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With the opening of The
Mercer in downtown Manhattan, the SoHo loft has reached its Zen. The chic
serenity of the new small-scale hotel is drawing a stylish crowd even before the
room service is running and with the eat-in-the-kitchen restaurant still under
construction.
The 75-room hotel — a
long-awaited project from André Balazs (owner of Chateau Marmont, the stars'
Hollywood hangout) — gets its baptism by fashion on Tuesday, as Vogue and The
New Yorker hold a joint book party for the fashion illustrator and commentator
Michael Roberts.
But to appreciate the new
hotel's subtle and sumptuous take on loft life, you have to see the generous
bathrooms opening their folding doors into the airy living space and the beds
with their beige-toned linens blending with the wood-block floors.
This mellifluous minimalism
has been created by Christian Liaigre, a Paris-based furniture and interior
designer, whose noble, sculptured African-inspired stools and tables in wenge
and iroko woods furnish the hotel. The result is a marriage of Franco-American
style that seems both international and homey. Think of a bedroom where there
are three telephones (including a portable), a CD player and a lounge lizard's
lilac banquette — but also a foyer where guests are welcomed with artsy books
(the paintings of Alex Katz, the life of Paul McCartney and the art of Africa).
"There hasn't been a small
hotel built in New York since the Stanhope and the Carlyle in the 1920s," said Balazs, who took over in 1989 the six-story brick building that was built a
century earlier as offices for John Jacob Astor II.
Balazs, in his crisp white
shirt and beige chinos, color-coordinated to the tobacco-leather room divider
and the rough-weave duvet, seems like a fashion creature. Indeed, he is married
to Katie Ford, the president of Ford Models.
But The
Mercer has been an
exacting and demanding development, eight years in the making, as Balazs juggled
the investment finance and struggled to create the SoHo spirit of the hotel from
scratch while satisfying the historic landmark standards. That meant redefining
the back walls and restoring the metal grid that filters light into the basement
restaurant.
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The result might best be
described as a hotel for people who don't like hotels. Or, rather, for people
whose professions oblige them to be constantly on the move, but who yearn to
find a stylish place with no corporate conferences, tourist groups or soulless
high-tech gadgets.
"There are different kinds
of hotels," Balazs said tactfully. "Some provide spectacle, some the amusement
that Disneyland offers. Some hotels offer comfort, a warm embrace and make you
feel that you have finally arrived at home."
But was home ever as
perfect as this paradise of post-minimalism with its touches of mauve, yellow
and aqua among the pallid neutrals?
"It is sensual simplicity
as opposed to stark minimalism," said Balazs of Liaigre's design.
Why is the opening of a
small downtown New York hotel significant? In the world of interiors, it will
mark the moment when America gave its seal of approval to Liaigre.
It is also a seminal moment
in the hotel world, as a new generation demands a different kind of experience
from the bellhop, flunky and maître d'. Those snobby scenes in "Titanic"
highlight the fact that for modern-minded consumers, class-ridden service has
become a period piece.
"Very few people who travel
today have grown up with servants — most people aren't used to a white-gloved
doorman," explained Balazs. "I believe in traditional service — I don't hire
staff through a casting agency. But service should be understated, not thrust
upon you." - To some, the laid-back, designer-clad style police at the door are
just as intimidating as the old-fashioned flunkies. But Balazs has proved at
Chateau Marmont that from art directors through rock stars, the new fashionables
like informal luxury. The Mercer's rooms, priced from $295 for a basic room to
$1,500 for a suite, are designed to appeal to a similar in-crowd. How's the
fledgling hotel doing? Well, you can't yet get a cup of coffee, or an alcoholic
beverage. But Leonardo DiCaprio calls it his New York home away from home. And
where he lays his pretty head, fashionable folk will surely follow.
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