St.Regis New York

A major highlight of my SS 2017 NYFW was a stay at the St. Regis New York.  I stayed in the Bentley Suite, and it was fantastic!  It was extremely spacious, with a super big bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and living room.  The suite had 2 bathrooms, and my “master” bathroom had separate shower and tub.  Besides the luxurious size of the suite, everything in it was of obvious high quality. This is not typically the type of accommodation where I stay, but it was memorable and wonderful.  I felt like a queen there!

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The St. Regis Hotel New York is not only luxurious, but also quite historic and interesting.  The hotel was originally completed as the Hotel Astoria in 1904, built by John Jacob Astor IV.   The construction cost over $5.5 million dollars at that time, an unheard-of sum at the time.  It’s hard to imagine how much it would cost to build the same hotel on the same location today — hundreds of millions of dollars, at least! Mr. Astor truly spared no expense in the furnishings, such as marble floors and hallways from the quarries of Caen, Louis XV furniture from France, Waterford crystal chandeliers, antique tapestries and oriental rugs, a library full of 3,000 leather-bound, gold-tooled books. He had installed two beautiful burnished bronze entrance doors, rare wood paneling, great marble fireplaces, ornamental ceilings and a telephone in every room, which was unusual at the time.

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Once you are inside the hotel, you can feel the amazing history, and every part is breathtaking.  Even if you are not staying at the hotel, I would highly recommend having a meal there just to take in the views while you dine.  And to soak in the luxury and history, of course.  (I must add that somehow it feels very good to be in such a famous and elegant place.)

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The St. Regis New York is a Forbes five-star, AAA five-diamond luxury hotel in Manhattan.  It is located at 2 East 55th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues, with an entrance on Fifth Avenue.

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If you like stories that are romantic and tragic at the same time, here is a footnote about the history attached to the hotel.  The builder, Mr. Astor, was one of the richest men in the world, and in 1911, at age 47, he married for the second time, to Madeleine Talmage Force, the 18-year old daughter of a powerful New York socialite family.  The newlyweds went on a long honeymoon to Europe, and the new Mrs. Astor became pregnant.  Fatefully, they decided to return home, and booked first-class passage  on the maiden voyage of the “unsinkable” H.M.S. Titanic.  We all know that the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank quickly on that voyage, and many lives were lost.  In fact, Mr. Astor put his pregnant young wife and her nurse into a lifeboat, and then he stood back to watch them leave him on deck.  Mr. Astor was last seen alive, smoking a cigarette on deck; his body was recovered a week after the ship went down.   His bride survived and gave birth to their son.  I personally think that real story is even more touching than the fictional story from the movie Titanic.

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I give special thanks to St. Regis New York for being a great host while I was in NY for the NYFW.