One of the most famous hotel buildings on the planet is about to go dark for a while. The Plaza, the French Renaissance-style giant on Fifth Avenue at the edge of Central Park, closes its doors in January 2027 for a façade restoration expected to take at least four years.

Management has framed the closure as unavoidable given the building's status. The Plaza is listed among the Historic Hotels of America — one of only 288 properties chosen by the National Trust for Historic Preservation — so the works must comply with strict historic preservation rules, with detailed coordination among preservation bodies and city stakeholders. Safety is the other stated driver, both for guests and for anyone passing by on the pavement below a century-old exterior.

The hotel opened in 1907 and became shorthand for old New York almost immediately. It appears in The Great Gatsby, it's the home of Eloise in the children's books, and film crews have returned again and again — Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Crocodile Dundee and Sleepless in Seattle all shot scenes there. The guest list over the decades reads like a party invite: The Beatles, Liza Minnelli and architect Frank Lloyd Wright all stayed.

For travellers, the practical detail is the calendar. If a visit to The Palm Court for afternoon tea — a fixture on many NYC itineraries — is on your list, you have until early 2027 to do it, or you'll be waiting until roughly 2031. Same goes for drinks at the Champagne Bar, a night in one of the rooms, or simply walking in to gawk at the lobby. Anyone planning a milestone stay, engagement photos or a Home Alone pilgrimage should book sooner rather than later.

The closure also has a knock-on effect on the neighbourhood. Fifth Avenue and Central Park South will lose one of their most photographed façades for years, and hotels nearby are likely to pick up demand from fans who still want a taste of Plaza-era glamour while it's under scaffolding.

No reopening date has been pinned down beyond the four-year estimate, which in restoration terms can always stretch. Watch for updates if you have a trip pencilled in for the late 2020s — and if the Plaza is a box you want to tick, tick it now.