Stay & Play

Hotel Giraffe: Boutique Hideaway in New York City

by Randy Mink

Maybe it’s the live orchids in the lobby lounge, the fresh green bamboo stalks in my guest room or simply the place’s name, but I immediately feel at peace after checking in to the Hotel Giraffe, a sleek and stylish sanctuary in New York City. Being a fan of history and architecture, I also like the landmarks that lie outside its doors.

Located at the corner of Park Avenue South and East 26th Street in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, between midtown and downtown, the 12-story boutique hotel stands in good company. Occupying a whole city block across Park Avenue is New York Life Insurance Company, its 40-story headquarters crowned by a gilded, pyramidal roof, a beacon on the city skyline since 1928.

My balconied room facing East 26th overlooked the site where Herman Melville, author of novels like Moby Dick and Billy Budd, lived from 1863-1891. A plaque on the site’s current building attests to that fact, and the corner street sign designates the intersection as Herman Melville Square.

What endears me most to the Hotel Giraffe is its high-ceilinged lounge paneled in blond wood and bordered by tall windows on two sides. Relaxing over breakfast or winding up the day with a drink, guests feel their cares lift away while seated at the dining tables or in the couches and easy chairs flanked by potted trees. Orchid plants, single orchids floating in silver teardrop vases, and lilies brimming from large vases lend a cheery floral touch. Shelves behind the service counter hold carved wooden African animals, and one wall sports a framed picture of a giraffe. The black baby grand piano adds a note of grandeur.

Guests visit the spacious lounge to help themselves to snacks (health bars and gourmet potato chips), fresh fruit, coffee, tea and soft drinks. Its breakfast bar offers pastries, yogurt, orange juice and hard-boiled eggs.
Like many hotel guest rooms in Manhattan, quarters are not huge, but an abundance of mirrors seems to enlarge the space. They covered two walls in my bathroom and were set into both sides of the closet’s wooden doors. A wood-framed mirror was mounted above the long granite-top workspace graced with potted bamboo, and mirrors surrounded the bar set-up atop the refrigerator.

The shelf above my ice bucket and wine glasses held four books, including Tall Blondes: A Book About Giraffes, which tells everything you ever wanted to know about the gawky but graceful creature. A six-foot-tall giraffe statue accents the hotel’s Rooftop Garden, a warm-weather gathering spot.

Happily, my go-to place for ethnic dining in New York is just a block away from the Hotel Giraffe. I am talking about a two-block stretch of Lexington Avenue called Curry Hill or Little India. There you’ll find a dozen simple eateries dishing up Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Nepalese specialties.

The 72-room Hotel Giraffe is part of the Library Hotel Collection, which includes three other Manhattan boutique properties, plus hotels in Toronto and Budapest.

www.libraryhotelcollection.com