Beautiful Lounges in NYC

A painted watermark runs along the walls of the corner suites, thirty-six inches up, the same distance the ground floor was raised after Hurricane Sandy pushed new flood lines across the site. Olivié Ponce, who works out of Bushwick, put it there. What went up on Pier 1, a cargo wharf before the park took it over, was the first 1 Hotel built from the ground up rather than fitted into an older shell, with Marvel Architects on the building, Incorporated on the interiors and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates on the landscape and the rooftop pool. Rain off the roof runs down exposed pipes in the lobby to a tank underneath, then out into the park, where the shallow wetlands sit just past the windows. The hotel helps pay for their upkeep. Just over half of what the hotel is made of came from somewhere else first. Uhuru Design turned heart pine beams out of the old Domino Sugar refinery into the lobby tables, the walnut came from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the pine floors from an Old Crow distillery in Kentucky, and the lobby granite from the quarry that supplied the Brooklyn Bridge. Rachel Mica Weiss tied six thousand pounds of obsidian to a wood frame with hand-dyed rope and set it into the bend of the staircase, where it reads as a rockfall caught mid-drop. The green wall behind it went in by hand. The 194 rooms, 29 of them suites and the largest six bedrooms, mostly face the water, behind windows that run floor to ceiling and slide open. Bathrooms are marble, with a rain shower and a five-minute hourglass timer. Water comes out of a wall tap on a metal wheel, filtered, into green glass recycled from wine bottles, and the mattresses are hemp. The rooftop pool sits three feet deep on a deck of reclaimed railroad ties, looking straight at Lower Manhattan. It was built for lounging.

Some of the most beautiful real estate in New York right now is hiding inside a 1911 Beaux-Arts landmark on Park Avenue South. The Living Room at the newly transformed W New York Union Square occupies the hotel's former ballroom, a showstopping space with original white marble columns, ornate Corinthian capitals, and soaring ceilings carved with rosettes. Part of the hotel's $100 million renovation, it offers locals and travelers a communal place to unwind with a craft cocktail and small plates, inspired in part by the grandeur of Grand Central. Add in weekly cultural programming spanning live music, DJ sets, and art activations, and it becomes clear this is less a hotel lobby and more Union Square's newest place to gather.

A D'Angelico acoustic guitar and a Music Hall turntable loaded with records from Rough Trade come with the lofts and suites, and every room down to the 250-square-foot queens hangs an original textile piece by a Brooklyn artist. The in-room collection runs to 287 works, one to a room. Roman and Williams drew the facade and the interiors, with Stonehill Taylor as architect, over thirteen storeys of raw concrete. Stan Bitters made the ceramic mural out front, and beside it a sculptural light installation echoes Yoshiro Taniguchi's Hotel Okura, demolished in Tokyo in 2015. The entrance below goes by the Stoop, after the brownstone steps up the street. The rooms started from Le Cabanon, Le Corbusier's cabin on the Côte d'Azur, which accounts for the douglas fir panelling, the deep green cork underfoot and the plain fixtures. Floor-to-ceiling windows run through most categories, sizes climb from 250 square feet to about 600 in a one-bedroom suite, and the Medium Skyline rooms sit on one of the top four floors. Bed covers come from Maine Heritage Weavers, bath products from uka. The lobby is exposed concrete warmed by oak, plywood and leather, with half-moon windows lighting the bar, a wall sculpture by Verdan Jaksic and a large drawing by Tara Geer. The Gallery next to it turns over its shows every three months, fed by a residency that puts an artist in a room for a month at a time. The long tables in the lobby fill with laptops by day. On Fridays a DJ takes over at nine.

Nestled near the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden, The Ned NoMad captivates with its meticulously restored 1920s design, featuring intricate mosaic floors, elaborate crown molding, and a swanky atmosphere that evokes an exclusive members' club. Guests surrender to premium bedding, walk-in Watermark showers, and Cowshed amenities in rooms boasting mahogany desks, club chairs, and sweeping city views, while the 24-hour gym and library invite serene indulgence. Savor American cuisine and classic cocktails across three restaurants and bars, including Cecconi's breakfasts and Little Ned's house specials, in a space where culinary excellence meets cultural allure.

Nestled in the vibrant Lower East Side, The Ludlow Lounge embodies the effortless cool that defines New York's most coveted neighborhoods, with a design sensibility that channels Wes Anderson's aesthetic minus the pastels-all moody sophistication and carefully curated eclecticism. The lounge's showstopping centerpiece is an impressive fireplace that anchors a beautifully appointed space adorned with Marshall speakers, animal hide chairs, and Moroccan-inspired lighting, creating an atmosphere equally suited for intimate winter evenings or spirited gatherings with friends. Operated in conjunction with the acclaimed Dirty French restaurant, the lounge seamlessly blends craft cocktails with culinary excellence, while an adjoining heated conservatory with hanging plants offers a verdant escape within the urban landscape. The hotel's attentive, welcoming staff and prime positioning near iconic New York institutions like Katz's Delicatessen make this a destination that captures the authentic soul of downtown Manhattan.