design et al are are delighted to announce that Firmdale Hotels have been shortlisted for Hotel Under 200 Rooms – Americas & Caribbean Award in The International Hotel & Property Awards 2019
The Whitby Hotel is a celebration of contemporary art and design with 86 individually designed bedrooms and suites, The Whitby Bar and Restaurant, orangery, drawing room, outdoor terrace, three private event rooms, a 130 seat theatre and gym.
New York can feel like a battleground at times, so the feeling of The Whitby Hotel needed to be one that would pique the curiosity, delight the senses in an adventurous and colourful way, and make visiting and staying worthwhile in every sense. Permissions and architectural, engineering and building plans aside, the guest experience and their adventure in the building was instrumental in the design of the hotel.
The hotel’s spacious top floor, the pinnacle of Firmdale’s Hotels design, is dedicated to the spectacular Whitby Suite, with two master bedrooms, spacious drawing room and floor to ceiling windows. Doors lead onto two furnished terraces with views looking far and wide over New York. Furniture and fittings were made especially for the space to create a tailor-made experience both inside and out.
The flow of the ground-floor public space is a journey in itself – the bar and restaurant wrap around to a conservatory and small open garden, through to a drawing room and back to the lobby. Playing with changing ceiling heights and skylights lends a feeling of movement. Each space was treated individually but creates something that lasts as a whole. The sequence of rooms creates a thread to lead you through the building, a constant adventure for the eye and somewhere guests want to return to time and time again.
It was important for Firmdale Hotels that the building enhances the area while respecting the existing architectural fabric. The Whitby Hotel has a quiet, understated architecture that fits seamlessly with the neighbourhood, but the generously sized windows and numerous terraces offer glimpses of the activity and life within. With the opening of The Whitby Hotel, Co-owner & Creative Director, Kit Kemp brought an oasis of colour, curiosity and calm to Manhattan’s upper Midtown district