Location That perfect sliver of SoHo, between Prince and Spring streets, nuzzling hipster-rammed Lafayette Street and boutique slash coffeeshop strewn Nolita. Although you can practically smell the baguettes from the ever jumping Balthazar Bakery, Crosby’s quiet cobbles are a haven from the sunglasses and diffusion-line emporia west of Broadway.
Style In its first stateside venture, Firmdale Hotels, whose idiosyncratic properties have enlivened London’s hotel scene over the last decade, has excelled in transforming a former car park into a light, bright, informal hotel with panache and flair. An airy lobby with quirky original artwork and deep-armchaired comfort sets the tone – part English-eccentric lite, part post-minimalist cool. The Crosby Bar, which is open all day, funks up English Afternoon Tea before becoming a busy destination bar. Residents and A-listers can hide in the Drawing Room, a luxuriant lounge with fireplaces – although, disappointingly, not lit in December – and ingeniously re-imagined furniture and light fittings, leading to a courtyard garden.
Guestrooms Merchant Ivory with a Willy Wonka palette. The 86 rooms and suites are a pleasing jumble of texture, modern and antique furniture, and original art. All are comfortable if a little on the snug side. Bedding is high quality and rooms boast floor-to-ceiling windows – a novelty, even in this city – as well as the now-standard flat-screen TV, iPod and dock. There really is not much point upgrading from a luxury room to deluxe. Bathrooms are sleek and marble – although you will have to get a junior suite if you want a bathtub – and toiletries are by London perfumer Miller Harris.
Can I work here? Although Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, in-room desks are small and perfunctory. The hotel is well geared to media business, with three exquisite private rooms for meetings, launches and interviews. There is a subterranean 99 leather-seat state-of-the-art screening room, which can even show 3D movies. The hotel will soon launch its Film Club dinner-and-a-movie series, much like the one at Firmdale’s Soho Hotel in London.