The Nell New York, Rockefeller Center's First Hotel, Shows Its Art Deco-Inspired Design
Rockefeller Center is getting its first hotel. The Nell New York is due to open in fall 2027 at 10 Rockefeller Plaza, with 134 rooms built into former office space, and on September 15, 2026 Aspen Hospitality, a division of Aspen One, showed what it will look like inside. It will be the only hotel within the complex, and it is set to be the only Relais & Châteaux property in New York City. Aspen Hospitality puts the investment at more than $350 million.
It is the first hotel outside Aspen for Nell Hotels, the brand Aspen Hospitality launched in July around The Little Nell, its ski-in, ski-out hotel at the base of Aspen Mountain. The Little Nell itself closes in April 2027 for a full renovation and is due to reopen for the 2027-2028 ski season.
A townhouse inside a landmark
Two New York-based studios split the work. Rockwell Group designed the public spaces: the arrival, reception, the seventh-floor dining and social rooms, the wine lounge and cellar, the spa, the fitness centre and the meeting rooms. Pierre & Co., the hospitality studio Pierre Josselin founded in 2022, designed the guest rooms and suites. Both started from Rockefeller Center's Art Deco architecture, its materials and its art. Julie Frank, Aspen Hospitality's vice president of design, has said the goal was never to recreate that history, but to interpret the era so that it feels current and residential, and distinctly part of the Nell brand.
Rockwell Group approached the hotel as a grand Manhattan townhouse. Shawn Sullivan, a partner at the firm, has described it as a collection of rooms rather than a traditional hotel, unfolding from a discreet residential entrance on 48th Street. At street level, a limestone facade complements the landmarked building, with sconces and a backlit window behind closed drapery. Inside, a large fireplace anchors the foyer, and geometric stone inlays, metalwork, custom furniture and lighting carry quiet references to the complex's Art Deco detailing.
The seventh floor
Elevators take guests from the ground floor to the seventh, where reception, dining, lounges, the wine rooms and meeting spaces run together as a series of connected rooms. The bar is built from fluted amber stone and marble, with custom lighting, textured glass portals and curated artwork, and it looks out over the Rockefeller Center ice rink. The all-day dining room sits next to it and is meant to draw locals as well as hotel guests.
Nearby, a private wine lounge and cellar carry over the wine culture The Little Nell built in Aspen, with a marble floor, illuminated wine displays and a fireplace for tastings and private gatherings. Aspen Hospitality has also said a signature fine dining restaurant will open above the hotel, with views over Rockefeller Center and beyond.
On the eighth floor, the spa is finished in warm wood and natural stone. The fitness centre pairs large windows with wood detailing, antique mirrored walls and bespoke millwork, and is designed to feel more like a private gym than a hotel one.
Rooms in persimmon and marble
For the rooms, Pierre & Co. took the geometry of Rockefeller Center and filtered its Art Deco style through a restrained, contemporary lens: clean lines softened with curves, layered natural materials and warm neutral colours. The accent is a soft persimmon, inspired by the curtains of Radio City Music Hall. Josselin has said the studio thought about how a guest actually uses a room over a day, from breakfast at the table to a call at the desk to getting ready for dinner, and wanted every element to have a purpose without the room feeling over-designed.
The Presidential Suite scales up the same language, with deeper burgundy accents, richer stone and a primary bathroom enclosed by curved marble walls.
Art will play a central role throughout. Following a tradition from The Little Nell, The Nell New York will hold a significant collection of work by emerging and internationally recognised artists from New York and around the world.
