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This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to New York
Tribeca is having a moment. Just north of the financial district, this cobblestoned, now largely residential area is a land of affluent families living in envy-inducing loft-style apartments. With one of the highest median incomes in the city, it has become so eye-wateringly expensive that I’ve heard New Yorkers joke, “If you can’t afford Tribeca, you go to the Upper East Side.”
British company, Firmdale Hotels, run by interior design guru Kit Kemp, had its eye on the area for a while for its third New York hotel — and when a disused parking lot came up for sale in 2019, Kemp pounced on the opportunity to build a new property from the ground up.
When I arrived on a wet, misty Sunday, jet-lagged and with no battery left on my phone, the hotel’s sky blue steel and glass facade was mercifully easy to find, cutting a dash among the dark downtown buildings. It opened in February 2024 and quickly established itself as a neighbourhood haunt — a stylish, colourful spot for a coffee with friends after school drop-off, or for a martini at the bar before heading home.
The lobby, typical of all Firmdale hotels, is a mini contemporary art gallery, with dangling straw-basketry installations by Argentine artist Cristián Mohaded and a Tony Cragg sculpture that looks like a bench but isn’t. In the 19th century, Tribeca was home to the city’s textile industry, and Kemp has taken this inspiration and run with it throughout the hotel, using a mix of patterned fabrics — including her own textile collaborations with Christopher Farr Cloth and GP&J Baker.
Staff are informed and friendly, welcoming a largely American clientele with a sprinkling of Firmdale-fan Brits. As well as the restaurant and bar, there is a cosy living room (another Firmdale staple), which is a great place to steal away to with a drink from its honesty bar, where you can mix yourself up a stiff cocktail and write down your room number on a little pad of paper.
Rooms
Each of the hotel’s 69 rooms and suites are individually designed, often with subtly differing colour schemes. My 11th-floor suite felt like stepping into the apartment of a stylish British aunt — the living room area perfectly arranged with a Chesterfield sofa, coffee table (complete with a pile of Kit Kemp’s interiors books) and arrangement of armchairs facing a TV above a fireplace, all in an array of contrasting yet fabulous fabrics. The colour scheme was calming, with restful aqua-coloured fabric wallpaper, and a soft blue-and-white theme with notes of red and ochre.
All the rooms are wonderfully light thanks to floor-to-ceiling Crittal windows. I woke up to a view of One World Trade Center piercing the New York blue sky, but on the other side of the building, a handful of suites have small garden terraces, each a tiny British garden complete with lawn and plants, and a view over some interesting new additions to the skyline such as the marmite-y so-called “Jenga Building” at 56 Leonard.
As with all Firmdale hotels, beds have giant headboards, reaching almost to the ceiling, covered with fabulous fabrics that often match the sofas, cushions and dressmakers’ mannequins (where I found my coat had been hung at turndown).
Bathrooms are spacious, with lashings of marble, double sinks and walk-in showers. Suites have freestanding bathtubs — to me the icing on the cake, and perfect for a long soak after a day of pounding the concrete. Full-size products from Tall Trees, Firmdale’s new range, are on tap, but not to take home, in keeping with our eco times.
Restaurant
The Warren Street bar and restaurant, just off the lobby, is where Kemp’s eye for mixing contemporary art with colour and textile really sings. Running most of the length of the long pewter bar is a 20ft suspended sculpture by Gareth Devonald Smith, which after a Tribeca Citizen (a potent mix of Santa Teresa rum, Suze, Falernum, pineapple, lime, citrus oleo and allspice bitters), looks disarmingly like a set of white teeth with the odd gold filling. Behind this, perched on the bar alongside the bottles is a giant semi-abstract sculpture of a bird-like creature with a chessboard body.
It’s a jazzy space, with a solid menu of straight-up classics and seasonal dishes that run the international gamut from an unctuous burrata tricolore salad to Dover sole meunière via hamachi ceviche and cacio e pepe. As with all Firmdale hotels, it has a cracking afternoon tea (served 1.30pm to 5pm during the week, and from noon to 5pm at weekends) — there is even a kids’ version. My feeling was that this is more often enjoyed by guests than the local carb-shunning yoga mums.
Gym and spa
This is a small hotel and there is no gym or spa, but it is partnered with Nexus members club, a two-minute walk away, where there is a slick gym and wellness centre.
At a glance
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Good for: Textile fans; garden balconies; exploring arty Tribeca
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Not so good for: exercise enthusiasts (as there is no gym or pool on site)
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FYI: Join Kit Kemp’s daughter Willow, Firmdale’s design director, on an art tour of the hotel, and later sink a few art-inspired cocktails at the bar
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Number of rooms and suites: 69
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Rates: From $825
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Address: 86 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007
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Website; Directions
Rebecca Rose was a guest of Warren Street Hotel
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