If there was ever a famous hotel in New York, the Chelsea Hotel would be it. It’s not as innately over the top as The Plaza, but when it comes to history and glamour, Hotel Chelsea has it made. The hotel has always been a center of artistic and bohemian activity and it houses artwork created by many of the artists who have visited. The hotel was the first building to be listed by New York City as a cultural preservation site and historic building of note. The twelve-story red-brick building that now houses the Hotel Chelsea was built in 1883 as a private apartment cooperative that opened in 1884; it was the tallest building in New York until 1899. At the time Chelsea, and particularly the street on which the hotel was located, was the center of New York’s Theater District. However, within a few years the combination of economic worries and the relocation of the theaters bankrupted the Chelsea cooperative. In 1905, the building was purchased and opened as a hotel. Owing to its long list of famous guests and residents, the hotel has an ornate history, both as a birth place of creative modern art and home of bad behavior.

Bob Dylan composed songs while staying at the Chelsea, and poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso chose it as a place for philosophical and intellectual exchange. It is also known as the place where the writer Dylan Thomas died of alcohol poisoning on in 1953, and where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols may have stabbed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, to death on October 12, 1978. Famous visitors and residents of the Chelsea Hotel include Eugene O’Neil, Thomas Wolfe, and Arthur C. Clarke (who wrote 2001: A Space Oddyssey while in residence). Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead passed through the hotels doors in the 1960s.

Features and Amenities

The rich history as home to greats in literature and art is reflected in the rooms that are filled with the natural light of floor-to-ceiling windows. Just the right eclectic and modern furnishings lend a sense of spaciousness. Included for today’s comfort – air conditioning, cable TV, comfortable parlors in the suites, studios with kitchenettes, full baths, work areas with desks and ample lighting. All the suites in the hotel boast ample space and all have been individually decorated. The hotel also offers a scenic private rooftop, dramatic spiraling staircase and large public spaces – all of which are often used in films and photo shoots.

Location

The Chelsea Hotel is located on West 23rd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, in the heart of the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. It is centrally located between Greenwich Village and Midtown. From the front door of the hotel, one can easily walk to the Chelsea art galleries, the Meatpacking District, the Flatiron building, and Union Square. A short taxi or subway ride will bring you to Times Square, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Soho, and other New York City destinations.

The New York neighborhood called Chelsea takes its name from the estate of British Army Captain Thomas Clarke, who retired to the then rural area after the French and Indian Wars. He named his estate – on the west side of Manhattan near the Hudson River – after London’s Royal Chelsea Hospital for soldiers. By the 1850s the land was divided into lots and developed. Today the area is a thriving neighborhood of brownstones, tenements, tree-lined streets, restaurants, and art galleries. In the midst of all this stands the Victorian Gothic beauty of the Chelsea Hotel.