Crosby Street Hotel, Firmdale Hotels

There was a time when the Firmdale hotels were more or less synonymous with London. The group’s Crosby Street Hotel, however, changed all that. The setting, on the cobbled street for which it’s named, is a perfect one, both in the thick of SoHo and just removed enough from Broadway for a bit of privacy. Meanwhile the style is a fine fit for a neighborhood whose artistic residents transformed an old industrial district into an upscale residential and commercial one; behind those typically Firmdale metal-framed warehouse-style windows is the strong dose of English town-meets-country luxury that New York didn’t know it needed.

The arrival of Kit Kemp’s eclectic design eye, ultra-vivid color sense, and affinity for prints and patterns may in fact have been what put an end to the downtown Manhattan mania for minimalist, monochrome luxury-hotel spaces. The appeal runs deeper than visual panache, of course — the service is both personal and professional in the best sense, and the in-room comforts are luxurious without ever crossing over into gratuitous opulence.

Meanwhile the inviting public spaces are a large part of the draw for Crosby Street’s well-heeled, creative crowd. As in any Firmdale hotel there’s unusually eye-catching art practically everywhere you look, and a 99-seat cinema beneath the lobby makes the hotel a fixture for film-world events. And no less popular is the Crosby Bar, a versatile and capacious restaurant and bar where hotel guests and SoHo locals gather at the table or over a drink, in an atmosphere that feels both rarefied and welcoming at the same time.

About the Neighborhood:
With its cobblestone streets and cast-iron buildings, the historic district of SoHo is nothing if not distinctive. Once known for its affordable artists’ lofts made from disused manufacturing spaces, it’s now gone upscale, and is one of New York’s retail centers, with everything from mainstream chain shops to one-off boutiques. The location places you at what’s more or less the center of lower Manhattan, with everything from Union Square to the Financial District within easy reach. And it’s long been a hotbed for great boutique hotels as well, from the early days of the boutique-hotel movement right up to the present day.