Just over a year ago, New York City’s Hard Rock Hotel opened its doors, becoming the latest destination offered by a brand that is known and beloved by audiences all over the world. 

But this is not just another Hard Rock offering. It’s an award-winning building worthy of serving America’s largest city and tourist destination. And materials from Walker Zanger helped make it so.

Hard Rock History

The first Hard Rock Café was opened in London in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett. According to legend, the pair were simply looking for a place for travelers to get American-style hamburgers in the English capitol. But they got much more than they anticipated, as the Hard Rock swiftly became a tremendous success and grew to accommodate both music performances and rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. 

Just over a decade later, the Hard Rock began a global expansion, opening successful locations in destination cities around the world. Today, Hard Rock is one of the world’s most recognizable brands, with Café, Casino, and Hotel locations in over 74 countries, with annual revenues of over $3.4 billion.

New York’s Hard Rock Café opened in 1984 on 57th street, and moved to Times Square in 2005. It has been one of the brand’s most successful and celebrated dining and music locations ever since. 

The new Hard Rock Hotel is located on New York’s “Music Row,” between the Theater District and Radio City Music Hall, in a brand-new 36-story building with 446 guest rooms, a rooftop café & lounge, and a live music venue that seats over 400.

The Space

With such a legendary brand in an equally iconic location, the new Hard Rock Hotel has a lot to live up to. And it succeeds brilliantly with a breathtaking interior designed by Jeffrey Beers International and Extell Corporation.

Of course, the hotel proudly displays iconic music memorabilia from Hard Rock’s massive collection (the largest such collection in the world). Yet it is the sense of bold, yet familiar grandeur the interior design conveys that truly reveals the new facility as one of the brand’s premiere properties.

Visitors entering the hotel are greeted by a vast lobby with a broad, winding staircase illuminated by floor to ceiling windows. The floor is adorned with Walker Zanger’s Revere White Marble, a spectacular natural white stone with exquisite, delicate black veining. The distinctive white and black detailing echoes the sleek high-rise landscape of New York and the iconic tiles that are found on the subway stations around the city. 

Another showpiece Walker Zanger stone was selected for the elevator vestibule, where the design team made elegant use of Port Laurent marble. The striking gold-veining of this material conveys a sense of opulence, while contrasting black with the Revere White tiles to evoke the image of piano keys — an appropriate motif for a hotel so synonymous with music. 

Such is the nature of the Hard Rock Hotel’s design. As with music itself, it is the small details that make the whole utterly unforgettable.

The Build

Efforts to meet the Hard Rock Hotel’s ambitiously brief construction timeline in the heart of New York City were not without challenges, but this distinctive stonework was not among them. All project materials were sourced to specifications, and delivered on time so that Unlimited Stoneworks Inc. could guarantee prompt, expert installation in time for the Hotel’s grand opening in April 2022.

Since that time, the building has won numerous awards, and has begun to cement itself as one of the Big Apple’s more attractive visitor destinations. It is a fitting result for the Hard Rock Hotel, a visually stunning design project that celebrates New York City’s storied music history.