It isn’t a complete coincidence that the Library, a Manhattan boutique hotel, is located just a block away from the New York Public Library, since the latter served as a major source of inspiration. While that might sound unlikely given how regal the century-old Stephen A. Schwarzman-designed building is with its massive ceilings, grand chandeliers and stunning murals, the Library hotel’s vice-president of sales, Adele Milne, thinks otherwise. “This is a library-themed hotel but it isn’t your grandfather’s library,” she explains.
The story behind the property’s owner is certainly worthy of a novel though. In 1968, Henry Kallan emigrated from former, communist Czechoslovakia to the United States. “He was 21, didn’t speak English, and had nothing more than the proverbial twenty dollars in his pocket,” explains Milne. But Kallan was a hard worker and within six years, he had worked his way up from bus boy to general manager at the Gotham Hotel, which at the age of just 27 made him the youngest hotel manager in all of New York. Decades later, the Gotham became the Peninsula, while Kallan, who had long left the property to pursue the dream of managing his own hotel group, finally spotted a sliver of a vacant (office) building, a block from the New York Public Library. It may have been just 25 metres wide at street level but he saw the potential and purchased it. In 2000, Kallan opened it as the Library, creating a getaway for writers, readers, and those looking for a little oasis of literature and knowledge in the middle of Manhattan. Along the way, it has been nominated as one of the ‘Hottest New Hotels in the World’ by Condé Nast Traveler. Today, Kallan’s group has three boutique hotels in New York (the Giraffe, Casablanca and Elysée), as well as the music-themed Aria hotels in Budapest and Prague and a new one, Hotel X, will soon open in Toronto.
First impressions are good, as a helpful doorman welcomes us into the brownstone Gothic building. The Library's reception is classical and stylish with a cappuccino and cream colour scheme combined with wood panelled walls featuring – you guessed it – shelves and shelves of books. We are told there are over 6,000 titles scattered across the public and private spaces and the rooms on each floor are divided and categorised according to the Dewey Decimal system, a standardised library classification method, with themes that run the gamut from literature, philosophy and history to technology, religion, maths and science. Truth be told, the place has more of a clubhouse or private study feel than that of a library and despite the relatively limited size of the building, they have done their best to maximise the usage of the ‘club’ spaces. There’s the 24-hour Reading Room on the second floor, which is a dining room of sorts, equipped with hundreds of books where members of staff serve complimentary tea, coffee and cookies all day and at night break open the wine and cheese. On the 14th penthouse floor, there’s the rooftop Writer’s Den and Poetry Garden, which transforms into a cool bar at night, otherwise known as the Bookmarks Lounge. And finally on the ground floor, there’s an American Bistro, Madison & Vine, which isn't owned by the hotel but makes a nice addition to what’s on offer.
Our room, 400.005, is on the fourth floor, and rather appropriately themed ‘Middle Eastern Languages’. It’s a 350 USD a night deluxe king with an expansive desk and a large leather chair. In terms of space, it’s hardly the Four Seasons but then that one’s the exception to the rule in New York where everything is supersized, bar the hotel rooms. Still, with only six keys per floor, the rooms are quiet and homely and do a sterling job of imploring you to curl up with a good book. Speaking of which, there’s a wide spectrum of titles in 400.005, which range from political works by the former Jordanian foreign minister Marwan Al-Muasher to modern Egyptian literature and a large coffee table book on architecture in Isfahan. Even the bed kept to the literary theme, with a personalised embroidered pillow bearing the message: “Book Lovers Never Go to Bed Alone”.
At checkout, I take one last look at the Library’s catalogue behind the reception and its many library card drawers. Standing there admiring them, Faqir the bellboy, approaches me. “We give guests two chances to guess which of the drawers is real. If they guess correctly, their stay is free,” he says tongue in cheek. Given there must be no more than 300, I like my chances but before I could call his bluff, a New York cabbie starts honking furiously at my Uber driver waiting patiently outside. Faqir runs out to put the man in his place and as I observe his animated gesticulations, I suddenly see in him the essence of a Borges story and think how apt it was that the back of my keycard had a quote by the same Argentine novelist, saying: “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
In a sprawling metropolis where life is so fast-paced, where people browse pages of social media much more than they read volumes of published works, the unpretentious Library encourages you to slow down, if just for a while.
