Profile

In a neighborhood known for its historic tenement-style housing, owner Paul Stallings and an international coterie of design talents pulled off a breathtaking coup—a glass and aluminum 20-story boutique hotel that is unabashedly slick. Guests will be immediately struck by the hotel's entrance—a deep red carpet and velvet curtains that give way to a futuristic, egg-shaped arch. The hotel's ground floor is home to the loosely Austrian-inspired restaurant, Thor. One floor up is the sleek concierge desk, where well-heeled visitors relax in a petit lounge decorated with low-lying couches, a shaggy rug, and blonde wood tables piled with artsy coffee-table books. The guest rooms, conceived by designer India Mahdavi, reveal a similarly minimalist-chic design. Tidy, all-white duvets and pillows are splayed atop high-end Tempur-Pedic mattresses, while the carpet, walls and two plush, boxy armchairs are done up in black and taupe with either black or chartreuse accent pillows. The sole wall hanging: flat-screen TVs. Rooms located on the hotel's lower levels tend to have low ceilings, and windows overlooking graffiti-inked apartment buildings. But pricier, upper-level rooms boast the hotel's best feature: spectacular panoramas of the city and East River viewed through floor-to-ceiling windows. — Kate Appleton

Wi-Fi access throughout the hotel, and in-room spa treatments courtesy of Ricardo Rojas. A bumper crop of trendy restaurants and nightspots within easy walking distance.

Cons
Inconvenient for visiting the city's blockbuster attractions; limited subway access. Low ceilings and dark, cramped hallways. On most lower-level floors, the windows look out at graffitied walk-ups.

Claim to Fame
Owner Paul Stallings was so pleased with the final result that he carved out an apartment for his wife and six kids on the seventeenth floor. When the Stallings clan is away, guests can stay in the two-bedroom Owners' Suite, loaded with five flat-screen TVs and a side-length balcony.