Whether it’s the layout, the design, or even the selection of furniture, some hotels can feel like entering a different world.
Designer Kit Kemp has blazed a trail in the design and hospitality industry, opening English country-style hotels—think chintz-covered sofas, colorful textiles, plenty of patterns, and quirky artwork—from London to New York. At the Crosby Street Hotel, a giant cat sculpture by Botero greets guests at the entrance. Once inside, the interiors are a mix of colors and textures as well as bold art pieces from Kemp’s own collection, including a large painting by Anselm Kiefer and a cluster of dog sculptures. Each room in the hotel offers surprises, from the colorful globe lighting in the restaurant to the bright orange Poltrona Frau club chairs in the downstairs screening room. For design aficionados, Kemp sells a lot of her collaborations with brands like Wedgewood, Spode, and Anthropologie on the hotel website.
Farther north, The Whitby brings a touch of whimsy to Midtown. It’s just two blocks from Central Park, but this place reads English countryside—with a twist. Discover Kemp’s signature bold colors complemented by distinctive décor in the guestrooms, while the public spaces are equally eye-catching. There’s even afternoon tea, but it’s far from stuffy.
Back downtown, MADE Hotel is a serene, light-filled oasis amongst the hustle and bustle of the NoMad neighborhood. The lobby is bright and airy with plenty of plants, wood, shibori, and patterned throw pillows. The rooms are thoughtfully designed with platform beds featuring pull-out drawers, a built-in bar for hanging clothes, and a small pull-down desk when needed.
See other fashion-forward properties below.
Crosby Street Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
Soho
In general it’s true that we’re skeptical about the idea of hotel chains. But we tend to forget our principles when we’re talking about the Firmdale group. Their eight London hotels are eight of the best hotels anywhere, and they can’t help but be similar; aside from the obvious fact that they all share the same city, they all just as obviously share the same general philosophy of what a hotel ought to be — which they owe to their owners, Tim and Kit Kemp. And a part of that is visual, a natural family resemblance based on their all having been decorated by the very recognizable Kit.
MADE Hotel
NoMad
Here’s a hotel that plays against type in NoMad, a neighborhood that’s heavy with historical associations. While many Manhattan hotels are still aiming for a sort of upper-crust prewar atmosphere, MADE Hotel looks like something straight out of present-day Brooklyn. And with its minimalist décor, modernist design, modular fixtures, and unapologetically unfinished surfaces, its rooms look right up to date - like the Williamsburg loft apartment of your design-magazine dreams.
Public Hotel
Lower East Side
Ian Schrager is at it again. The boutique-hotel innovator has always been ahead of the curve, and with his nascent PUBLIC brand it’s apparent he’s caught on to something the world’s luxury hoteliers have failed to notice: inclusive is the new exclusive. There’s a little hint there in the name, of course, but it’s apparent that from bottom to top, a place like New York’s PUBLIC is meant to be warm, open, and welcoming — without sacrificing style or excitement. There’s no front desk, but fear not: when you arrive, one of the hotel’s “PUBLIC advisors” will find you and check you in.
The Wall Street Hotel
Financial District
Lower Manhattan’s financial district has more to recommend it than you might think, and a hotel like the Wall Street Hotel goes a long way towards illustrating the appeal. The 19th-century Tontine Building stands on the site of a coffee house that was once the home of the stock exchange itself, and after a thorough renovation it’s now home to a 180-room luxury boutique hotel — one that happens to be decorated with Australian Aboriginal art, along with an eclectic range of decorative elements spanning the entire life of this Beaux-Arts classic, from 1855 to the present.
The Whitby Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
Midtown
We’ve been looking forward to telling you about this one ever since we saw those telltale steel-framed windows appear over West 56th Street. Firmdale, the proprietors of Soho’s fine Crosby Street Hotel (as well as too many London hotels to mention), is at it again, this time in Midtown, just two blocks from Central Park. The Whitby Hotel brings the warmth and coziness of English hospitality to a neighborhood that’s already got plenty of American-style luxury hotels, and proves that Firmdale can compete with anyone in the world on comfort, while looking just that much more stylish and charming while they’re at it.
Hero Image: Crosby Street Hotel
