy-expensive hotel. A small, bronze plaque near the front door feebly whispers what once was. Few stop to read it.