Hotel Chelsea
The Hotel Chelsea is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hotel was designed by Philip Hubert in a style described variously as Queen Anne Revival and Victorian Gothic. The 12-story Chelsea, originally a housing cooperative, has been the home of numerous writers, musicians, artists, and entertainers, some of whom still lived there in the 21st century., most of the Chelsea is a luxury hotel. The building is a New York City designated landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.
The front facade of the Hotel Chelsea is 11 stories high, while the rear of the hotel rises 12 stories. The facade is divided vertically into five sections and is made of brick, with some flower-ornamented iron balconies; the hotel is capped by a high mansard roof. The Hotel Chelsea has thick load-bearing walls made of masonry, as well as wrought iron floor beams and large, column-free spaces. When the hotel opened, the ground floor was divided into an entrance hall, four storefronts, and a restaurant; this has been rearranged over the years, with a bar and the El Quijote restaurant occupying part of the ground floor. The Chelsea was among the first buildings in the city with duplex and penthouse apartments, and there is also a rooftop terrace. The hotel originally had no more than 100 apartments; it was subdivided into 400 units during the 20th century and has 155 units as of 2022.
The idea for the Chelsea arose after Hubert & Pirsson had developed several housing cooperatives in New York City. Developed by the Chelsea Association, the structure quickly attracted authors and artists after opening. Several factors, including financial hardships and tenant relocations, prompted the Chelsea's conversion into an apartment hotel in 1905. Knott Hotels took over the hotel in 1921 and managed it until about 1942, when David Bard bought it out of bankruptcy. Julius Krauss and Joseph Gross joined Bard as owners in 1947. After David Bard died in 1964, his son Stanley operated it for 43 years, forming close relationships with many tenants. The hotel underwent numerous minor changes in the late 20th century after falling into a state of disrepair. The Krauss and Gross families took over the hotel in 2007 and were involved in numerous tenant disputes before the Chelsea closed for a major renovation in 2011. The hotel changed ownership twice in the 2010s before BD Hotels took over in 2016, and the Chelsea reopened in 2022.
The Chelsea has become known for its many notable guests. Residents have included Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Edie Sedgwick, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Arthur C. Clarke, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Miloš Forman, and Virgil Thomson. The Chelsea received much commentary for the creative culture that Bard helped create within the hotel. Critics also appraised the hotel's interior—which was reputed for its uncleanliness in the mid- and late 20th century—and the quality of the hotel rooms themselves. The Chelsea has been the setting or inspiration for many works of popular media, and it has been used as an event venue and filming location.
Site
The Hotel Chelsea is at 222 West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, on the south side of the street between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. The rectangular land lot covers approximately, with a frontage of on 23rd Street to the north and a depth of. Seven land lots were combined to make way for the hotel, which was 175 feet wide and deep. Before what became the Hotel Chelsea was developed, a furniture store had stood on the site; it burned down in 1878, and the site remained vacant for four years afterward. The furniture store and the land had belonged to James Ingersoll, who was affiliated with the Tammany Hall political ring in the 1870s. When the Chelsea was finished in 1884, there was a church on either side of the lot.Architecture
The Hotel Chelsea was designed by Philip Hubert of the firm of Hubert, Pirrson & Company. The style has been described variously as Queen Anne Revival, Victorian Gothic, or a mixture of the two. It was one of the first Victorian Gothic buildings to be erected in New York City. At the time of its completion, it was the city's tallest apartment building and one of the tallest structures in Manhattan, at approximately tall. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Chelsea's design was evocative of the demolished Spanish Flats on Central Park South.Facade
The front facade of the hotel, on 23rd Street, is 11 stories high and is divided vertically into 25 bays. The rear of the hotel rises to a height of 12 stories. The 23rd Street facade is made of red brick. It is grouped into five sections, with projecting pavilions at the western end, center, and eastern end of the facade. These pavilions flank two groups of recessed bays. The main entrance within the central pavilion remains largely intact, although the storefronts on either side have been modified over the years. There are several brass plaques next to the main entrance, commemorating notable residents, and another plaque mentioning that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.On the upper floors, the brick is interspersed with white stone bands. The hotel has flower-ornamented iron balconies on its second through eighth stories, which were constructed by J.B. and J.M. Cornell. These balconies were intended as "light balconies, after the Paris fashion"; according to author Sherill Tippins, the balconies were meant to "add charm to the lower floors". The balconies were also intended to indicate that the interiors were ornately decorated. French doors lead from some apartments to the balconies.
