Barbizon Hotel

The Barbizon Hotel opened in nineteen twenty eight as a residential club exclusively for women, reflecting the massive influx of young professionals moving to New York City during the early twentieth century. Its creators designed the building with twenty three floors of small, private rooms that provided a safe, respectable environment for working women who were often shut out of traditional housing. The structure functioned as a social sanctuary, requiring guests to pass through a strictly monitored lobby that enforced a rigorous no men allowed policy for many decades.