On December 1, Hilton Hotels & Resorts debuted its first Brooklyn hotel, according to a press release.
Located in Boerum Hill on a site that was formerly a rope factory in the 19th century, Hilton Brooklyn New York is also home to an on-site restaurant and bar, Black Walnut, which is helmed by celebrity chef Robert Newton.
Step into the Stonehill & Taylor-designed hotel, and you’ll almost be forgiven for thinking you can cast your line and start fishing. There’s a pervasive sea environment, purposely created to recreate the building’s past. Walk through the lobby on a herringbone marble floor that is crisscrossed with accents of black, burgundy, and saturated navy to resemble the sea. Brush aside the low millwork wall of rope that screens the reception and the lobby. Wheel your suitcases along corridors that are carpeted in warm rope motif. Within any of the 196 rooms and suites, guests will see the same navy carpeting with a beige, winding rope pattern. There are ivory walls, the color of caverns or starved rock, as well as rope-framed mirrors in the bathrooms. There's a mirrored triptych screen print with a Brooklyn Bridge marathon scene in the elevator lobby.
Corridors have vintage Brooklyn map prints. Guest rooms are understated and airy, with white linen walls, charcoal carpets with a cream knotted pattern, and walnut furniture with white beadboard trim. Beds have tall walnut headboards. An accent wall wrapping the outer corner is covered in a custom black-and-white toile pattern, composed of historically inspired nautical vignettes hand-drawn by designers at Stonehill & Taylor. The rooms are supposed to resemble yacht and ship interiors.
Still, guests will not forget that they're staying in Brooklyn, New York. The bar area, for one, has two metal-framed maps of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, which frame its nooky seating area. The map scenes, sketched by the designers at Stonehill & Taylor, were welded in a Brooklyn metal workshop, while the 68-seat restaurant is designed with black walnut-paneled walls, ivory marble floors, and polished benches.
New York’s shipping industry has all but vanished, and Hilton Brooklyn New York is the relic of that past.
Images courtesy of Hilton Brooklyn New York