The building is topped by a high mansard roof. The central pavilion has a pyramidal slate roof. There are brick chimneys on either side of the pyramidal-roofed pavilion. In addition, the pavilions on either end of the facade are topped by brick gables with large arched windows. The remainder of the roof features dormer windows and additional brick chimneys. Atop the roof was a brick-floored space, which could be adapted into a roof garden or promenade. The center of the roof was interspersed with hip roofs, beneath which were duplex apartments; residents of these duplexes had direct access to the roof.
Structural and mechanical features
The Hotel Chelsea has thick load-bearing walls made of masonry, which measure thick at their bottoms and taper to at their tops. This allowed the superstructure to support the weight of two additional stories if the building were expanded. The walls support floor beams made of wrought iron; these floor beams are not supported by intermediate columns, creating large column-free spaces. The floor beams were covered with plaster to prevent fire from spreading. As another fireproofing measure, the hotel used as little wood as possible. Ceilings measured high.The basement measured up to deep and housed the kitchen, laundry, refrigerators, coal rooms, engines, and machinery for gas-powered and electric light. As planned, the hotel had three passenger elevators and two steam-powered freight lifts. When it was completed in 1884, the hotel had speaking tubes; pressurized steam; a telephone in each room, connecting to the hotel manager's office; and 1,800 lights powered by either gas or electricity. The hotel contained then-innovative features such as electricity, steam heating, and hot and cold water. Dumbwaiters transported food from the basement kitchen to each floor.
Public areas
When the hotel opened in 1884, the ground floor was divided into an entrance hall, four storefronts, and a restaurant for tenants who did not have their own kitchen. The lobby was originally furnished with a marble floor and mahogany wainscoting. On the left wall of the lobby was an elaborate fireplace mantel, which remained intact in the late 20th century. To the right of the lobby was a reception room decorated in white maple, a plush-and-velvet carpet, and old-gold surfaces. Three interconnected dining rooms, reserved for residents, were placed behind the lobby. These rooms had decorations such as stained glass, carved gargoyles, and fleurs-de-lis. Next to the lobby was a manager's office, whose ceiling had gold trimmings and a mural with clouds and angels. There was also a barbershop, as well as a restaurant, cafe, laundry room, billiards room, bakery, fish-and-meat shop, and grocery on the ground floor and basement. Hotel staff lived in another building behind the main hotel, connected to it by a tunnel.As of 2022, the hotel's lobby is decorated with inlaid ceilings and mosaic-tile floors. The lobby contains furniture in various colors, while the front desk is clad with purple marble. In addition, various paintings by residents are hung on the beige-pink walls, and the lobby's ceiling is decorated with frescoes, roses, and garlands. Adjacent to the lobby is the Lobby Bar, which contains mosaic-tile floors, a marble bar, art from former residents, and old chandeliers. This bar, formerly storage space, has several pieces of mid-century modern furniture and vintage furnishings such as lamps. Other decorative elements include skylights, floor tiles, brick walls, and trellises covered with vegetation.
Next to the lobby is the El Quijote restaurant, which has occupied the hotel since 1955. The restaurant is decorated with a marble terrazzo floor, a rough-hewn ceiling, red-vinyl dining booths, and chandeliers. Among the decorations are a series of murals depicting scenes from the book Don Quixote, as well as oil paintings. El Quijote contains a private bar next to its main dining room. Prior to 2018, the restaurant sat 220 people; the Dulcinea and Cervantes rooms at the rear comprised nearly half of the restaurant's seating capacity. These rooms were removed in a 2022 renovation, which also reduced the restaurant's capacity to 45 or 65. Since 2023, the hotel has also contained the Café Chelsea bistro, located within three rooms. The bistro includes vintage decorations, some taken from the Lord & Taylor Building.
Also at ground level is a mom-and-pop store named Chelsea Guitars and a private event space known as the Bard Room. The main staircase, at the center of the hotel, is illuminated by a rooftop skylight and is only accessible to guests. The walls of the staircase were once lined with photos created by residents. The staircase originally had iron railings and marble treads. The center of the building is surmounted by a pyramid accessed by a narrow wooden staircase. There was also an elevator cage, decorated with rosettes that matched the exterior decorations. The upper stories include a gym and a rooftop spa.