~ The vibe: A new jewel box of a hotel in Tribeca that embraces maximalism and creativity Location: 86 Warren Street, New York City | View on Google Maps ~ |
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The Afar take
You don’t have to love maximalism to fall for a Kit Kemp hotel. The British hotelier and interiors maven, who with her husband, Tim Kemp, created a mini empire of boutique hotels (three in New York and eight in London), romances colors, shapes, and patterns with such prowess that even greige-loving design aficionados can appreciate the results. Kemp’s latest endeavor in New York City is the Warren Street Hotel, which opened in Tribeca in March 2024. The hotel takes her signature style in an even bolder and often more colorful direction than its New York sister properties, the Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo and the Whitby Hotel in Midtown. The Warren Street Hotel is Kemp’s first design collaboration on a new property with two of her three daughters, Minnie Kemp and Willow Kemp.
Set within a new 11-story building that replaced a car park, the hotel is a rich mash-up of international artists and artisans, local talent, and creations from Kemp’s own London-based design studio. I’m a longtime New Yorker who uses Firmdale’s Manhattan hotels as my own living room for meals and evening cocktails. (I’ve done the same at Kemp’s London hotels, including the flagship Ham Yard Hotel, where on-site amenities include a bowling alley). Whether I’m a guest or a local, I count on Firmdale when I need an intimate living room vibe that’s brimming with personality; to my delight, the new Warren Street Hotel has this in spades.
A bedroom at the Warren Street Hotel and the lobby
Photos by Simon Brown
Who’s it for?
In Tribeca, where hotels tend to gravitate toward sleek, neutral palettes, there’s nothing else that feels remotely like the Warren Street Hotel, with its bright colors and pattern-on-pattern aesthetic. With just 69 guest rooms, the hotel is best for travelers who like smaller boutique stays; those who prefer sprawling urban resorts with multiple restaurants and spas should stay elsewhere.
For example, there is no gym on site, although the hotel has a partnership with Nexus Club, an enormous high-end gym a five-minute walk away. (The staff give you a QR code for the gym at check-in.) There’s only one restaurant, but it transitions seamlessly from a breakfast nook in the morning into an atmospheric bar and dining room in the evening. The hotel has plenty of interconnecting guest rooms, making it especially suitable for families.
The location
In the Tribeca neighborhood on the border with the Financial District, the Warren Street Hotel offers guests access to the area’s vibrant restaurant and nightlife scene and charming cobblestone streets. It’s well-situated for those looking to explore lower Manhattan. The Hudson River Greenway and the Brooklyn Bridge are within easy reach by foot, and such famous neighborhoods as Chinatown and Little Italy are about a 20-minute walk away.
In Tribeca, there’s nothing else that feels remotely like the Warren Street Hotel, with its bright colors and pattern-on-pattern aesthetic.
The rooms
Each of the 69 guest rooms and suites is individually designed, some bathed in warmer reds and fuchsias, others dominated by soothing blues and pops of yellow. Many guest rooms are adjoining, ideal for multigenerational groups. (The three-bedroom Songbird Suite on the seventh floor is composed of two Warren Suites and a Junior Suite.) Two terrace suites have their own outdoor areas with green plants, and they’re connectable too.
In my one-bedroom suite on the 10th floor, I found a soothing study in greens that ranged from hyper-saturated lime and chartreuse to muted sage. Ample light filtered in from the floor-to-ceiling windows—double paned to keep city noises at a barely audible hum. The teal blue mullions of the exterior were also on display inside my room, adding uplifting extra color. Gazing out my windows, I found the view quintessential Manhattan: a mosaic of glass skyscrapers and lower-slung brick buildings.
A guest room at the Warren Street Hotel
Photo by Simon Brown
I spent a lot of time in my large, residential-feeling living room, with its striped wingback chairs, wavy yellow-and-green dressers, a tufted fabric sofa in green and white stripes, and cloth wall coverings designed with Kemp’s own nature-inspired motifs. A bouquet of fresh white chrysanthemums on the coffee table felt like an invitation to feel right at home, while a two-burner induction stove and a sink with a mini-fridge added to the residential feel. I couldn’t resist a bath one night in the deep soaking tub of my marble-clad bathroom, which is stocked with Kemp’s new Tall Trees amenities, an intoxicating blend of bergamot, citrus, vetiver, and patchouli made exclusively for the hotel.
All overnight visitors can use the guests-only drawing room on the lobby level as an extension of their living quarters. Here, an honesty bar allows guests to snack or sip drinks all day. Tufted sofas and wingback chairs—with stripes next to florals—surround a marble fireplace, while a restored old cupboard repainted by U.K.-based decorative artist Tess Newall stands against a wall. One of my favorite pieces in this room: wooden sculptures depicting famous explorers—among them Togo-born Tété-Michel Kpomassie and Britain’s Edith Durham—by Henry Neville Wood, an artist from the Isle of Man.
The food and drink
The Warren Bar and Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a cozy dining area with a separate orangery divided by glass doors and with ceramic pots backlit to dramatic effect in orange. I stopped in for an evening meal, and appreciated the menu, which has a global feel with occasional British inflections. (English pea soup, anyone?) Everything is served on fine bone china tableware called Tall Trees that Kemp created for Spode.
The terrace in suite 909 at the Warren Street Hotel has plenty of plants and skyscraper views.
Photo by Simon Brown
I was especially impressed with the expert preparation of fish, including my dish of grilled halibut with morels in a beurre blanc sauce, and the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside Ora King salmon that my dinner companion ordered. Our server sold us on the guava sorbet dessert; its refreshing flavors included a coconut crumble and passion fruit coulis. Between meals, as I like to do at Firmdale hotels, I met up with friends and colleagues in the convivial all-day space, sipping on ginger tea made with freshly chopped ginger as I chatted the afternoon away.
Staff and service
Service at the Warren Street Hotel is casual while remaining warm and attentive. The front desk staff felt genuinely interested in what my plans for the day were, while my servers at the restaurant and bar never made me feel rushed to order from the menu or free up my table.
Accessibility
The hotel’s accessible guest rooms are rooms 202, 206, 302, 402, 502, 602, and 703. They all have ADA-compliant door handles, wider entryways and bathroom doors, roll-in showers, and fixed strobe fire alarms.
Colors saturate the lobby and reception area of the Warren Street Hotel.
Photo by Simon Brown
An homage to art and craft
The entire hotel is an exuberant showcase of art and craft—much of which Kemp and her daughters commissioned for the hotel. I found myself constantly stopping as something new caught my eye. In the lobby, Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja, known for his unconventional use of materials, has a large multicolored wall hanging made of beads fashioned from paper. Nearby, Argentine artist Cristián Mohaded designed baskets that hang from the ceiling, while a Skipping Stone Table by designer Christopher Kurtz sits next to it, and flower arrangements by Lewis Miller Design top it. A voluptuous abstract sculpture made with veined black marble by British artist Tony Cragg stands prominently near reception. From $925
