To celebrate our collaboration with Wildsam on their Manhattan Field Guide, they chart some of the most important moments in Broadway history, while we pick the street’s most dramatic hotels.
As you probably know, Tablet is a New York company, born and raised. Lately we’d been thinking about ways to show the world what we value most about our city, perhaps by curating our own guide book. The more we thought about what we’d want to include and how we’d want ours to be different, the more we realized we were describing something that already exists: Wildsam Field Guides.
You’ve probably seen Wildsam guides before, maybe in a cool indie bookstore or a boutique hotel gift shop. They aren’t traditional travel guides (mercifully); they don’t just collect a bunch of places you should go or things you should see. They have those too, of course, but they also tell the story of the location — the history, the culture, the personalities, the reasons why it’s like it is and why its people are like they are.
We’re thrilled to partner with Wildsam on their new Manhattan Field Guide. Inside, you’ll find a number of contributions from Tablet, including our hotel picks and NYC movie picks, plus essays on everything from the wisdom of Chris Blackwell to the second coming of the Chelsea Hotel.
You’ll also find the timeline we’ve reprinted below, featuring some of the biggest moments in Broadway history, as curated by Wildsam. In between, we’ve interspersed thirteen of the most theatrical hotels along that legendary thoroughfare, from Columbus Circle to City Hall.
Buy your copy of the Wildsam Manhattan Guide, presented by Tablet Hotels.
Mandarin Oriental New York
At 60th Street — New York City
The Mandarin Oriental brings Far East hospitality to America’s hottest hotel market. The Asian influence is apparent at a glance, with wood paneling, marble everywhere, and clean Zen-influenced design. And even the hotel’s placement, occupying twenty stories near the top of a mixed-use skyscraper, mirrors the situation — and the far-reaching views — of Tokyo’s grandest luxury hotels.
CIVILIAN Hotel
At 48th Street — New York City
CIVILIAN isn’t just a high-design boutique hotel in Manhattan’s theater district; it’s an intricately detailed love letter to the glamour of Broadway itself. Hotelier Jason Pomeranc and designer David Rockwell aren’t new at this, either — in lesser hands, an homage like this might feel heavy-handed, but here the theatrical commitment is as tasteful as it is thorough.
The Times Square EDITION
At 47th Street — New York City
To say that Times Square stylistically and culturally challenged would be putting it extremely diplomatically. If there’s a hotelier who can make Midtown cool, it’s Ian Schrager, who created Studio 54 and then followed it up with some of the earliest and most iconic boutique hotels in the world. And if you’ve got any doubt, it’ll be dispelled the moment you pass through the doors of The Times Square EDITION.
Merrion Row Hotel and Public House
At 45th Street — New York City
Here’s a hotel that’s on this list for not being too theatrical. Merrion Row immerses you in a modern version of traditional Irish hospitality, a public house with all the cheer and warmth of historical Dublin, transplanted to 21st-century New York City. It has a strong and novel a point of view, which we love, but doesn’t dip into kitsch, which we usually don’t.
Virgin Hotel New York City
At 30th Street — New York City
Where else but NoMad, prized as much for its convenience to other neighborhoods as for its own inherent charms, for a hotel as accessibly, palatably hip as Virgin Hotels New York? Here the temptation must have been to go full Mad Men mid-century modern, but thankfully this hotel’s chambers and suites are more up to date than that, warmed by hardwood flooring, live plants, barn door–style room dividers, and vibrant contemporary art. Everdene restaurant, a Virgin signature, occupies the entire third floor, and the Pool Club, on the rooftop, is an unexpected delight.
Ace Hotel New York
At 29th Street — New York City
When the Ace Hotel New York opened in New York’s once-neglected NoMad neighborhood, not only did the Ace put this stretch of Broadway back on the map, it’s also got the kind of multi-purpose public space — co-working space by day, after-work drinking spot in the evening, and a full-fledged nightlife venue — that’s become the template for hip boutique hotels around the world.
The Ned NoMad
At 28th Street — New York City
Broadway’s 1903-vintage Johnston Building is nothing if not dramatic. Inside, the Ned NoMad is a study in 1920s glamour, both in its multitude of common spaces and in its rooms and suites, which retain their antique flooring, their eclectic furnishings, and, in the Studios, freestanding claw-foot tubs in addition to walk-in showers.
The Fifth Avenue Hotel
At 28th Street — New York City
Architecturally, the Fifth Avenue Hotel spans more than a century, combining a 1907 Renaissance-style structure by the original Penn Station architects with a modern 24-story glass tower. And inside, the Gilded Age glamour of its public spaces serves as the inspiration for designer Martin Brudnizki’s fantastically colorful and ornate rooms and suites.
W New York – Union Square
At 17th Street — New York City
W New York – Union Square was one of the earliest and most visible boutique hotels, making a strong impression via a contrast of incongruous elements within a handsome 1911 Beaux-Arts building. After a thorough renovation, it’s looking fresher than ever, and while the interiors remain eye-catching, the new look is a more harmonious blend of a century-plus of influences.
The Twenty Two New York
At 16th Street — New York City
The Twenty Two New York is a London import, named for its sister’s address on Grosvenor Square. The design is one part Manhattan history, thanks to its home in the restored Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt house, and one part international modern luxury. Expect interiors that are full of character, with homages to classic American design movements as well as subtle but substantial modern luxuries.
Crosby Street Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
At Spring Street — New York City
The Crosby Street was Firmdale’s first hotel in New York. The arrival of Kit Kemp’s eclectic design eye, ultra-vivid color sense, and affinity for prints and patterns may have helped end the downtown Manhattan mania for minimalist, monochrome luxury-hotel spaces. Its warehouse-style windows are a fine fit for industrial-influenced SoHo, but behind them: a strong dose of English town-meets-country luxury.
11 Howard
At Canal Street — New York City
At 11 Howard, contemporary Scandinavian design meets a more inclusive, less ostentatious version of luxury hospitality. It’s the first independent hotel project for architect Anda Andrei, produced in collaboration with Danish designers Space Copenhagen. Local color comes in the form of a pretty formidable art collection, whose highlights include works by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Katie Yang, and Dan Attoe.
The Beekman
At City Hall — New York City
The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, to give it its full name, is an Old New York original, an 1881-vintage skyscraper from the days when a skyscraper meant nine stories of terraced red brick. And if the silhouette doesn’t convince you of its landmark status, a glance upwards surely will, as you walk across the towering central atrium with its pyramidal glass skylight.
Buy your copy of the Wildsam’s Manhattan Field Guide, presented by Tablet Hotels.
Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.