THE MANNER | HOTEL
Photography: Chris Mottalini
Bas relief: Giovanni de Francesco | Sculptures: Nicholas Shurey
Ceramic columns / artwork: Ben Medansky
Ceiling / artwork: Alex Proba
Raising the Bar
John Wogan for Architectural Digest USA
John Wogan for Architectural Digest USA
Go big or go home. That was the directive given to Hannes Peer when designing The Manner, a new Manhattan hotel and the first outpost of an ultra-luxurious concept from the hospitality group Standard International. Working closely with Verena Haller, the brand’s chief design officer, the Milan-based architect took that mandate and ran with it—transforming an existing SoHo building into a bold oasis of glamour. The 97 guest rooms range from standard accommodations to a duplex penthouse, all sharing a visual language, with custom glass-and-steel chandeliers, warmcolor palettes, and lacquered headboards as common threads. Haller cheekily compares the accommodations to “your best friend’s home—but a best friend with exquisite taste.” Even in shared spaces, however, a sense of privacy abounds, as in The Apartment, the guest-only living room adjacent to Sloane’s, the discreet cocktail bar on the second level. “They’re an homage to the golden era of Milan,” Peer says of the interiors, which layer nods to several design heroes. “Gio Ponti, Carlo Mollino, the collective BBPR—they all experimented with materials and light. I wanted to translate that here.” Contemporary voices join the conversation. Whereas a ceramic wall installation by Giovanni De Francesco complements polished-wood totems by Nicholas Shurey in the lobby, a Renaissance-inspired mural by Elvira Solana dominates The Otter, the hotel’s ground-floor seafood restaurant. Corridors, meanwhile, reveal ceilings in abstract red-and-amber motifs by Alex Proba. “This project has been a dream come true,” says Peer. “I love telling stories, and with this hotel we were able to tell so many different stories at once.” themanner.com
This Buzzy New SoHo Hotel Is Like Staying at
Your Most Stylish Friend’s Home
Liam Hess for VOGUE USA
When walking down the leafy sidewalk of SoHo’s Thompson Street, it’s fairly easy to miss The Manner. Sure, the hotel is one of the neighborhood’s buzziest new openings in years, having recently hosted fashion week parties for Coach and Off-White (the latter even bringing Madonna through its doors) before it officially opened at the end of September. But to the average passerby—or even to me, when I pulled up to its entrance from the airport on an unseasonably warm afternoon earlier this month—it looks more like a ritzy apartment building from the outside than, well, a hotel. (There’s no big, flashy sign: just a discrete but smartly-dressed doorman or two, and a smattering of well-heeled guests sipping cocktails behind the bushes that surround the outdoor terrace.) For a hotel that’s already making a splash, the way it presents itself to the outside world seems remarkably restrained.
Once you step inside, however, you’ll quickly learn that “restrained” is not the operative word here—quite the opposite, in fact. Entering the lobby, your eye is led from the sleek golden fireplace across the lavishly marbled floors sliced into vaguely astrological patterns to a pair of globular totemic sculptures by the Danish artist Nicholas Shurey. Before I could gawp too long at the fabulously retro water feature by the check-in desk—with its diamond-shaped metal spouts and speckled granite panels, it could be straight out of a chichi office building in 1970s Milan—I’m quickly whisked up by one of the front desk staff (dressed in a sleek outfit designed by Michael Halpern, nonetheless) to my fifth-floor suite, a riot of color that comes together to form a strangely pleasing whole. Every wall is either mirrored or painted in an eye-popping shade of shiny, egg-yolk yellow, accented with glossy mahogany, hot red cabinets, and slivers of gold. Think Gio Ponti on acid, with a dash of classic New York, Studio 54-worthy glitz.
The interiors may be dazzling, but you can also chalk up the buzz surrounding The Manner to the pedigree of the team behind it: it marks the debut of a new brand from Standard International, the company behind The Standard and Bunkhouse Hotels, while the decor has been masterminded by the cult-favorite Milanese architect and interior designer Hannes Peer alongside The Standard’s chief design officer Verena Haller, and the culinary offering is overseen by James Beard nominee Alex Stupak. Even just a few weeks after opening, The Manner already has the rare thing that so many hotels profess to offer, but aren’t always able to achieve: the genuine feeling of being at a home away from home. Case in point? With credit card details and a passport being provided before your arrival, you’re simply whisked up to your room, and throughout the course of your stay, not a single bill will need to be presented to you or signed for. Just finish your meal and head back up to your suite for a nightcap whizzed up from your in-room cocktail bar, which can be furnished with the ingredients of your preferred potion on request.
