Martha Washington Hotel
The Martha Washington Hotel is a building at 30 East 30th Street in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1903 and operated as a women-only hotel for 95 years, the 13-story structure was designed by Robert W. Gibson in the Renaissance Revival style for the Women's Hotel Company. The hotel's namesake, Martha Washington, was the first First Lady of the United States. It is a designated city landmark.
The facade is largely made of brick and stone and contains classical design elements such as brackets, dentils, ornate lintels, quoins, and rustication. On 29th and 30th Streets, the facade is divided vertically into seven bays and horizontally into a two-story base and ten-story upper section, with a recessed top floor. The lower two stories originally contained amenity areas for guests, including a lobby, dining rooms, reception rooms, and ballroom. Generally, men were only permitted to enter the ground-level spaces and some of the second-story spaces. The upper stories originally contained 200 short-term guest rooms and 400 long-term residences, which were downsized to 250 hotel rooms by the 2020s.
The Woman's Hotel Company was established in 1897 and sought to identify a site and raise money over the following four years. Construction began in mid-1901, and the Martha Washington Hotel opened on March 1, 1903, as a hotel and a long-term residence. Though there was initially high demand for the rooms, the hotel struggled, leading its owners to lease it out in 1907. The Manger family operated the Martha Washington from 1920 to 1948, and the Sillins Hotel Corporation operated the hotel from 1950 to 1997. The hotel was converted to a mixed-sex tourist hotel in 1998 and, after a renovation, was renamed the Thirty Thirty in 2000. The hotel was further renovated in 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2019, undergoing several name and ownership changes during that decade. As The Redbury New York, it saw decreased patronage during the COVID-19 pandemic and became a temporary shelter for migrants in 2023.
Site
The Martha Washington Hotel is located at 27–31 East 29th Street in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hotel occupies the center of a city block bounded by Madison Avenue to the west, 30th Street to the north, Park Avenue South to the east, and 29th Street to the south. The land lot is rectangular and measures, with frontage of on 29th and 30th Streets and a depth of. Nearby buildings include the Church of the Transfiguration, Episcopal and the James New York – NoMad to the west, the Emmet Building and 30 East 29th Street to the south, and the Colony Club building to the north. The site was assembled in 1901 from two land lots that had been occupied by the American Female Guardian Society since 1856.Architecture
The Martha Washington Hotel was designed by architect Robert W. Gibson in the Renaissance Revival style. At the time of the hotel's construction in the early 1900s, many hotels were being built with classical architectural features because they had been designed by architects trained in Europe. Gibson, who had trained in England, incorporated classical elements such as brackets, dentils, ornate lintels, quoins, and rustication into the design.Facade
The two primary elevations of the facade, on 29th Street to the south and 30th Street to the north, are very similar to one another. Both elevations rise twelve stories from the ground and are divided vertically into seven bays; the top stories are recessed from the street. The western elevation is partially visible and is made of plain brick with one-over-one sash windows, a recessed exterior light court, and a metal-sheathed section near the top.Lower stories
The ground floor and second floor piano nobile of both elevations are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone. A string course runs above the ground floor on both elevations. On 30th Street, each of the ground-floor bays is separated by a pier with alternating tan brick and limestone. The entrance on 30th Street is in the center bay, and there are double-height storefronts on either side. The entry doors are made of glass and metal and are topped by a glass transom window. Two of the outer bays feature marble stoops with metal railings that ascend to the storefronts. The ground floor on 29th Street is similar in design except that the entrances are in the outermost bays. The 29th Street entrances are flanked by pairs of rusticated columns, which support a pediment with a centered cartouche and a finial.On both elevations, the second-story piano nobile is clad with brick and contains stone quoins around the windows. The three center windows of the second story have stone balustrades at their bottoms, as well as round arches with keystones at their tops. The four outer windows on that story contain rectangular openings surrounded by terracotta key patterns. The lowest parts of the outer windows are clad with stone panels, while the upper sections are topped by lintels with splayed keystones. Above the second story are protruding balconettes with iron railings, which are supported by terracotta brackets.
