The Plaza Takes Four Years Off to Restore Its Exterior

The Plaza, the landmark hotel in New York, will close its doors in January and remain shut for four years while its exterior is restored. The work concentrates on the building's outer walls, the face it has presented to the city for generations. A project of that length says something about the scale of care being brought to the stonework and ornament rather than any hurry to reopen. For anyone who has stood across the street and looked up at that mansard and those dormers, the prospect of seeing them properly attended to is welcome. Hotels of this standing are not patched; they are brought back, piece by piece, and that takes time. New York will have to do without the Plaza for a while, but it will get the building back the way it was meant to look.

With reporting from Veranda.