Inside what was once the world’s tallest building sits the latest creation from hotel guru Ian Schrager, with parties aplenty set to mark the opening of the hotel in the coming weeks.
The 273-room hotel is in the old Clocktower building by Napoleon Lebrun & Sons - originally opened in 1909 as the headquarters for The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the historic 41-story building was the world’s tallest until 1913.
These days, it sits in New York’s cool NoMad neighborhood, close to Madison Square Park - it’s also at 5 Madison Avenue, once the HQ of the country’s advertising industry and inspiration for successful TV series Mad Men.
The show is now into its last few episodes, which take place in the 1970s, an era that is reflected somewhat in some of the styling of the hotel, with faux fur throws on the beds, plus this seems like a place where it will always be cocktail hour.
“I’m always interested in upsetting the status quo and going off in new directions,” Schrager said, adding that the hotel is inspired by “New York City’s turn of the 20th-century private clubs, Fifth Avenue’s Gilded Age Mansions and Stanford White’s architectural masterpieces”.
“It is impossible to label this look,” he claimed. “And, rightly so. We are never out for a ‘look’. We are out for a feel and an experience.”