A home away from home, sure, but to be a little more precise, it feels a little more like staying at the home of the most stylish person you know—and who also has the budget to realize their vision to its fullest actuality. (This might be Peer’s first hotel project, but you get the sense it won’t be his last—expect any number of other boutique luxury hotel brands to come knocking at his door after this.) There are those kaleidoscopic guest rooms, yes, but equally charming are the guest-only “apartment” areas—including a lush rooftop garden area that is set to open in 2025—that feel like your own private member’s club in the heart of the city.
On the second floor, a vast, light-filled space was once again packed with some seriously brilliant design details: a colossal central fireplace with a hood that seemed to hover from the ceiling like a spaceship, columns clad in funky ceramic tiles by the Los Angeles-based sculptor Ben Medansky, or the uber-cool squiggly smoked glass chandeliers that were designed by Peer himself. Yet while the interiors may be unapologetically hip, they don’t feel intimidating—partly thanks to the welcoming, informal additions of a large dining table laid out with snacks and soft drinks in case you need some sustenance while curling up in the window seat with a book, or you’re in town for work and need to take a more casual meeting with a client or collaborator. I asked, and if you’re a guest, the latter is actively encouraged—the energy really is that of a big communal living room.
And that’s without mentioning the food: thanks to Stupak’s clever instinct for blending the haute and the homey, The Manner seems well-placed to become a destination for locals as much as it is a spot for guests to enjoy some comfort food after a long flight. (As I did on my first evening, tucking into a late-night lobster roll, the crisp toasted brioche practically overflowing with the meat slathered in its zingy citrus mayonnaise—pure, decadent heaven.) The following evening, it was time to try out The Otter: the hotel’s flagship restaurant, decorated with a playful, Giorgio de Chirico-esque mural by artist Elvira Solana that wraps around the entire room. Here, the emphasis is on seafood, from satisfyingly plump prawns served with romesco sauce and alioli for their take on a classic shrimp cocktail, to the lip-smackingly fresh scallop crudo served in a pair of shells with complementary red and green chili sauces. The standout dish, however? Stupak’s riff on steak frites, with the beef here substituted for a hearty slab of swordfish, drenched in a sweet-and-sticky au poivre-inspired sauce and topped with a mound of herby shoestring fries that are best enjoyed when dipped in that very same jus. (What did I say about decadent?)
What is arguably most appealing about The Manner, though, is the sense it offers a little something for everyone. If you’re looking for a place to rest your head for a night or two in a prime location while zipping around the city for meetings (or hosting them at the hotel’s own “apartment”) then you’ve found just the place. Its striking and supremely glamorous penthouse apartment—all red lacquer, clean modernist lines, and more of those mirrored surfaces, the space was inspired by Halston’s iconic 1970s offices in Olympic Tower—can be both a place to kick back with a magazine by the travertine fireplace, enjoying its dramatic views across the city skyline, or alternatively a place to throw a hedonistic party worthy of Halston himself. One can already imagine the design-savvy A-list actors in town for a Broadway show or to shoot a film going at each other’s throats to secure their months-long slot here.
And if you’re simply just looking for a new local spot to enjoy a nightcap? The hotel has just opened its speakeasy-style cocktail bar, Sloane’s, which is tucked away in a corner of the second-floor “apartment” space and is intended to feel like a hidden gem. (With its emerald green velvet walls, gilded bar, and a plaster cast of a classical relief hanging on its back wall, it certainly feels like stepping into a kind of wunderkammer.) But as with everything else about The Manner, the intention is for you to feel immediately at ease: yes, you can order Champagne by the bottle or rare Japanese whiskies, but for bar snacks, the options include gourmet chicken nuggets and cottage fries with ranch sauce—served with dollops of caviar, should you so wish. It’s indulgent, but honestly: you’ll feel right at home.