Best Designed Hotels in New York

The James New York brings luxury liberated from tradition to Soho. Located on the corner of Thompson and Grand, the newly built property is conceived and designed as a locally inspired, community focused and environmentally thoughtful hotel. Outdoor spaces throughout the hotel include an Urban Garden and rooftop pool deck and bar. A two-story glass wall in The Sky Lobby offers views of the Urban Garden along with area views of the neighboring sculpture garden. The hotel features expansive and unobstructed city views, with a panoramic rooftop vista of both the East and Hudson rivers. In homage to the creative neighborhood it calls home, The James New York features a mix of local artists both prominent and up-and-coming.

No matter how many stylish boutique hotels open in New York City, it seems it’s never quite enough. So to the Thompson group, who seem to be opening an endless stream of them, we can only say: keep them coming. New in Tribeca, surrounded by some of lower Manhattan’s top restaurants and shops, is the Smyth, a 100-room luxury boutique standing proudly over West Broadway.

Mondrian Soho is a new luxury hotel that has just opened in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. It is the third Mondrian hotel to open in the city and is the company’s first downtown hotel. Mondrian Soho is designed by Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz and features 270 rooms, an indoor-outdoor bar and restaurant and a beautiful garden. The hotel was inspired by the Jean Cocteau film, “Le Belle et la bete” – and the details of the film are reflected throughout. Broken up into distinct environments, from the lobby to the garden, the restaurant to the jewel-box rooms, Mondrian Soho is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to downtown Manhattan hotels.

With one-of-a-kind furnishings, paintings and sculptures created by Julian Schnabel, the Gramercy Park Hotel is more than a unique luxury property — it’s a work of art. Set in one of the most coveted areas of Manhattan and bordering on New York City’s only private park, the legendary hotel has, for almost nine decades, opened its doors to the world’s most creative spirits.

Two decades after bringing a distinctly high design sensibility to cities and resorts in their native Mexico, Carlos Couturier and Moises Micha are tackling an entirely different market: New York City. With their new Hôtel Americano, located in the middle of Chelsea’s art gallery district, the partners are celebrating both their love of contemporary art and their passion for Manhattan.

“We want to tell a story about Latin America and New York. A New Yorker is always an Americano, because they live in a city where they have to adapt all the time. Set in a former parking garage, the Hôtel Americano has a cool industrial Manhattan veneer but a warm Latin soul.

The 56-room hotel features decidedly Mexican touches, like an outdoor rooftop pool that becomes a hot tub in winter, along with very New York-style details like iPads in every room that are full of recommendations for the best local galleries, restaurants and shops. Hôtel Americano has two restaurants and bars, as well as locally-produced bicycles guests can use to explore the High Line and Hudson River Park.

“New York can be overwhelming for visitors. In our hotel, guests feel safe, and they feel comfortable,” says Micha. “We have this Latin American approach, so that you’ll feel the warmth.”

The Standard, New York, the youngest of André Balazs’ Standard hotels collection, opened in late 2008 and has since taken the New York City hotel scene by storm. The “King Standard”, as the New York Daily News calls it, is a delicate colossus straddling the High Line,a brand new elevated park, which runs up Manhattan’s West Side. The glass and concrete monolith was André Balazs’ first hotel project built from the ground up and recalls such iconic New York structures as the Lever House and the United Nations, with a twist of contemporary decadence. Situated inside Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, now one of the city’s most sought after plots, The Standard is the new heart and soul of the prodigious New York fashion, art and media worlds. The hotel’s panoramic views scaling the Hudson River and Manhattan’s magnificent skyline grace each of the 337 guestrooms on 18 floors with a sense of particular privilege. The Standard Grill and The Living Room attract not only hotel guests, but also the New York City creative scene on a daily and nightly basis. Experiencing the “city that never sleeps” takes on a new meaning at The Standard, New York.

Tim and Kit Kemp, perennial darlings of the London hotel world, have finally crossed the pond: the Crosby Street Hotel marks the first American venture of their celebrated Firmdale hotel group. The impressive 11-story construction was built from scratch on the site of a former parking lot in downtown New York, right in the heart of SoHo, famed epicentre of Manhattan chic. The interior look is classic Kit Kemp – elegant and quirky yet entirely cosy. Each of her 86 individually designed rooms and suites comes fully equipped with flat screen LCD television, DVD/CD player, iPod docking station, WiFi and custom-made Miller Harris bath products, while the top-floor headline suites offer the additional luxury of uninterrupted, 360-degree skyline views. Further highlights include a leafy courtyard garden, ground-floor bar and restaurant, well-appointed gym, guest-only drawing room and several private event spaces, all impeccably designed and peppered with art works selected by Kemp herself. This impressive list of facilities is rounded off by a luxurious private screening room – a perfectly-executed Firmdale trademark sure to be as big a hit in New York as it has been in London.

Visit Made by Originals to meet the creative spirit behind this hotel.