Gild Hall

Whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage is somewhat in the eye of the guest, but one thing’s for sure: the most notable feature of Thompson Hotels’ Gild Hall is its location. Just a few hundred yards from Wall Street, this is deep in the heart of the financial district, a place that not too many years ago used to turn into a ghost town by about seven in the evening.

It turns out bankers and brokers have plenty of taste. Forget about tired Nineties minimalism — this place is full of character, right down to the split-level library and champagne bar, complete with fully-functioning books (pages and all) and clubby leather sofas. This, one imagines, is where the masters of the financial universe come to unwind after the closing bell.

There’s a whiff of nostalgia upstairs as well, the typically stylish guest rooms done up in dark masculine colors, with leather headboards behind the beds. Gild Hall carefully walks the line between fashionable boutique and out-and-out luxury hotel, a line you may have noticed all the Thompson hotels stick close to. Another reward for those who aren’t shy about exploring the lowest of Lower Manhattan is the hotel’s wine-centric Felice Ristorante, an outpost of the popular Upper East Side restaurant of the same name, done here in a sort of rustic-glam style, with vintage photos of 1960s Italy. Meanwhile La Soffitta, the bar, is tucked away discreetly on the second floor, with bottles of Italian wine lining the walls and filling the wine cages — again, as far from glossy stockbroker minimalism as it gets.