The Meatpacking District’s Standard hotel, home to the glamorously decadent Boom Boom Room and slews of infamously risqué snaps of naked guests caught frolicking in front of windows, has a new, stylish sister in the heart of SoHo. Think of The Manner on Thompson Street as the Standard’s more discreet, fancier jet-set sibling.
From the moment you enter the Brutalist-modern lobby, decked with a large, swirled ceramic piece by Italian artist Giovanni De Francesco, you feel like you’ve walked into a private club. The hotel has eighty-sixed the standard check-in counter for a small desk with someone who greets you like your favorite doorman. The members’-club vibe continues up the staircase to the Apartment, where registered guests can lounge around the ceramic columns by Ben Medansky and angular steel fireplace and sip (free!) cocktails and in the morning have a coffee and a pastry at the long brass-topped dining room table. “The Apartment is the heart of the hotel,” Amar Lalvani, President & Creative Director, Lifestyle, Hyatt, tells Avenue. “It has a timeless design with handcrafted sculptural elements from artists around the world. It also has my personal book collection. It is a space to meet other guests during our aperitivo in the evening before heading to Sloane’s or out on the town, only to return for a nightcap on our rooftop, no doubt.” Through an unmarked door is Sloane’s, the hotel’s tucked-away speakeasy-like lounge with a gold-leaf inlaid bar and a crowd straight out of the front row at a Proenza Schouler show. Sloane’s was inspired by Casa Mollino, Carlo Mollino’s dramatic, sleek (and secret—the Italian architect and designer didn’t tell anyone about the project) residential masterpiece in Turin, Italy.
“Beauty guru Dr. Barbara Sturm, Iman, and Laura Brown, and fashion houses like Coach and Off-White, have hosted parties, while Madonna, Allison Williams, Karen Elson, and Claudia Schiffer have all been spotted.”
The suites are expansive, many with Juliet balconies. With a glossy Hermès-orange wall and a massive emerald-green sofa, the room feels more like your art director friend’s apartment than a hotel room. And get this: there are no TVs, so prepare to unplug from Netflix bingeing (they will deliver a television if you’re seriously jonesing for the latest true crime doc). “I love the hidden Dampf speakers in the rooms that provide incredible sound,” Lalvani mentions. “Something I find missing in most hotel rooms.” Time to pump up the volume and dance, dance, dance! Designed by Global Head of Design & Creative Services at The Lifestyle Group, Hyatt Verena Haller and architect Hannes Peer, the bronze accents, handmade inlaid tiles, modern Italian furniture, cast steel and glass chandeliers (custom pieces by Peer), chocolate-brown marble bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling mirrors fulfill the fantasy of that SoHo loft you always dreamed of owning. Movie stars will book the duplex penthouse: 1,800 square feet of shiny, deep-red lacquer with a wraparound terrace—all inspired by Halston’s monochromatic offices in Olympic Tower. “I love the drama of the penthouse,” Lalvani adds. “We hope that people love it as much as we do and return again and again and make it their home downtown.”
On the first floor is the Otter, the latest restaurant from James Beard nominee, chef Alex Stupak of Empellón. The eatery’s main room has a lively Diego Rivera-like figurative mural by Spanish artist Elvira Solana, but the real focus is the social scene: so far beauty guru Dr. Barbara Sturm, Iman, and Laura Brown, and fashion houses like Coach and Off-White, have hosted parties, while Madonna, Allison Williams, Karen Elson, and Claudia Schiffer have all been spotted. Seafood-focused, the parsley root agnolotti is delicious, with buttered crab meat and a surprise of crushed Ritz crackers for a New England twist. And the enormous, round, cloud-like Boston cream pie has already become legendary—just jab another shot of Ozempic and dig in. – PETER DAVIS
