Soho Grand Hotel

 hotel, interesting place, 1996_construction

160-foot, 16-story modernist hotel completed in 1996. Designed by David Helpern, the modern architecture and design incorporate distinct neighborhood elements including bottle glass and cast iron molding, both of which are prominent in SoHo’s industrial history. It was the first major hotel to open in SoHo in over a century. Situated on a T-shaped site, it has a 2-story base of red brick with horizontal stone banding and a stone water table. The 2nd floor has oversize windows.

The center of the base sets back to a tower, and the wings to the north and south set back above the 6th floor. All the floors above the base have casement windows with stone sills and air conditioning vents below. Above the setbacks, the wings each have one bay of windows and project slightly forward from the central tower, which is capped by a tall parapet with horizontal banding and a single circular window. Each roof level is capped by a stone coping.

The sidewalls of the tower have two bays of windows above the setbacks on the long portion of the "T". The stem of the "T", extending back to Thompson Street, has five bays on the side elevations, with setbacks above the 6th and 12th floors. The Thompson Street facade has two regular bays of windows with a center bay of smaller, paired square windows. The ground floor has a freight entrance.

The boutique hotel has 353 guestrooms, including ten suites and two penthouses. The interiors are designed by William Sofield of Studio Sofield. In 2004, the hotel introduced two Manhattan Penthouse Loft suites, winners of the Interior Design Gold Key award. The hotel’s lounge, the Salon, underwent a redesign in 2008, and its dining room and private parlor, the Club Room, followed in 2009. In 2010, the hotel unveiled ten suites designed by William Sofield that feature wall coverings designed by New Yorker illustrator Saul Steinberg.