Jumeirah Debuts In States

US$90 million renovation of Essex House references Art Deco history; hot restaurant creates buzz.

By Monica Rogers, Contributing Editor -- Hotels, 3/1/2008

It was triple jeopardy: Jumeirah’s first location in the United States had to be in New York, had to be iconic and had to show America what the company was all about. So when Midtown Manhattan’s landmark Essex House became available, Jumeirah snatched it up, pleased that the hotel’s art deco landmark status and plum location fit the bill. The question was, how would the Dubai-based company take the hotel, make it better and win the hearts of New Yorkers at the same time?

The US$90 million answer: Jumeirah Essex House is a renovation that respects Art Deco in its purest form, innovates with new technology in guestrooms, capitalizes on the hotel’s location at the south end of Central Park and makes a splash with a world-class restaurant.

Designer Hirsch/Bedner Associates referenced the few Art Deco details that had survived the hotel’s 75-year history. The lobby centerpiece, for example, is a Lalique-style glass and marble reception desk, backlit to show delicate fl oral etchings that were patterned after flowers on the original brass doors.

Art Deco floral patterns in carpets throughout the 44-fl oor hotel do double design duty by reinforcing the connection to Central Park—a strong secondary design theme throughout the property. Guest-level corridors, for example, feature lush custom wool carpets from Ireland decorated with a tumble of oversized, stylized roses in red and cream.

Guestrooms hark back to the late 1920s and early 1930s golden age of travel with wall-towall wood cabinetry in a honey-toned, bookmatched wood veneer, hammered nail studs on the white leather ottomans, and hand-stitched leather-wrapped hardware on the cabinetry. The effect is as vintage as a well-traveled Louis Vuitton train case.

Main lobby corridors feature black and tan marble floors, dark mahogany wall paneling and crystal chandeliers.

High-tech innovations include bedside touchscreen controls for setting temperature and lighting levels, choosing music and communicating with the front desk. A niche in the ostrichprint upholstered headboards allows for a splash of bright artwork, up-lit with a color-changing LED fi xture that modulates to create different moods. But guests’ favorite high-tech feature? When someone steps out of bed at night, motion sensors turn on subtle bedside LED lights that lead the way to the bathroom. The lights shut off when the guest climbs back in bed.

But perhaps most critical to the relaunch’s relevance is the restaurant, South Gate, featuring design by Tony Chi and Associates and a menu from Executive Chef Kerry Heffernan. It is all about the “buzz, buzz, buzz,” says designer William Paley. “This is not a passive environment.” Following Jumeirah’s wish to have a worldclass independent restaurant in the space, not a hotel restaurant, Chi gave South Gate its own entrance from the street: a celebratory 15-ft. (4.6-m) high box of Verre Eglomise glass, handgilded in a palladium-leaf pattern. Separated into two zones, South Gate has a dining and bar area at the front for lunch and dinner, and a patisserie section at the back for breakfast. Dominant design features include an enormous white-lacquered wine case which runs the length of the room. The fi replace at the back of the lunch and dinner section is the biggest in Manhattan.

All told, Jumeirah Essex House’s completed redesign positions the hotel as a contender for business from the neighborhood’s “big five” luxury hotels—the Peninsula, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental and the St. Regis—says General Manager Scott Dawson. “In comparison, we are a value proposition,” he says, adding that for 2008 average rates at Jumeirah Essex House are at US$500, with occupancy approaching 80%. “We are moving share from those hotels, and others,” Dawson concludes.

Suites and guestrooms have a 1930s travel theme.	Lush, guest-level corridor carpets are custom-made in Ireland, decorated with a tumble of oversized, stylized roses in red and cream. Lower wall panels are wrapped in leather.
Telescopes in rooms and real-time images of the park fed from roof-mounted cameras onto wall-mounted televisions reinforce the message.	Custom wood cabinetry and amber-colored, art-glass vessel sinks update bathrooms.
The Tony Chi-designed restaurant South Gate features lustrous, leather-topped tables and upholstery beneath eye-catching, fractured-mirror glass walls.	The lobby centerpiece is a Lalique-style glass and marble reception desk, backlit to show delicate floral etchings patterned after flowers in original art deco brass doors.