The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park – the St. Moritz reborn

At the corner of Central Park South and Sixth Avenue, The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park occupies a 33-storey tower raised in 1930 as the Hotel St. Moritz, on the former site of the New York Athletic Club's clubhouse, designed by the Hungarian-born architect Emery Roth for the construction brothers Harris and Percy Uris. Rebuilt down to its steel frame between 1999 and 2002 and reopened under the Ritz-Carlton flag, the hotel keeps an art-filled, Beaux-Arts-leaning lobby while running 253 rooms and suites behind its brick-and-limestone façade, rated Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond. The MICHELIN Guide awards it One MICHELIN Key. Steps from Fifth Avenue's shopping, Broadway's theatres and Museum Mile's galleries, and standing directly on the route of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each November, it remains one of the few hotels in the city with an unbroken sightline onto Central Park's tree line.

01The house

Before the hotel existed, the plot on Central Park South held the clubhouse of the New York Athletic Club. When the club moved uptown, the site passed to the Uris brothers, who commissioned Emery Roth to design the Hotel St. Moritz, built in 1930 and constructed by the Harper Organization at an estimated cost of about six million dollars.

The hotel traded hands repeatedly over the twentieth century until 1999, when Millennium Partners, led by Christopher M. Jeffries, bought the building and partnered with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Handel Architects was engaged to strip the structure to its skeleton and rebuild it, keeping the lower floors as a hotel while converting the top twelve storeys into eleven large condominiums; the hotel reopened under its new name in April 2002, with interiors by Frank Nicholson. In February 2026, the Miami-based investment firm Gencom announced it had acquired the 253-key hotel, its eleventh Ritz-Carlton-branded project.

02Rooms and suites

The Forbes Travel Guide records a 33-storey Emery Roth building holding 253 rooms, including 47 suites, arranged around a majestic, art-filled lobby. Categories run from Manhattan-facing Avenue View rooms to the greenery-filled outlook of the Premier Park View suites, alongside two Legendary Suites finished with specially commissioned photography by New York-based artists.

Insider tip

Steps from Fifth Avenue, Museum Mile and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route.

At the top of the range sit the Signature Suites, inspired by the townhouses of the Upper East Side. The 2,175-square-foot Royal Suite and Presidential Suite both pair handcrafted wood accents with a curated collection of artwork and panoramic park views across their living and dining rooms, while the Artists' Gate Suite goes further still, with two separate living rooms, a billiards room, a formal dining area and thirteen windows looking over Central Park and Sixth Avenue.

03Where to eat

The hotel's single restaurant, Contour Gastro Lounge and Bar, takes its name from the fluid, Matisse-like forms used as a decorative motif across its three connected rooms, uniting a glamorous, all-day space on Central Park South. The kitchen pairs handcrafted cocktails with small plates built from locally sourced ingredients, open daily from seven in the morning to midnight under a smart-casual dress code.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner run on the same rhythm of morning coffee sliding into a working lunch and evening drinks blending into dinner, with in-room dining available around the clock. In warmer months, the hotel also arranges a Picnic in the Park, a hamper prepared by the executive chef for guests heading across the street into Central Park itself.

04The bar

Each evening at 5.15pm, Contour's Bar Room runs Manhattan Minute, a quarter-hour ritual pouring the hotel's own take on the city's signature cocktail while recounting its history, with a recipe card sent home as a keepsake.

Upstairs, guests with Club access have their own retreat: the Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge, often described as a hotel within a hotel, built around a dedicated concierge and curated culinary presentations rather than a conventional bar. Its weekly high point is Toast to the Night, a champagne and caviar service held every Friday evening from five to seven o'clock.

05Spa and wellbeing

La Prairie Spa here was the first stateside outpost of the Swiss skincare house, and remains the brand's only spa in the northeastern United States, a compact space with six treatment rooms offering facials, massage and body rituals built around La Prairie's caviar and cellular formulations, with separate lounges for men and women.

Fitness is handled on the same lower level, where a Technogym-equipped Fitness Center runs alongside an innovative Movement Studio stocked with Peloton bikes, a Concept2 rower and a full-length ballet bar, plus on-demand classes spanning yoga to high-intensity training, open around the clock for jet-lagged guests.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits on what is sometimes nicknamed Billionaire's Row, a stretch of Central Park South lined with exclusive residences, galleries and restaurants, with the park itself — all 843 acres of it — directly across the street. Designed in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1962.

Fifth Avenue's flagship stores are a short walk east, Broadway's theatres cluster to the south, and Museum Mile, with the Met, MoMA and the Guggenheim, lies within easy reach for a morning of looking at art before lunch. Every November, the hotel's own position on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route means some suites have the balloons passing almost within arm's reach of the window.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.