NEW YORK CITY’S GILDED AGE GLORY LIVES AT CHATWAL
New owner updates splendour of hotel that was home to entertainment royalty
In a city replete with great and storied hotels, New York’s Chatwal — a building with historic links not only to some of the greatest stars of Broadway, but to one of the most famous and notorious characters of the Gilded Age — has a unique lineage.
Opened in 1905, it was designed by Stanford White, architect of both the Washington Square Arch and the homes of American millionaires like the Vanderbilts and Astors. He is equally remembered for his libertine lifestyle and the sensational circumstances of his death: shot in 1906 on the rooftop garden of Madison Square Garden by the deranged husband of Evelyn Nesbit, White’s former lover. It led to the first Trial of the Century of the 1900s and a bonanza of lurid stories eaten up by the tabloids, the crime immortalized in the novel Ragtime.
The building was originally home to The Lambs, an exclusive social club for American royalty of stage and screen. For most of the 20th century it was a gathering place for a glittering array of members such as John Barrymore, Fred Astaire, Irving Berlin and Spencer Tracy. They would socialize over steaks in the grill room, play a few games of billiards or perhaps stay overnight in one of the guest rooms on the upper floors.
More recently, it was acquired by Sant Singh Chatwal, an Indian-American entrepreneur who spent some time in Montreal as a restaurateur. Chatwal lovingly transformed it into a small luxury hotel, which opened in 2010. French architect Thierry Despont oversaw the project, retaining White’s original neo-Georgian brick facade, while radiating a New York vibe within. There are art deco touches throughout, beginning with the gleaming lobby bar, where one of the signature cocktails is Gold Rush, a tart concoction of bourbon, honey and lemon.
Just a short walk off Times Square along West 44th Street, the Chatwal plays up its theatrical roots. The luxurious penthouse, consisting of two adjacent suites, is named after the Barrymore family. From one suite, you walk up a chrome and glass spiral staircase to a rare feature among Big Apple hotels, a rooftop terrace with a spectacular view of the skyline as well as the Belasco Theatre across the street, where Bryan Cranston was drawing standing ovations for his starring role in the stage adaptation of the movie Network.
All the rooms have elegant touches: suede wallpaper, heated toilets and a mirror in the bathroom that cleverly doubles as a television, allowing you to watch the news while shaving. My suite also included a copy of the book American Eve, the story of Nesbit, White and the murder that captivated the city more than a century ago. A compelling backstory is a useful marketing device in the crazily competitive New York luxury hotel scene.
There is no longer any connection with the theatrical club, but in tribute to the building’s past, the restaurant is called the Lambs Club. With dark wood walls, crafted red leather banquets and chrome lighting fixtures, it has the feel of an exclusive club room. Black-andwhite portraits of stars of stage and screen line the walls. With Katharine Hepburn peering over one shoulder, W.C. Fields the other and Woody Allen staring me in the face, I took the advice of the waiter and ordered the pasta. It was a bowl of tagliatelle in a simple sauce of butter and parmigiana, with an extravagant topping. After it was delivered, the servers arrived with a covered platter and uncovered it with some ceremony to reveal a black truffle that was carefully shaved over my meal, turning an elegantly simple bowl of pasta into an expense-account special.
To the horror of the server, one tiny shard of truffle went astray, landing in my lap. I carefully retrieved the precious morsel and added it to the plate. Sean Mallen is the former Europe bureau chief for Global News and the author of Falling for London, from Dundurn Press. He stayed as a guest of the hotel, which did not view or comment upon this story before publication.