Sofitel New York is a boutique

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

on West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, owned and managed by the

Sofitel Sofitel Hotels & Resorts are a French hotel chain of luxury hotels based in Paris, France, and owned by Accor since 1980. Founded in 1964 in France, Sofitel quickly developed worldwide to reach more than 200 properties. In 2008, Sofitel became ...

corporation. It is two blocks north of Bryant Park and the New York Public Library Main Branch and next to the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

. The hotel is inspired by French traditions in furnishings and theme, and the hotel staff are bilingual in French and English. Completed in 2000, the limestone and glass building is tall with 30 stories and 398 guest rooms.

History

Construction on the hotel began in 1997, and it opened in 2000. The

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

(IMF) was reportedly responsible for funding the project after a design by Brennan Beer Gorman was chosen in an architectural competition which included entries from architects such as Michael Graves & Associates. After construction the building was awarded the 2000

Emporis Skyscraper Award The Emporis Skyscraper Award was an award for architectural excellence regarding the design of buildings and their functionality. The award was presented annually by Emporis, a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany ...

Strauss-Kahn rape allegation

On May 14, 2011, a 32-year-old housekeeper at the hotel, Nafissatou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, alleged that IMF Managing Director

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist P ...

raped her in his hotel room. She had walked into his room as he was having a shower although he had not yet checked out. Strauss-Kahn was at a New York airport where his plane was ready to take off when airport police asked that the plane be stopped a few minutes before takeoff. He was escorted off the plane and placed under arrest. The criminal case was dismissed and he settled out of court with his accuser in a civil case.

Architecture

The hotel is tall with 30 floors and has 398 luxury guest rooms including 52 suites. The architectural design by Brennan Beer Gorman features

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

, with a T-shaped base. The facade was architecturally inspired by Parisian Moderne limestone buildings. The facade is bronze and depicts three flying geese above in a large portal. DeSimone Consulting Engineers were the structural engineers for the building.

Ground floor

The ground floor contains the French restaurant ''Gaby'' and a gift shop selling French perfumery and cosmetics. ''Gaby'' is

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

inspired and is overlooked by head chef Sylvain Harribey. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' describes the hotel's front desk as being positioned on the opposite end of the lobby, "which gives the entrance a serene quality". The hotel staff are bilingual in French and English. The lobby contains a double-height rotunda at its center, which has a wooden sculpture, a

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

-themed mural, and a round staircase. The hotel contains a Grand Ballroom with 2.5-story windows and 8 meeting rooms with a capacity of 10 to 60 people.

Rooms

Frommer's describes the hotel rooms as "spacious and ultra-comfortable, adorned with art from New York and Paris". The rooms also have king beds; bathrooms with showers and tubs; and soundproof walls and windows. The majority of the beds are cream or white or white with maroon trimmings and feature large paintings above the headboards. The bathrooms have Roger & Gallet bath amenities.

References

External links

* {{Hotels in New York City Hotels in Manhattan Hotels established in 2000 Sofitel Midtown Manhattan