A New Kind of Hotel, Featuring a Proper Penthouse… SIREN HOTEL, The Wall... · A New Kind of...
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A New Kind of Hotel, Featuring a Proper Penthouse—and Bunk Beds Development and design firm ASH NYC builds its portfolio with a new Detroit hotel, another in progress in New Orleans and a furniture line By Howie Kahn Jan. 23, 2017 FOUR YEARS AGO, Will Cooper, Ari Heckman and their Brooklyn-based design and development firm, ASH NYC, purchased the Wurlitzer Building in Detroit for just over $1 million. Completed in 1926, it was originally home to musical equipment showrooms and studio space for musicians. By the time ASH came along, though, the 55,000-square-foot, 14-story Renaissance Revival structure was in total disrepair. “Most people would have demolished it,” Heckman says. Instead, ASH saw its potential. e firm already had experience resurrecting old buildings, having made its first foray into hospitality in 2014 with the 52-room Dean Hotel, a rehabilitated brothel in Providence, Rhode Island. STAY COOL A guest room at the Siren Hotel, ASH NYC’s new property in Detroit’s historic Wurlitzer Building. PHOTO: CHRISTIAN HARDER
Transcript of A New Kind of Hotel, Featuring a Proper Penthouse… SIREN HOTEL, The Wall... · A New Kind of...
A New Kind of Hotel, Featuring a Proper Penthouse—and Bunk BedsDevelopment and design firm ASH NYC builds its portfolio with a new Detroit
hotel, another in progress in New Orleans and a furniture lineBy Howie Kahn Jan. 23, 2017
FOUR YEARS AGO, Will Cooper, Ari Heckman and their Brooklyn-based design and development firm, ASH NYC, purchased the Wurlitzer Building in Detroit for just over $1 million. Completed in 1926, it was originally home to musical equipment showrooms and studio space for musicians. By the time ASH came along, though, the 55,000-square-foot,
14-story Renaissance Revival structure was in total disrepair. “Most people would have demolished it,” Heckman says.
Instead, ASH saw its potential. The firm already had experience resurrecting old buildings, having made its first foray into hospitality in 2014 with the 52-room Dean Hotel, a rehabilitated brothel in Providence, Rhode Island.
STAY COOL A guest room at the Siren Hotel, ASH NYC’s new property in Detroit’s historic Wurlitzer Building. PHOTO: CHRISTIAN HARDER
After falling in love with Detroit, the team then set about transforming the Wurlitzer into the Siren Hotel, which opened in late January. “We wanted to create a direct pathway to the bygone glamour of the city,” Cooper says, noting that Detroit was once called “the Paris of the Midwest.”
The 106-room property features nine room types, from bunk-bed options to a proper penthouse. “It’s not exactly boutique or luxury,” Heckman says. “It’s this original category in between.”
Cooper details the painstaking renovation. For example, he notes, “We recast all the original terra-cotta reliefs on the exterior.” The lobby’s 92-year-old travertine floor is complemented by new Milanese-inspired millwork made by Detroit-based firm Ganas and covered in pistachio-green automotive paint.
Off the lobby is the Candy Bar, an all-pink jewel box of a cocktail lounge. The eight-seat Albena serves a nightly tasting menu, while Karl’s offers more casual all-day dining.
Both the Siren and ASH’s next hotel, currently under construction in a former rectory and convent in New Orleans, will feature the group’s own WC Collection furniture line, which goes on sale through the ASH NYC website in February. Every piece is made by a single furniture maker in Montana. Cooper sees the collection as an important linking idea: “Through furniture we can carry a language through all our properties.” ashnyc.com .
Top: A guest bathroom at the Siren Hotel, ASH NYC’s new property in Detroit’s historic Wurlitzer Building. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN HARDER
Right: The site of ASH NYC’s next hotel opening, in New Orleans. PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SEXTON
Clockwise from left: The façade of Detroit’s historic Wurlitzer building, now home to the Siren hotel.
The ASH NYC team in front of the Siren’s reception desk. From left: Jonathan Minkoff, chief financial officer; Jenna Goldman, director of development; Will Cooper, chief creative officer; Ari Heckman, chief executive officer.
The hotel’s Populace café, with co-owner Andrew Heppner behind the counter.
A table and stools from the ASH NYC’s WC Collection line.
A daybed from the company’s WC Collection furniture line.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN HARDER
