The Renwick – a recent addition to Worldhotels – is situated on 40th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, just steps away from Grand Central Station. New York-based design firm Stonehill & Taylor conceived and executed the design for the new hotel, taking a modernistic approach to integrating the building’s rich, creative roots into approachable yet luxurious design. Art throughout the property offers a range of creative interpretations of the line as a basic artistic element.
Entering the hotel lobby, guests are swept down a short flight of stairs – a sculptural element made from poured terrazzo, which sweeps up the wall on one end and turns around a corner at the other to form a bench opposite the reception desk. The reception desk features a dual finish of marble and blackened metal, and features millwork panels made from the building’s original rooftop water tower.
The lobby light fixture is a dynamic lit sculpture of overlapping line work, enhanced and elongated by the mirrored table beneath it. Layered behind the light fixture is a hand-dyed paper wall covering, featuring linear stitches. Wire art and string art featured in the lobby showcase a 3D representation of artist line work.
The property’s 173 loft-style guest rooms are inspired by an artist’s studio. A minimalist, masculine colour palette features a bold band of ink permeating from the foot of the bed, through the leather-tufted headboard and onto the ceiling. Other custom furnishings include easel-inspired television stands, desks reminiscent of the artist’s workbench, nightstands intended to mimic flat file cabinets and a patterned carpet that simulates paint-splattered concrete.
Formerly an extended-stay hotel for prominent artists, intellectuals and literary figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and Thomas Mann, Stonehill & Taylor’s primary design emphasises functional art sourced by local New York City artists in an urban, unconventional, collaborative way. The hotel features no traditionally framed artwork, with many of the pieces created directly on the wall’s surfaces in various mediums. Art throughout the property places special emphasis on the line, an element every artist must embrace. The hotel also has 33 suites inspired by literary and artistic luminaries like F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and Thomas Mann, and a Presidential Suite inspired by the building’s namesake, architect James Renwick.
Stonehill & Taylor is an architecture and interior design firm based in New York City. The firm uses a collaborative approach to produce unique design stories. Its successful projects range from interiors, new building construction, renovations and historic preservation including: The Ace Hotel, Novotel Times Square, Refinery Hotel and The Paramount Hotel’s Diamond Horseshoe.
