The Nation - News from March 27, 1988

The posh Plaza Hotel in Manhattan was bought by developer Donald Trump for $390 million, but he does not plan to put his name on it as he has on so many of his other prized buildings. The new president of the hotel will be Trump’s wife, Ivana, who will be paid “$1 a year plus all the dresses she can buy,” Trump said. Trump, whose other properties include Trump Tower in Manhattan and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J., said he plans to make the building “the most luxurious hotel in the world,” but the name will remain the same. The hotel was built in 1907 along the lines of a French chateau and its first guest was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, then the richest man in America.