New York: Where to Stay: Hip: Gramercy Park Hotel

Gramercy Park Hotel

In the 1970s, Ian Schrager and his late partner, Steve Rubell, revolutionized nightlife with their spectacular disco, Studio 54. A decade later, fresh out of prison for tax evasion, the two shattered all preconceived notions of what a stylish lodging should be with the launch of Morgans, their Andrée Putman–designed boutique inn. The 185-room Gramercy Park is Schrager’s latest act of iconoclasm. This time he’s thrown out the winning, hyperdesigned hotel formula he devised with Philippe Starck and, in collaboration with über-artist Julian Schnabel, invented a whole new lodging experience, one that’s highly personal and idiosyncratic. He calls it “high bohemian baroque.” The inspiration? Schnabel’s own quirky baronial digs, and the hotel’s own bohemian past. At one time, the writers S.J. Perelman, Edmund Wilson and his wife, Mary McCarthy, all lived here, as did former bootlegger–turned–movie mogul and financier Joseph P. Kennedy and his brood. Typical of a Schrager hotel, the decor is still completely calculated, but this time far warmer and inviting. Imagine a double-height living room–lobby with luxurious red velvet curtains, with a timber ceiling and columns, lit by a grand Venetian glass chandelier and outfitted with an enormous Italian limestone fireplace, worn leather armchairs and bronze cocktail tables cast with faux tassels and studs. The black-and-white Moroccan-tile floor is partially covered by a luxurious hand-woven carpet—half Aubusson, half Schnabel gestural painting. The rough plastered walls of the lobby and the adjoining Rose and Jade bars are embellished by an ever-revolving collection of important contemporary artworks by such artists as Cy Twombly, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, and Schnabel himself. After a tip from Nobu Matsuhisa, Schrager imported the Asian culinary maestro Yuji Wakiya to oversee the hotel’s new restaurant, which serves highly refined regional Chinese cuisine. In other words, a visit becomes an instant immersion course in haute New York hip.

The individual guest rooms are painted in a distinctive palette of rich hues. Each guest room is unique and lushly sexy, decorated with custom-designed furniture by Schnabel and Dutch designer Maarten Bass, as well as one-of-a-kind pieces gathered from bazaars across the globe and black-and-white photographs curated by the legendary photo agency Magnum. Leave it to Schrager to provide the supersophisticated hotelier touches: mahogany drinking cabinets outfitted with cut-crystal goblets and full-size liquor bottles; honor cupboards stocked with distinctive New York treats from Gourmet Garage, Dean & DeLuca, and Balducci’s; and everywhere candles emanating the hotel’s own scent, concocted by the chic Nolita perfumery Le Labo. For those who don’t want to leave their rooms, there’s twenty-four-hour room service, offering not only Yau’s dishes but also specialties from some of Manhattan’s best restaurants. For fitness-conscious guests, there’s a fully equipped gym with video-training pods. There’s also a multiservice spa. When the weather is pleasant, guests can take their meals and entertain on the rooftop, which was conceived by garden-designer extraordinaire Madison Cox as a verdant salon-style sanctuary. For those who want a taste of old New York privilege, request a key to Gramercy Park, a private patch of manicured green. (If I didn’t live here, this hotel would make me want to come for a visit!) Rooms from $595.

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