The mystery of the gilded glass booth outside Midtown’s St. Regis Hotel

"It’s an eye-catching piece of street furniture: a booth made of glass, brass, and copper, with a door like a Romanesque arch and a capsule-shaped side compartments. This unusual sidewalk booth can be found under the awning at the East 55th Street entrance of the St. Regis Hotel. Built on Fifth Avenue in 1904 by John Jacob Astor IV (the only son of the infamous Mrs. Astor), the Beaux-Arts St. Regis has long been one of Manhattan’s most luxurious hotels, heralded as 'the new shrine of the millionaire' shortly after it opened by the New York Times. ..."

Ephemeral New York