Upper stories
Each window in the third through eighth stories of the northern and southern elevations has a terracotta frame. The outermost bays of the facade are clad with brick, which is arranged to resemble a rusticated facade. The center three bays feature horizontal stone courses at regular intervals, and the middle bay contains three-part windows, some of which are arranged as Palladian windows. The remaining bays have stone windowsills and are topped by lintels with key or splayed patterns. There are decorative spandrel panels above the three central third-story windows, and there are terracotta lunettes above the five central fourth-story windows.On the ninth story of both elevations there are balconettes with iron railings in front of the outermost bays and the three center windows. All of the ninth-story windows have terracotta lintels. On the tenth story the windows are rectangular and have lintels with splayed patterns. Above the tenth-story windows are keystones with brackets, as well as terracotta corbels, above which runs a horizontal terracotta string course. The eleventh story contains a facade of terracotta panels, interspersed with windows; there is a large cornice above the eleventh story, with modillions and dentils. There are terracotta panels on the twelfth story.
Interior
When the hotel first opened it contained advanced mechanical equipment for its time, such as elevators, mail chutes, steam heating, and electric lighting. Every room had natural light exposure; the hotel did not have any interior light courts. Visitors of any sex could use the telegraph, telephone, or messenger services. There were also exterior fire escapes and stairwells., the hotel contains about of space, spread across 13 stories.Public rooms
When the Martha Washington Hotel was built the first and second floors were dedicated to communal rooms such as offices, a restaurant, dining rooms, and reception rooms. The lobby was decorated in a colonial style, with leather chairs and a buff-and-white color scheme. While the restaurant was open to the general public, there were dining rooms that could only be used by guests and residents. There were several shops, including a milliner/tailor shop, manicurist/podiatrist, shoe shiner, drug store, and newsstand. Next to the restaurant was a writing room and waiting room for men. Over the years, various spaces in the lobby were carved out to make way for storefronts.Following a 2000 renovation, a bar and restaurant were created off the lobby. During a renovation in 2011, the hotel's ground floor was gutted, the ceiling was raised, a large glazed-ebony door was installed, and the walls were redecorated with black-and-white photographs of women. After the Martha Washington was renovated again in 2014, a new meeting and event space covering was created within the hotel. The public spaces were repainted in walnut colors, with fluted columns and blue floor tiles. There was also a long hallway, with mid-century modern furniture, leading to a check-in desk. The current design of the lobby as of 2023 dates to a 2019 renovation, which added seating areas enclosed with stained-glass panels, as well as blue-tinted lighting and rounded mirrors. There is also a lobby lounge next to the elevators near the entrance. The hotel has a fitness center as well.
The second story had a tenant-only dining room, as well as several private reception rooms, when the hotel opened in 1903. Some of the reception rooms could be combined for major events. The second floor also had a library patterned after the one in George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, with a "handsome" fireplace and a bas relief of the United States' first First Lady, Martha Washington. The library was decorated in a deep-red color scheme and ornamented with dark wood. The parlors, music rooms, tea rooms, and other spaces were designed to fit women's tastes. By 2016, the second floor included a ballroom covering as well as a terrace of. The roof of the hotel contained a terrace that could be converted into a "summer garden and promenade" with awnings and hammocks.
Guest rooms
Originally the top ten stories of the hotel comprised about 200 short-term guest rooms and 400 long-term residences, starting at the third floor. These were available in both single-room and multi-room en suite configurations. Each story held between 40 and 50 units and had a reception room. The 12th floor contained employee bedrooms, while the remainder of the 12th story and the inhabitable portions of the 13th story contained studios with skylights. By the late 1990s, the Martha Washington had been divided into either 423 or 469 rooms.When the hotel first opened about 36 women lived on each floor, with four communal toilets and four bathtubs on each floor. There was approximately one bathroom for every four guest rooms; most units lacked en suite bathrooms. The guest rooms were arranged so they could easily be combined into suites with two to five rooms. Some apartments were outfitted with double doors, allowing businesswomen to use these spaces as showrooms. Each bedroom had furnishings such as damask coverings and large pillows, and the hotel as a whole had custom-designed furniture such as double-faced bookcases, as well as appliances such as electric alarms. Smaller rooms had sofa beds, while larger units contained standard beds.
When the Martha Washington was renovated into a co-ed tourist hotel in 2000 the rooms were rearranged. Sources disagree on whether the hotel had 370, 350, or 262 units. The rooms were small and plain in design; a Washington Post critic described the rooms as having a bed, two side tables, an armoire, and a small dressing area. Some rooms also retained vestiges of the hotel's original use: for example, some guest rooms had sinks but not toilets or bathtubs. By 2016, there were around 255 rooms, many in different sizes and layouts. The rooms were decorated in a red, gray, black and white color scheme. with motifs relating to music and 20th-century New York City history. Each room was also equipped with mirrors, small television sets and refrigerators, and hidden speakers. Desks, nightstands, minibars, and other furniture were added in 2019, and the hotel's 259 rooms were redecorated with gray walls.