The Chatwal Hotel

The prevailing approach to landmark preservation in New York tends to be either/or—i.e., if it’s not worthy of embalming, knock it down—which has deprived the city of many fine buildings that might have enjoyed second lives via a mixture of historic and contemporary design. The Chatwal, an 83-room new hotel off Times Square, exemplifies such a mix. Once home to The Lambs, America’s oldest theatrical society, the Georgian-style structure, built in 1905 and doubled in size ten years later, was originally designed by Stanford White (himself a Lambs Club member), and its facade and numerous interior elements were subject to strict landmarking rules. “I love historic preservation,” says architect/designer Thierry Despont—indeed, he oversaw the restoration of the Statue of Liberty—“but one has to be intelligent about what is important to preserve.” Accordingly, Despont’s Chatwal honors White’s work, and infuses it with a present-day reimagining of architectural history.

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clock in this time

Despont locates The Chatwal’s aspect of glamour, not in a specific color, material or decorative motif, but rather lighting and, critically, programming. “If you don’t have good lighting, it’s hard to have a successful space,” he says. “I chose warm, yellow illumination – you look good and feel good.” Glamour also derives from the little bar at one end of the lobby. “For me it has the appeal of an insider’s place, a bit of a club—when you walk in, you feel privileged.”

bartender

Along with his “contemporary historic” interventions, Despont worked closely with New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to restore the interior’s significant protected elements. Initially the Lambs Club library, the newly christened Stanford White Studio features original oak paneling, pilasters, and deep ceiling beams, all revivified and reinstalled—“a tip of the hat to Stanford,” Despont says.

The hotel’s Lambs Club restaurant intermingles original and contemporary design elements. The centerpiece overscaled 18th-century French carved stone fireplace was in fact a gift to the club from White (who, liked the fictional Charles Foster Kane, collected and warehoused architectural artifacts), and the walls are lined with photos of past and present members. As for the profusion of red, says Despont, “If you use it, don’t be shy.”

The restaurant’s chiaroscuro painting, which evokes the easy, well-lubricated sodality of Broadway in its heyday, exemplifies Despont’s use of contemporary artworks (including a double-height mural in the lobby) to locate the design in past and contemporary times. Indeed, “I have difficulty distinguishing history from today,” Despont admits. “If you do a new building, why not bring in elements from the past that resonate?”

“I worked with Ralph Lauren on his flagship store in London,” Despont recalls. “And he told me, ‘You have to make something that has never existed—but that everyone recognizes.’” In The Chatwal’s guest rooms, this notion emerges in the “steamer trunk” closets, night tables, and desks, which recall the luggage that prevailed in the golden age of the ocean liner. “Today’s traveler is a global nomad,” says Despont, and his surreal design element converts landlocked midtown hotel rooms into oceangoing fantasias.

Throughout the hotel, Despont has redistributed preexisting elements—wooden double doors featuring a distinctive barrel-lid motif, a handcrafted mantelpiece, the memorial commemorating members lost in the two World Wars—which, like sudden memories, take visitors by surprise. Elsewhere—as with the vintage subway signage in the guest rooms—newly added urban artifacts achieve a similar effect.

left panel w/o my light