The Chatwal New York
The Chatwal New York, originally the Lambs Club Building, is a hotel and a former clubhouse at 130 West 44th Street, near Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The building was originally six stories high and was developed in two phases as the headquarters of the Lambs, a theatrical social club. The original wing at 128–130 West 44th Street was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White between 1904 and 1905; the annex at 132 West 44th Street was designed in 1915 by George Freeman. The current design dates to a renovation between 2007 and 2010, designed by Thierry Despont. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Lambs Club Building is variously cited as being designed in the Colonial, Neo-Georgian, or neoclassical styles. The ground floor of the facade is clad with smooth marble, while the upper stories are clad with red Flemish-bond brick, terracotta trim, and stone quoins at each end. The clubhouse's interior was originally designed in the Federal style, with club rooms on the lower stories and bedrooms for club members on the upper stories. The club rooms included auditoriums on the first and third floors; a dining room on the second floor; and a library and banquet room on the third floor. When the building was converted into a hotel, the first and second floors were converted into a bar and restaurant called the Lambs Club, while the upper floors were converted into 83 guestrooms.
The Lambs were founded in 1874 and relocated to multiple buildings over the years. By 1902, overcrowding at the club's previous headquarters prompted the Lambs to consider developing a new clubhouse, which opened on September 1, 1905. The clubhouse was expanded in 1915, but the Lambs faced financial troubles during the 1920s and 1930s because of competition from talking pictures. After the club experienced further financial difficulties in the 1970s, the clubhouse was sold at auction in 1975, and the Church of the Nazarene bought the clubhouse. The church used the building as a mission, while the theaters were leased to an off-Broadway venue called the Lamb's Theatre. The church announced plans to convert the building into a hotel in 1999 and sold the building in 2006 to Hampshire Hotels, operated by the family of Vikram Chatwal. The hotel and the Lambs Club restaurant opened in 2010, and the hotel became part of Starwood's Luxury Collection. Since 2025, it has been owned by Ben-Josef Group.
Site
The building is on 128–132 West 44th Street, on the south sidewalk between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The rectangular land lot covers, with a frontage of on 44th Street and a depth of. On the same block, the Town Hall is to the south, and 1500 Broadway is to the west. Other nearby buildings include 1530 Broadway to the northwest; Millennium Times Square New York, the Hudson Theatre, and the Hotel Gerard to the north; the Belasco Theatre to the northeast; and 4 Times Square and the Bank of America Tower to the south.The building occupies its entire site of. When it was built in the 1900s, the structure measured wide, but this was doubled in 1915. The Lambs Club Building was one of several clubhouses developed in the surrounding area during the early 20th century. The section of 44th Street just east of the Lambs Club Building is known as Club Row; when the building was developed, the Harvard Club, Yale Club, New York Yacht Club, New York City Bar Association, and Century Association all had clubhouses in the area.
Architecture
The Lambs Club Building, designed for the Lambs social club, is cited as being designed in the Colonial, Neo-Georgian, or neoclassical styles. The building was originally six stories tall, with two basements, although the rear of the site only rose four stories. The original clubhouse, built between 1904 and 1905, occupies the eastern half of the lot and was designed by Stanford White of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. The building was one of several clubhouses that White designed for his firm. The western half of the building was designed in 1915 by George A. Freeman in an identical style to the original building. The modern-day design dates to a 2000s renovation by Thierry Despont.Facade
White, a member of the Lambs, had intentionally designed the facade with both Federal-style and neo-Georgian details, as he was knowledgeable of what his grandson Samuel G. White called "the acting profession's reputation for social eccentricity". The northern elevation of the facade is the only one that is normally visible from street level. The ground floor is clad with smooth marble, while the upper stories are clad with red Flemish-bond brick. The walls contain terracotta trim, with stone quoins at each end. The facade is divided vertically into six bays; the eastern three bays form the original clubhouse, while the western three bays comprise the annex.On the ground level, there are two entrances. Both of the entrances are flanked by engaged columns in the Doric order, which support a entablature. A band course with a meander motif stretches horizontally above the first floor. When the building was developed, there was a cast-iron fence at street level, but this had been removed by the 1980s. The second floor originally contained two groups of French windows, recessed within a loggia and flanked by a set of pilasters. Each bay is separated by columns, and there is a wrought iron balcony and a large rectangular window behind the columns. There is a plaque at the center of the second-story facade. An entablature, containing a frieze with foliate designs, runs above the entirety of the second floor.
