The Whitby Hotel ★★★★★

Colour on 56th Street, Two Blocks Below the Park

Midtown Manhattan is where hotels go to be beige. The Whitby is the correction. Kit Kemp designed it for Firmdale, and her method is visible from the door: pattern laid against pattern, textiles commissioned rather than catalogued, sculpture and painting bought one piece at a time, and a palette that changes as you move through the ground floor. Eighty six rooms and suites sit above, each one handled individually, most with floor to ceiling windows and a share of the skyline. It is a thoroughly British hotel on a New York street, and the combination works better than it has any right to.

Why It Works

Three reasons carried it. The design is authored rather than specified, which is why no two rooms read the same and why the public floors are worth sitting in rather than crossing. The public rooms actually function: a drawing room for the afternoon, a bar for the evening, a cinema with a programme of its own. And the hotel holds three Michelin Keys, the top rung of a scale that had barely existed when The Whitby opened. Midtown has bigger names. It does not have a better room to spend a rainy afternoon in.

Why This Location

18 West 56th Street puts you at Fifth Avenue, which is the most useful address in midtown for anyone here to look at things. MoMA is a three minute walk, the galleries and auction houses are clustered within a few blocks, Fifth Avenue shopping starts at the corner, and Central Park begins two blocks north at 59th. The Theater District is a walk west. Everything else in Manhattan is a subway ride from 57th Street, and you will not need a car once.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Kit Kemp colour, warm, art filled, quietly clubbable

• Rooms: 86 rooms and suites, each individually designed, many with floor to ceiling windows and skyline views

• Best For: art and design travellers, couples, a first stay in New York with museums on the list

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the screening room, a real cinema with its own programme rather than a meeting room with a projector

• Dining: The Whitby Bar and Restaurant, seasonal modern European, around a pewter topped bar

• Amenities: drawing room, orangery, screening room, gym, three Michelin Keys

• Attractions: MoMA a short walk, Fifth Avenue at the corner, Central Park two blocks north, the Theater District to the west

Eighty Six Rooms, No Two the Same

Kemp's rooms are not variations on a scheme; they are separate propositions, which means the choice of room matters more here than in most hotels. Higher floors take the skyline, the suites add terraces and sitting rooms, and every room carries at least one piece made for it. Anyone sensitive to noise should ask for a room away from 56th Street. Anyone who cares about the design should ask what is in the room before booking the category.

The Ground Floor Is the Reason to Stay In

The Drawing Room is the best argument for the hotel: a proper sitting room with books, a fire and afternoon tea, open to guests through the day. The bar and restaurant work around a long pewter counter and cook seasonally and simply. The Orangery handles private dinners, and the screening room shows films to guests. On a cold or wet New York afternoon, this is a hotel you do not need to leave.

Before You Book

Midtown is loud and the hotel sits mid block, so ask where the room faces. The screening room and Drawing Room can be booked out for private use, so check if they are part of why you are coming. And the room categories cover a real spread of size and outlook here, more than the names suggest, which makes the conversation with reservations worth having.