City Of New York Forbids Changes To Iconic Four Seasons Restaurant

After a lengthy battle with the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, it looks like Aby Rosen, the landlord of the landmarked Four Seasons restaurant building on Park Avenue and 52 Street in Manhattan, will be unable to make the significant changes proposed to the iconic restaurant.

Last year, we reported that the priceless Picasso tapestry that once hung in the hallway of the Four Seasons had been removed. This removal invoked the ire of the dogged Commission, which announced that it would pursue a temporary restraining order against Rosen to protect the priceless artwork. In May, Rosen proposed further "minor changes" to the restaurant, which prompted outcries from the historian and architect communities.

The decision to reject the changes to the idyllic Pool Room, which has a bubbling marble pool as the restaurant's iconic centerpiece, is certainly a setback for Rosen. He had been planning on making the fixed upper partition inside the room moveable.

"Somebody should have gotten up to say, 'I want to congratulate Mr. Rosen, who has the financial wisdom to save something great in this town,'" Rosen told The New York Times. "I'm going to do what I think should be done. I'm spending 20 million bucks restoring it."