There are brick round arches on the third story. Double-hung windows are recessed behind the archways. The arches are topped by terracotta keystones, and the sides of each arch contain impost blocks. The spandrels diagonally above each arch contain depictions of lambs' heads. Between the third and fourth stories is a large terracotta plaque, atop which is a cartouche with lambs on either side. The fourth story contains flat-arched terracotta lintels, and the keystones of each flat arch are topped by lambs' heads. There is a string course above the fourth story, as well as six plainly designed windows on the fifth story. Above the fifth story is a projecting cornice with modillions. The sixth floor is designed as a classical-style attic, above which is a balustrade.
Features
Original clubhouse
The clubhouse's interior was designed in the Federal style and contained a variety of theatrical memorabilia. The basement contained a barber shop. The first floor originally contained a lobby, a grill room, and a billiards room. The building's bar, designed by White, was decorated with red walls; Cosmopolitan magazine wrote in 1958 that the spaces "have the warm and friendly look of an Elizabethan tavern". According to a 1974 Variety article, comedian Joe Laurie Jr. had bequeathed $1,000 in his will to pay for indigent members' drinks; although Laurie's bequest had been exhausted by then, the club's bartenders continued to cover the cost of a member's drink if he could not afford it. The annex contained a theater on its ground floor, which contained 140 seats when it closed in 2006.The second floor had a banquet room, which could accommodate at least 140 diners simultaneously. The banquet room's walls were decorated with portraits of the Lambs' leaders, who were known as "shepherds". On the same level was a library, which was reportedly a popular place for composing music because very few club members ever used that room. The second-story rooms were illuminated by the French windows and contained details such as a fireplace mantel with denticulation; pilasters in the Ionic order; and paneled ceiling beams. An alcove on the second floor was rededicated in 1947 as a memorial to Lambs members who had died during World Wars I and II.
The third floor included a library and a main assembly room. The third and fourth stories also contained the Edwin Burke Memorial Theatre. This theater was variously cited as containing 330, 360, 400, or 500 seats, and it had a loge and a stage with ornate paneling. Bedrooms for members, as well as club offices, were provided on the upper floors of the original building; the annex also contained bedrooms and a handball court on its upper stories. There were either 50, 55, or 65 bedrooms for members. According to Cosmopolitan, the rooms were "always filled" with long-term residents, actors who were starring in Broadway plays, and actors experiencing financial instability.
Hotel
The building was converted into the Chatwal New York hotel in the 2000s and was expanded to ten stories. The hotel had 83 guestrooms when it opened; by the 2020s, the hotel had 76 units. As part of the hotel conversion, the interior was redesigned in a modern Art Deco style. The auditorium on the third and fourth stories was demolished because it was badly deteriorated, but other components of the old clubhouse were preserved, such as the second-floor memorial alcove and some of the decorative details. There is a cocktail bar in the modern-day hotel's lobby. The first and second stories contain a two-level restaurant called the Lambs Club, which is owned separately from the hotel. The restaurant space retains many of the original design elements, such as a large fireplace, red banquettes, and portraits of the Lambs' shepherds; it also has modern design elements, including red benches that are patterned after Broadway theaters' seats. There is a 60-seat bar on its second floor, covering.The corridors leading to the guestrooms on the upper stories were redecorated in red, blue, or brown when the building was converted into a hotel. The guestrooms generally contain travel-themed decorations, inspired by suitcase and luggage manufacturer Malletier. The rooms contain suede walls and leather-paneled closets; each unit also had a stereo system, flat-screen TVs, and DVD players. Some of the rooms have private terraces that overlook the street. In addition, each room has a large writing desk, wardrobe, and nightstand. The guest bathrooms have marble paneling and heated toilet seats, as well as illuminated mirrors that double as televisions. The penthouse unit, named for the Barrymore family, comprises two suites, one of which has a spiral staircase leading to a roof terrace that overlooks the Belasco Theatre.
The rooms have 24-hour butler service, and each floor is served by its own butler. The hotel also has a "pet wardrobe supervisor" who creates wardrobes for guests' pets, in addition to a babysitting service. The hotel's other amenities include two plunge pools, a saltwater lap pool, a Jacuzzi, and a spa with three treatment rooms, There is a small fitness center next to the spa. The hotel has two meeting spaces: a meeting room called the Stage Room, which could accommodate 120 people, and a meeting suite called the Stanford White Studio, which could fit 40 people. The meeting rooms contain wooden finishes, as well as elliptical wine cellars that complement the doors in each room.