Built in 1919 by the Pennsylvania Railroad the stately neo–Renaissance–style Hotel Pennsylvania was the largest hotel building in the world's greatest city – New York. This was the last addition to a chain of luxury hotels operated by the E. M. Statler Company. The hotel was designed by the prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White, which also completed landmark properties such as the original Pennsylvania Railroad Station, the Pierpont Morgan Library, Columbia University and the United States Post Office Building on Eighth Ave. Considered New York's Grand Dame and place to stay by dignitaries and discriminating travelers, Hotel Pennsylvania hosted numerous presidential visits. Bounded on the west by Seventh Avenue and on the north and south by 33rd and 32nd streets respectively, the hotel was erected on a building site measuring 200 x 400 feet. The hotel building has 22 floors from street level to the roof inclusive and three levels in the penthouse. The first four stories are faced with Indiana limestone and treated with Roman Ionic pilasters, with rusticated walls in between. The Seventh Avenue facade contains a magnificent portico of six Ionic columns marking the main entrance. These core structures remain intact today, retaining the ambience of a bygone era.