In the late 1990s, The Iroquois underwent an incredible transformation from historic New York hotel to a modern luxury hotel. In 1996, the current owner Shimmie Horn took over ownership of the hotel, which had been in his family since the late 1950s. A few years later, Mr. Horn affiliated the hotel with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and started a $13 million renovation. Since the building used to be an apartment hotel there were many suites and larger living areas, which during the renovation were split up into rooms more suitably sized for a hotel. Other changes were made. The Dumont Barber shop, which had been on the first floor, was replaced with a quaint in-house library, the old photographers’ studio became the cocktail salon Lantern’s Keep, and a fitness center was added. The lobby was completely refurbished to solidify the property’s status as one of the finest historic hotels offering boutique accommodations in NYC, and the bar and small restaurant were combined to make way for a larger restaurant, which is now the acclaimed Triomphe restaurant. In 1949, the hotel housed the headquarters of The National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professionals. The committee sponsored the Cultural and Scientific Conference, for which prominent figures from all over the world were flown into the city. The year after, a large protest group assembled outside The Iroquois to march to Pennsylvania Station for a demonstration detesting the one-year prison sentence given to Hollywood writers Dalton Trumbo and John Howard Lawson.