The Library Hotel | Stephen B. Jacobs Architects

This project consists of the adaptive reuse of a twelve-story, obsolete office building originally constructed in 1912. The building is unusual since it is 12-stories high and only twenty-five feet wide. The facade was constructed in a gothic revival style, predominantly of tapestry brick and terracotta. Its most distinctive feature is a five-foot deep, copper-clad bay window that projects onto the Madison Avenue setback.

Since the building is located on “Library Way,” a library theme was selected for the building. However, it has a twist. Each floor is keyed to the Dewey Decimal System used by libraries to catalog books, with the theme of the guest corridors, rooms and amenities corresponding to the floor’s “category” number, such as “Social Sciences (3)”, “Language (4),” “Math and Science (5)” and so on.

Each guestroom carries an individual theme within its floor “concept”. For instance, rooms on the seventh floor (“The Arts”) focus on the performing arts, fashion design, photography, sculpture, graphic arts and architecture. The theme of each floor is reflected in details such as the artwork, as well as the shelved books available for guests to enjoy during their stay.

The design of the interiors of the building uses a classically modern décor. The guestrooms feature custom, built-in mahogany storage units with space-saving features such as pullout tabletop to accommodate room service trays. Cappuccino tufted-leather headboards, gold-veined granite countertops, reversible banana and sage crepe bedcovering and shimmering champagne filigree wall coverings combine to create a warm ambiance, as well as a balance against the richness of the woodwork. The wide-set squares of the headboard are echoed in the checkered sage and adobe custom carpeting.

Because of the small floor plate configuration, the size of the bathrooms had to remain more or less conventional, however, the designers added dimension to the bathrooms by installing eight-foot high, custom designed mahogany doors, containing sandblasted glass panels. This theme is repeated in a window panel that matches the materials and proportions of the door and flanks a dressing niche, a totally unique feature, that not only expands the dimension of the bathroom, but does wonders for the comfort of the guest.