The Hotel Chelsea

Philip Hubert designed it in 1884 as a cooperative apartment house rather than a hotel, with walls three feet thick so musicians and writers could live over each other and artists' studios along the top floor. Bankruptcy ended the cooperative, and in 1905 the building was carved into 125 units for paying guests. Tenants on rent-stabilized leases still live on floors that also take hotel guests. The redbrick front and its balconies have been landmarked since 1966.

It sat closed for eleven years and came back in 2022, the interior work running on into 2023 under Shanta Trusewich of Studio Sio. Rooms were drawn individually rather than to one repeated plan, and they run to tiger-striped chairs, burgundy and gold carpeting, headboards like old tapestries and purple velour couches. Some keep an original fireplace or a panel of stained glass, and some open onto the iron balconies that face the red neon sign. Bathrooms are marble with antiqued brass fixtures, and the grand lofts add a deep soaking tub. The largest suites have a Lacanche range.

The restoration left the ground floor where it was, the mosaic marble floor, the dark panelling, the mottled plaster ceiling, the iron rails on the stair. The spa sits at the top instead, on the penthouse floor, with a terrace garden, a fireplace lounge, sauna and steam rooms. It was built to be lived in. It still is.