Photo by Michael Kleinberg, The Algonquin Hotel.
The Algonquin Hotel, an Autograph Collection property from Marriott, has completed a multiyear renovation that refreshed all 181 rooms, along with the property's elevators and corridors. The project introduces a more residential feel throughout the historic Midtown Manhattan hotel while preserving the character that has made the property a New York landmark for more than a century.
Brooklyn-based CRÈME/Jun Aizaki Architecture & Design led the redesign in collaboration with Lucid, the design and development arm of Highgate Hotels. The updated look draws inspiration from both New York City and the Algonquin's storied past, all without altering the hotel's historic footprint.
Rooms now feature brass fixtures, layered lighting and custom marble-topped furnishings inspired by the property's original stairwells.
Art and design celebrate a New York icon
A centerpiece of the renovation is a new collection of artwork featuring pieces by famed illustrator Al Hirschfeld. Curated in partnership with the Al Hirschfeld Foundation and its director, David Leopold, the collection includes custom triptych installations in every room, as well as artwork displayed throughout the hotel's public spaces.
Among the highlights is a gold leaf–accented illustration of Central Park created exclusively for the Algonquin Hotel. The broader collection spans Hirschfeld's eight-decade career in New York City, with some works not publicly displayed in decades and others sourced directly from the Foundation's archives for the project.
The property's food-and-beverage experience also got a refresh, with the Blue Bar Restaurant & Lounge introducing new menu items and cocktails, along with redesigned menus developed in collaboration with the Al Hirschfeld Foundation.
A distinctive option for small meetings
For meeting planners, the renovation maintained the sense of place that has long distinguished the property from larger convention-oriented hotels in Manhattan.
The Algonquin offers more than 4,000 square feet of meeting space and is within walking distance of Times Square, Broadway theaters and numerous corporate offices, making it a convenient choice for small group gatherings.
Since opening in 1902, the Algonquin has hosted generations of writers, journalists and cultural figures. Most famously, it served as the home of the Algonquin Round Table, the influential literary group whose members included Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Harold Ross, Alexander Woollcott, Franklin Adams and Robert Sherwood, who helped shape American literature and journalism in the 1920s.