Long awaited and much buzzed about, the Morgan Hotel Group’s first Mondrian property in New York finally made its debut on March 1. In SoHo, just one block east of the busy streets of Broadway, the 270-room Mondrian SoHo joins the Mondrian in Los Angeles and Mondrian South Beach in the hospitality company's portfolio of design-minded boutiques and carries the same artsy sensibility as its sister properties.
Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz is the designer behind the look of the New York location and drew inspiration from Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film La Belle et la Bête—the romantic French fantasy also known as Beauty and the Beast—to decorate the hotel's spaces, which include a spacious lobby, a sustainable seafood restaurant from chef Sam Talbot, a garden, and a 25th-floor penthouse.
Sporting powder-blue accents that contrast with pale oak flooring and soft beige walls, the lobby of the Mondrian SoHo sits on the ground floor and is furnished with a selection of custom armchairs, couches, lamps, and tables. Just off this space is Imperial No. 9, the 150-seat restaurant serving former Top Chef contestant Talbot's menu. In here, Noriega-Ortiz's fantasy-style setting continues with whitewashed oak, antique mirrors, delicate crystal chandeliers, and a mirror-topped communal table. An adjacent glass-enclosed garden is decorated with ficus trees, a potting-shed-like bar, potted plants, and a glass sculpture designed by artist Beth Lipman; the garden has seating, as well.
In addition to the loftlike rooms, the hotel has a penthouse and dedicated meeting space, which it offers for private functions. The top-floor suite measures 1,170 square feet and comes with two terraces—one 200-square-foot north-facing deck and a 2,000-square-foot south-facing one. The gallery consists of an 1,100-square-foot room and a 1,400-square-foot terrace; the entire space holds about 250 people for receptions.
