There are a number of iconic hotels closely entwined with New York’s cultural history. The Plaza, the Algonquin and the Waldorf Astoria are among the best known. Less widely known was the Barbizon, a 23-story neo-Gothic built in 1927 on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street. The Barbizon was an upscale, clublike residential hotel for ambitious young women who dared to venture to New York to pursue their dreams. It was a safe haven, offering plenty of amenities plus a no-men-above-the-ground-floor policy. There were 720 convent-like rooms and each had its own radio (if not its own bathroom).
The hotel’s history glitters with names and stories of talented, beautiful young women who passed through on their way to literary and cinematic stardom including Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Grace Kelly, Ali MacGraw, Cloris Leachman and Liza Minelli.
The hotel was named for the Barbizon school of painters, a 19th-century French art movement which arose in the town of Barbizon just outside of Paris. New York’s Barbizon was a rooming choice for women who sought alternatives to the traditional jobs open to them. It became a launching pad for careers in business, publishing, modeling and acting. Students from the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School were housed there from 1930-1972 and Mademoiselle magazine quartered its annual creme de la creme group of 20 collegiate “guest editors” there every June from 1944 through 1979.
The hotel was converted to upscale condominiums in 2007, but the story of the Barbizon is of the beginnings of the female professional class in New York City, especially in the arts and media.
In 1966, at age 16, I approached my mother with information about modeling school in St. Louis, about 30 miles from our house. I had my driving license, so if they paid the tuition and let me drive myself I could go. Surprisingly, she agreed. Every Saturday for several months I drove over the river for 2 hours (or so) of instructional courses in modeling, acting, personal development including self-confidence, poise, and style, industry education, photo movement, voice diction, etiquette, job interviewing, makeup application, and runway. I also got the training of a young ladies “finishing school” (how to dine, sit, stand, walk, get in and out of a car gracefully) and a few photos for my professional portfolio. And the name? The Barbizon School of Modeling and Acting, founded in 1939 in New York. The school, like the hotel, was named for the village of Barbizon outside of Paris.
The school is still in business, with over 200 locations around the world and a number of very well-known actors and models having attended.
And I can still get in and out of a car without flashing my underwear!!