The building at 11 Howard St. in Manhattan’s SoHo district has lived many lives. First, it was a post office. More recently, it was a Holiday Inn. A few years ago, developer Aby Rosen (who owned and relaunched the Gramercy Park Hotel) purchased the building, and hired Copenhagen-based designers to renovate the entire space into a new 221-room hotel that’s also a temple of Danish modern design.
In an increasingly crowded hospitality market (see: Airbnb), 11 Howard looks to set itself apart with its motto of “conscious hospitality.” The hotel donates a portion of its revenue from each stay to the Global Poverty Project: a non-profit aimed at reducing extreme poverty. Meanwhile, the 150-foot mural along the side of the building was a partnership between the hotel and student artists with the public art organization Groundswell, under the mentorship of artist Jeff Koons.
Design
Unlike some of the aggressively hip hotels that have popped up around the city recently (with their bright colours and booming music in the lobby), 11 Howard is an exercise in restraint – all light-filled spaces and minimalist design. The rooms follow a muted, grey-and-white colour palette, with the furnishings crafted out of natural materials. Brushed gold fixtures add a touch of subtle luxury. Even the hotel staff were dressed in (tastefully) hip uniforms. On a recent afternoon, a male staffer wore a fitted grey sweatshirt with the word “bellhop” printed across it, cropped fitted black pants and leather loafers. The female staffers, meanwhile, wore black knit tunics with cropped pants. All of their outfits are custom-designed by New York-based designer Serkan Sarier.
Location, Location
As with many hotels, the 11 Howard comes with a guide – preloaded onto a tablet in the room – of things to see and do in the area. But this guide came in multiple versions, for all the great downtown neighbourhoods the hotel straddles: SoHo, Chinatown, the East Village, the Lower East Side and Little Italy.
Without once having to jump into a taxi or into the subway, I was able to have lunch in Chinatown, stroll the shops of SoHo, head up to the East Village for dinner and swing by the Lower East Side afterward – all in the same day. For the fashion set, the hotel is just a few doors down from some of SoHo’s best boutiques: Opening Ceremony and Reformation.
If I could change one thing
There’s no front desk in the lobby – just a large, light-filled and open space, where hotel staff linger around a round table in the centre of the room.
The upside is that, when walking in and out of the space, guests feel less like they’re staying in a hotel and more like they’re in their own condo or apartment.
But it can make for an awkward check-in and check-out, with both staff and guests appearing unsure of where to stand, and where to line up.
A few times, it took me a minute to figure out who actually worked at the hotel and who was just a guest hanging out.
Eat in or eat out?
The hotel’s restaurant, Le Coucou – a French spot, owned by restaurateur Stephen Starr – hadn’t yet opened during my visit. Since then, the restaurant has opened for breakfast and dinner only, and plans to eventually offer brunch service as well.
On the menu: veal tongue with caviar and crème fraiche, and duck cooked with cherries and foie gras.
Or, take a short walk to any of the dozens of great restaurants within a stone’s throw of the hotel.
Some of the best coffee I had all weekend was just across the street, at Smile to Go.
If you’re looking for something a little different, walk just 10 minutes to Chinatown, for the spicy, tingly beef hand-pulled noodles or lamb cumin burger at Xi’an Famous Foods.
11 Howard. 11 Howard St., New York; 11howard.com; 221 rooms, starting at about $280 (U.S.).
The writer was a guest of the hotel.