The Fifth Avenue Hotel is a special place in New York where history meets modern comfort. From its colorful rooms to the cozy restaurant and bar, it feels like stepping into a storybook while still enjoying all the modern touches.

Whether you want to explore the city or just relax inside, The Fifth Avenue Hotel makes your stay feel both exciting and relaxing.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City

Craving a getaway and a bit of the big apple? Then some Bohemian Romanticism may be just what the doctor ordered.

New York is all about reinvention. Neighborhoods rise and fall in popularity, only to be reborn as something else. Historic buildings are often repurposed. Many become condos or hotels in the process.

So it is with NoMad, the area to the north of Madison Square Park. In what was originally the Second National Bank, a five-story Renaissance-style palazzo built in 1907 and designed by McKim, Mead, & White, the glitzy new

Fifth Avenue Hotel bucks the trend of bland, blond, and ivory luxury hotels. Interior designer Martin Brudnizki’s spaces are luscious and lavish, filled with a confident meeting of texture, hue, and pattern. Rarely is a surface left plain. Most are painted in rich colors, inlaid, or gilded. Many are covered with exotic-patterned wallpaper or decorated with elaborately hand-knotted rugs.

The 153 rooms manage that difficult balance between resembling something out of a Henry James novel and being modern. They are also comfortable. Meanwhile, the public areas have that vibe that makes you feel as if you’ve arrived. This is true although your destination is nothing like what you imagined.

The Story of NoMad Neighborhood Hotels

The area has a history of attracting high society and creative types, as it does today. Located on what was formerly swampy hunting ground, Madison Square Park opened in 1847.

Although dark and narrow row houses originally filled the area, mansions soon surrounded it. These included the residences of Teddy Roosevelt and Edith Wharton. A luxury property, also called the Fifth Avenue Hotel, existed on the west side of the park. It operated from 1859 to 1908. (It was the first hotel in the US with elevators!)

Mark Twain and numerous presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, visited the hotel. Eventually, the hotel closed and people demolished it, but a number of other hotels sprang up nearby. The site of the current Fifth Avenue Hotel, a couple of blocks north, was originally the home of Charlotte Goodridge, a prominent society figure during the Gilded Age, when the area was a hub for the literate — including Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.

The current former bank building required a 10-year restoration, including the addition of modern amenities. A 24-story glass tower designed by Perkins Eastman and PBDW Architects was also added.

A Luxury Stay at Fifth Avenue Hotel

As you enter the hotel, a dazzling mix of faceted mirrors, burled wood panels, and a huge tapestry by artist Pae White await — it takes your eyes a moment to adjust to it all.

The restaurant, Café Carmellini, is a cozy yet opulent mix of dark wood, mustard-colored leather, and blue velvet, while its seemingly infinite lightbulbs in chandeliers, sconces, and table lamps fill the space with an inviting atmosphere that’s convivial yet intimate and sexy.

Afterwards, head to the dark and moody Portrait Bar for a destination-named cocktail, such as the Oaxaca, which contains Oaxacan gin, Empirical Ayuuk, Contratto aperitif, lime sherbet, hibiscus, and chocolate.

If you can still walk, the journey to your room will take you through dimly lit, rosy-colored corridors clad in a mix of striped and tropical papers with bordered blue carpets underfoot.

Things to Do Near The Fifth Avenue Hotel

If you’re in the mood to actually leave the hotel, there are several
exquisite restaurants nearby, including Eleven Madison Park (Michelin 3-star, plant-based), Scarpetta (refined Italian in a beautiful space), and Junoon (upscale, modern Indian).

Its always worth checking out if there is an art installation in Madison Square Park. (The original Shake Shack location is in the corner of the park in case you have a sudden craving for fries.)

Although it isn’t nearby, the newly reopened (as of April 17) Frick Collection, among the best museums in New York, is a must-see for anyone coming to visit.

Story by Stephen Treffinger
Photos From Fifth Avenue Hotel

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine’s print edition.