February 5, 1906

An architect was hired to plan the new hotel, an easy choice in the person of Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, a well-regarded designer of luxury apartments and hotels. Soon a steel skeleton began to rise behind a sign that announced:

---

A NEW HOTEL WILL BE ERECTED ON THIS SITE AND OPENED IN THE FALL OF 1907 UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF FRED STERRY OF THE ROYAL POINCIANA & THE BREAKERS, PALM BEACH, FLA & THE HOMESTEAD, HOT SPRINGS, VA.

---

That Fred Sterry was the sole principal involved who was mentioned specifically by name was not surprising, for his name was already very familiar to upscale travelers. His career began at the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York, and at the age of twenty-seven, he was named managing director of the fashionable Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. This was followed by similar positions at the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers in Palm Beach, where his renown helped put the rising winter resort on the map. Sterry’s exquisite taste and refined manners were the keys to his meteoric rise; his influence on every aspect of The Plaza cannot be overemphasized. (Here, his portrait.)

Here, The Plaza begins its ascent. In addition to the feverish construction team (which would complete the building in a record twenty-seven months), equally feverish sign painters were also at work (here). Their completed handiwork can be seen on the following pages.

The series of photos that follow depicting the building’s construction were commissioned by the U.S. Realty and Construction Company. Made (and scrupulously dated) on a weekly basis, they served as a record of the hotel’s progress. This was a common practice among builders at the time to protect their investments.