Gramercy Park Hotel
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010
BBG – BBGM (Brennan Beer Groman Architects)
Ian Schrager Company, with theatrical decor, departs energetically from the Modernist aesthetic of its previous projects.
By John Gendall
Ian Schrager Company, with theatrical decor, departs energetically from the Modernist aesthetic of its previous projects.
The curtain rose in August on the second act of the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan. Originally built in 1924, the brick-and-limestone-clad establishment was once a haven for the likes of the Kennedys, Humphrey Bogart, and Babe Ruth. But by the time hotelier Ian Schrager and his longtime business partner, developer Aby Rosen, took it over, the place was a dowdy memory of its former self.
“The hotel was very run-down,” explains Anda Andrei, Schrager’s director of design and architecture, “with not much left to it—low ceilings, wood paneling, small rooms, and miniscule bathrooms.”
Enter Ian Schrager, stage left. Taking advantage of the hotel’s storied legacy and its prime location at the edge of New York’s only private, lock-and-key park, he set out to retain the aura of the Gramercy’s cultural legacy, while giving the place a hipper-than-thou cachet for the jet-set elite and the city’s A-list.
The property Schrager acquired had 600 small guest rooms crammed into two 18-story structures connected by a six-story building. Consolidating the hotel into one of the 18-story volumes, Schrager is now creating 23 condominiums, designed with John Pawson, in the remaining 18 stories, combined with a new building on the site of the original connector.
The Gramercy now boasts a double-height lobby, a spa, a gym, a chic restaurant, conference facilities, two bars, and in place of the original 600 rooms, 185 more spacious ones. Rather than gut renovate, the developers left two preexisting walls in most of the guest rooms. Plumbing, corridors, and stairs are unchanged.
Behind a low-key Minimalist facade, created by Schrager on the first two floors, lies an interior that is decidedly un-minimal. Collaborating with Andrei and her associate Kirstin Bailey, along with the artist Julian Schnabel, a friend of Schrager’s, the hotel impresario departed from the hypermodern design he had favored in the past.
Under Schnabel’s design and concept direction, the new Gramercy borrows freely from across the globe and throughout history. Somewhat whimsically, colors, materials, and motifs inspired by different sources coexist at the hotel. Long, red-velvet drapes; robust, rough-hewn, cedar-clad pillars; and a grand chandelier emphasize the lobby’s new double height. Cedar-scented candles contribute to the fabricated atmosphere.
Want the full story? Read the entire article in our December 2006 issue.
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Formal name of project:
Gramercy Park Hotel
Location:
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Gross square footage:
150,000 sq. ft.
Owner:
Entities Controlled By Ian Schrager, Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs
Architect:
BBG – BBGM (Brennan Beer Groman Architects)
www.bbg-bbgm.com
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