Kit Kemp | Every Room Tells A Story: Crosby Street Hotel

“The hotel has settled into its space like someone settling into a very comfortable armchair and in that way it looks like the art is a part of the place, rather than a gallery or somewhere where you stand, walk around and go out. It’s actually a home, and it’s a home from home, and that’s how the art should look within a hotel.” – Kit Kemp

Already firm fans of the Firmdale hotels, we are now even more in love. The Firmdale Founder and Creative director Kit Kemp and her team have put together a series of films called ‘Every Room Tells A Story’ with the most recent focussing on art at the Crosby Street Hotel.

To give you a little background, the Crosby Street Hotel is situated on a serene cobbled street in the heart of New York’s vibrant SoHo neighbourhood. Fun Fact: If you didn’t already know, SoHo stands for south of Houston and it was the first neighbourhood in NYC to be an acronym. The hotel offers a total of 86 bedrooms and suites over 11 floors all designed in Kit Kemp’s fresh, contemporary style. The facilities include the Crosby bar (pictured above), a private garden, guest drawing room, private event rooms and a fully equipped gym.

The short film on the Crosby Street Hotel talks you through some of the best pieces on display in key parts of the hotel and why they were chosen. The thought process behind this was why keep art behind closed doors?  If all the best pieces were in the bedrooms no one would every really see it and appreciate it. So Kit Kemp opted for the most important pieces to be places in key parts of the hotel for all to enjoy.

Crosby the cat (Botero) is the perfect example of pieces to be enjoyed. He is ‘New York Sized’ and has become an important landmark in his own right loved by visitors and locals alike.

Another thing synonymous with the Crosby Street Hotel are dogs. Kit Kemp came to realise that New Yorkers absolutely love their dogs and you can see both sculptures and paintings that reflect this throughout the hotel.

Pieces by Peter Clarke who creates beautiful pieces from scrap paper etc can be found scattered as you explore the hotel but our favourite’s are found in the drawing room. Here you will discover two paintings by François Bard, the first that you see is François’s dog Simone (a Jack Russell Terrier) and her friend which is located nearby. Kit Kemp really wanted the drawing room to be a calm peaceful place and these paintings most definitely reflect that.

You can view the video and discover more on the Crosby Street Hotel’s artworks with Kit Kemp here, and for the full list of videos take a look here. Or of course if you are planning a trip to New York in the future discover more about the hotel here.

Images: Simon Brown