The Widows of the Plaza Hotel

But while Mrs. Walsh was undoubtedly a grande dame of the widows, she is not the best remembered. That dubious honor is reserved for Fannie Lowenstein, the most cantankerous of the widows, who arrived at the Plaza in 1958 as a young divorcée and soon met a fellow hotel resident who became her second husband. Not only did her new husband have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, but even better, he also had one of the few rent-controlled Plaza apartments.

When her husband died, Mrs. Lowenstein continued to live in splendor in their three-room suite, paying just $800 a month for rooms that might have rented for more than $1,250 a night. She couldn’t be evicted, so the Plaza staff treated her with extreme deference, fearful of provoking one of her tantrums.

When she arrived for dinner in the evening, a waiter would take her regular order of asparagus soup and Hennessy cognac, while the musicians would stop whatever they were playing and the violinist would serenade her with the theme song from the Broadway musical “Fanny.”

Stories about Mrs. Lowenstein are plentiful, but one of the most frequently recounted is about the time she came down to the Palm Court during Sunday brunch and, in a fit of pique at the management over some perceived slight, relieved herself on the rug in front of a shocked crowd.

When Donald J. Trump bought the Plaza in 1988, Mrs. Lowenstein was still alive, one of a handful of widows who remained. The future 45th president of the United States paid more than $400 million for the hotel — a record-shattering $495,000 per hotel room — before losing it in a bankruptcy three years later. In the beginning, Mr. Trump’s most difficult tenant seemed content. But the honeymoon was short-lived, and it wasn’t long before the new owner had run afoul of the demanding doyenne.

Months into his tenure as owner, Mrs. Lowenstein began complaining of what she called “indoor air pollution” in her rooms. She insisted that it was causing her curtains to shrink and her Steinway grand piano to grow mold. She mounted an assault on the ownership, repeatedly calling the city to register complaints. Soon, inspectors were writing increasingly urgent missives to management.