Grace Kelly , Joan Didion and Candice Bergen all called it home . Sylvia Plath threw her clothes off its ceiling on the last sidereal day of her magazine internship . The Barbizon was not the first women - only residential hotel in New York , but it was sure as shooting the most famous , housing many histrion , theoretical account and writers of the mid-20th one C in the years before they made it large .
Opened in Manhattan in 1927 , the 23 - story Barbizon Hotel for Women sat on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street , a baronial anatomical structure establish in the Romanesque , Gothic and Moorish style . Its 700 roomswere tiny — think college dorms — with partake lavatory and kitchens . But the hotel sport a wealthiness of fancy extra , such as a swimming syndicate , library , solarium , lecture hall , crush andbadmintoncourts , social activities and spare good afternoon tea . The Barbizon ’s aim was to draw in challenging middle- and upper - class adult female , preferably those interested in the arts and stardom . The glamorous hotel became so acclaimed , it was even featured in films and novel .
Interestingly , many of the luxe hotel ’s occupier were of lowly means and hailed from lowly Midwestern towns . " Small - township residents often get there by gain a lulu or talent competition , which would give them a pocket-sized amount of money with which they could pay for a couplet of months at the hotel , " says Paulina Bren , source of the book " The Barbizon : The Hotel That Set Women Free " and an ancillary professor of international studies at Vassar College .
But snag a room at this coveted reference was n’t merely a matter of plunking down enough money . The women had to present three references , garb well and have a good demeanor . It also helped greatly if they were young and pretty . In fact , one of the longtime assistant managers , who also manned the front desk , created a leveling systemthat collapse orientation to young women when determine who to include . Due to these standard , the hotel was presently nicknamed " the Dollhouse . "
Inside the Dollhouse
While many new , ambitious woman hanker to live at the hotel , it came with many restrictions . man were n’t grant in women ’s rooms , for example , and the residents were chastise if they come home late or intoxicated . In 1961 , writer Joan Gage was n’t permit to step outside the building don slump . These ruleswere in place because the elite hotel wanted to maintain a good repute , as well as assure the women ’s parents that their daughters would be good here .
Despite these rule , life was not always staid inside the Dollhouse . Men invariably tried tosneak upto the womanhood ’s rooms , for one thing , squeezing into dumbwaiter or feign to be doctors , pipe fitter , priests or begetter — anything to be allowed up the stairs . Most were not successful , but some made it through . And Grace Kelly , whom many consider to best personify the hotel ’s resident , appall some of the other guest bydancing toplessin the hallways .
The hotel ’s heyday came in the1940s through the sixties . This was the earned run average of Bergen , Kelly , Plath , Liza Minnelli , Ali MacGraw , Cybill Shepherd , Phylicia Rashad and more . Some of these charwoman were part of the Eileen Ford modeling agency , which rent elbow room for its models — partly to essay and keep them out of trouble . The Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School also paid to lodge its clients here , while the cleaning lady ’s cartridge holder Mademoiselle rent rooms to domiciliate the college students it hired every summer as Edgar Guest editors . These editors - in - training were know as the Millies , from the Mademoiselle abbreviation " Mlle . " Plath and Didion were both part of this guest editor programme .
The Barbizon did not let in a Black cleaning woman until 1956 , when it accepted Barbara Chase - Riboud , a Millie and an completed artist , with work display in the Museum of Modern Art . Still , Chase - Riboudfaced discriminationboth at the magazine and inside the hotel , where she was excluded from using the pool .
During the hotel ’s prime quantity , living there even after you " made it " was not rare . " One model made up business cards to show she was staying there , " sound out Bren . " It was a marker of glamour and reputability . "
But not inevitably for every resident . Some never hit it big and became be intimate as part of " the Women , " older residents who elected to stay at the hotel , despite their lack of success . The recording label was as feared as being call a spinster . One such unmarried was Molly Brown , celebrated for surviving theTitanic ’s final , fateful journey . Brown institute herself forgetful on cash when her moneyed and alienated hubby died sans will , landing her at the hotel , where she inhabit until herdeath in 1932 .
The End of an Era
The Barbizon began to recede its luster by the starting time of the ' 70s , when the cleaning lady ’s liberation movement and real estate trends made cleaning lady shun stifling rules and tiny rooms with communal bathrooms in favor of anything - blend in apartments and condo . In a bid to appease relevant , men were allowed to rentstarting in 1981 , and the building underwent legion renovation . At one point , direction tried to get disembarrass of the 100 - plus Women still at the hotel , whose monthly rent could n’t be jacked up due to the metropolis ’s rent stabilisation jurisprudence . But the woman were allowed to continue .
Today , the Barbizon — which wasdesignated a New York City landmarkin 2012 — has been reimagined intoBarbizon 63 , a lavishness condo building . The apartment boast top - ledge amenities ( think Bolivian rosewood floors and Gallic casement windowpane ) and betray for millions . Four of the former hotel ’s Women still reside there , and they merit props for that .
" The Barbizon was a berth that catered to fiercely challenging womanhood at a time when there were few outlets for them to be ambitious , " Bren says . " And so even if the young women of the Barbizon never made it , they were heroine for having tried . "
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