From the Seton Hotel to Seton Residence: what the 1931 building is now

The short answer, if that is what you came for

144 East 40th Street is still standing, still has the Seton name on the awning, and is now operated as Seton Residence — furnished rooms let on a nine-month minimum.

So if you are looking for a room for a few nights, this is not it, and we would rather say that in the first paragraph than take the enquiry. If you are looking for somewhere to live in Midtown East for the next academic year or the next nine months, it is very much it.

What the city's records establish

These come from NYC PLUTO, the Department of City Planning's property dataset. They are the facts about this building that can actually be checked.

• Built 1931
• Six floors, 61 units, 20,736 square feet
• Block 895, Lot 63 — BBL 1008950063
• Last major alteration on record: 2010
• Building class H9 — hotel

Why it is still classified as a hotel

That H9 on the city record is a tax-class description of the building, not a statement about what you can book today. Buildings keep their class long after their use shifts, and this one has carried it since it was built for exactly that purpose.

What it does tell you is something useful about the layout. The building was designed for stays — single rooms off a corridor, shared facilities downstairs, a lobby rather than a vestibule. That is a different animal from an apartment block carved into rooms afterwards, and it is the main reason the format works here without feeling improvised.

What a 1931 building actually gives you

The floorplates from that era are generous in a way newer construction is not, which is where the tall windows in the rooms come from. The 2010 alteration is what brought the services up to date behind them.

Downstairs the shared parts are the ones the original plan allowed for: a communal kitchen, a laundry room, a lounge and a courtyard. A courtyard in Midtown is not something you retrofit.

The other inheritance is the block. East 40th between Lexington and Third is residential on both sides, which is unusual this close to 42nd Street and is why the street is quiet at eleven at night.

What we are not going to tell you

There is a lot of confident history about Midtown buildings online, much of it attached to the wrong address. We are not going to add to it.

What is written above is what the city's dataset and the building's own signage support. Beyond that — architects, former guests, decade-by-decade narrative — we do not have sourced material, so you will not find it on this page. If you are researching the building seriously, the PLUTO lot number above is the thread to pull.

What the building is today

Sixty-one furnished rooms, rent billed weekly, nine-month minimum. Electricity, gas, heat, water, sewer, trash, air conditioning, Wi-Fi and weekly housekeeping are all inside the rate — no second bill and no utility account in your name.

The one thing worth knowing before you enquire: there is no stove or oven in a room. Rooms have a mini-fridge, a microwave and a kettle, and real cooking happens in the communal kitchen downstairs.

• Deluxe Room — $525 a week, shared bathroom, full bed
• Studio Basic — $650 a week, en-suite, queen bed
• King Studio — $745 a week, en-suite, largest room, shareable as a twin

Four minutes from the terminal, same as it ever was

The reason a hotel went up on this block in 1931 is the reason people live here now: Grand Central is a four-minute walk, and the 4, 5, 6, 7 and S plus Metro-North all run out of it. The address scores 98 for walking and 100 for transit.

The building's purpose changed. The thing that made the location worth building on did not.