ADSNY Honors a New York City Icon: The Waldorf Astoria New York

The Icon Award is the highest honor ADSNY bestows. It's reserved for the rare moments when preservation and restoration reach an extraordinary standard — the last time ADSNY presented the ICON Award was a decade ago, to celebrate the restoration of the Empire State Building's lobby.

This October, we're proudly presenting the ADSNY ICON to celebrate the extraordinary restoration of the Waldorf Astoria New York on its 95th birthday!

Few buildings carry the architectural and cultural legacy of the Waldorf Astoria New York. Opened on October 1, 1931, it redefined American hospitality and became the city’s “unofficial palace.” After more than eight years of painstaking restoration, it has reclaimed its place as a beacon of culture and luxury hospitality, while remaining true to its history as one of the finest examples of Art Deco design.

Join us for a very special gala evening celebrating the long-awaited, widely celebrated restoration of the Waldorf Astoria New York. Marking the one-year anniversary of its reopening, Frank Mahan, Principal at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), will present a lively illustrated talk on the challenges he and his team faced balancing preservation, restoration, and adaptive reuse in reimagining the hotel’s historic Art Deco character for the next century. The talk will be followed by the Awards presentation and a cocktail reception (open bar, charcuterie, and cheeses) to toast to the next century of New York's important Art Deco masterpiece.

We are celebrating not just the work itself, but the journey it took to get to this milestone. Many of you may recall ADSNY's advocacy with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to secure landmark status for the Waldorf's interiors, and our gathering at Peacock Alley for a final toast on the eve of its closing in 2017 — not knowing what we'd find when the building reopened years later. Then came our collective sigh of relief and delight when, after eight years of anxious waiting, the Waldorf team gave us a sneak peek to the restoration as it neared its final stages. Since reopening its doors, the Waldorf Astoria has often welcomed ADSNY and its members, proof of what's possible when we reimagine and preserve New York City's Art Deco legacy.

So don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime celebration as we honor this Art Deco icon with ADSNY's most prestigious award.

About the Speaker

Frank Mahan led the Waldorf Astoria restoration for SOM, the architecture firm behind its transformation. He's spent his career on adaptive reuse of landmark buildings, including the Farley Post Office's conversion into Moynihan Train Hall and the restoration of SOM's own midcentury classics like Lever House. He currently serves on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and was named to Building Design+Construction's 40 Under 40 and recognized with the AIA Young Architects Award.