The Knickerbocker, the iconic Beaux Arts hotel originally opened in 1906 by John Jacob Astor IV, is set to reopen next Thursday, and we recently got a tour inside the historic building, where the construction crew is putting in the finishing touches.
Though The Knickerbocker is an individual landmark, which means that the facade must be meticulously maintained down to the smallest detail, on the inside practically nothing original remains, and the hotel has received a sleek, modern renovation (to the tune of $240 million) feature a lot of Carrera marble, gold leaf, and other very high-end finishes. So, while the hotel may not look anything like it did back when in the days when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee met the team’s manager in the cafe to inform him that he was selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees, or when the house bartender invented the martini (depending on who you believe), it will be similarly luxurious. The 330 rooms averaging 430 square feet apiece, will start at around $500-$700 per night.
Hand-applied gold leaf on the ceiling.
The cafe, located on the ground floor level, is evocative of a subway tunnel.
The last vestiges of the original building exist in the basement, which is being used for storage. In the olden days, the space was used for illicit gambling. The subway runs right on the other side of this wall, hence the subway tunnel-esque vertical bricks. The room with the subway wall, off the main basement storage room, is technically owned by the city and the MTA, but they don’t have much use for it since the connecting door is no longer functional. The famous door between The Knickerbocker and the Times Square subway station, now bricked over, permanently.
It features original “skypods,” which will function as VIP areas.
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