Hotel review: The Lowell, New York
Share:
Tucked discretely on the Upper East Side, a block from the park, The Lowell is where certain British toffs stay when they’re in town. . It’s immensely comfortable – heavy silk curtains, wingback armchairs, bookshelves with books about European ceramics on them – without being ostentatious. Actually, it feels less like a hotel in many ways and more like a very grand home, with bouquets of cream roses and orchids in decorative pots covering every flat surface.
Blessedly, it isn’t trying to be too modern – not everything in your room will be turned on by the press of a button and you won’t be kept awake at night by blinking lights on the ceiling. Instead, there are lamps which turn on the normal way, Frette linen, proper sized-baths and some rooms even come with a kitchenette, plus the world’s best-stocked mini bar: not just crisps and nuts, but multiple varieties of chocolate bar, negroni cocktail mix and three types of gin.
Depending on which rooms you’re in (there are 74), you may also be presented with a fireplace menu on check in. Would you like eucalyptus or rosemary oil on your fire? No problem. A uniformed member of staff will be up to light it in a second. Hotel rooms can be minuscule in Manhattan with barely enough room to take off your socks, but not here, and some of them come with balconies overlooking the city. Dogs are also welcome, and they offer a walking service if you’re too busy to nip the park with Fido.
Breakfast is served in The Pembroke Room, a reassuringly grand dining room where no detail is overlooked and the coffee genuinely outstanding. Would you like Tabasco with your easy over eggs? A dinky little bottle of the stuff will appear on your table as standard.
