A Look Inside The All-New Aman NYC
Sleeping tight at the dizzying heights of Aman's latest opening
Aman, in all its devilishly-detailed serenity, has arrived in New York City. Housed in Manhattan’s Art Deco Crown Building - through a transformation dreamed up by Jean Michel Gathy of design studio Denniston - the 83-suite hotel and its 22 residences combines the tranquility of Aman’s otherworldly rural retreats with the slick swagger of the city in which it resides. It is outbeating competitors on several levels including room size, amenities (cryotherapy in the spa) and price - night rates start at an eye-watering-for-most, $3,000.
“Following the success of the multi-award-winning Aman Tokyo, our strategy is to bring the coveted Aman lifestyle to urban destinations,” says Aman Chairman and CEO Vlad Doronin who purchased the Aman chain in 2014. “A milestone opening, Aman New York marks our greatest investment into a single destination to date. The hotel introduces an entirely new concept to the city through expansive and unmatched amenities, delivering a guest experience like no other,” he smiles of the promise.
A double-height atrium on the 14th floor provides a grand welcome, flanked by restaurants Arva, a convivial Italian, and Nama, an interpretation of Japan’s washoku dining tradition. Linking them is the wraparound Garden Terrace, lit with wood-burning fire pits in the evening, gushing with water features and planted with bonsai trees.
Aman is housed in Manhattan's Art Deco Crown Building
@amannewyork // Instagram
Natural textures and muted tones in a bedroom
@amannewyork // Instagram
Bedrooms bare a distinct Aman style, echoing the airy architecture of the brand’s Southeast Asian hotels with organic, natural materials and muted tones exuding a sense of balance and harmony. Each suite features a functioning fireplace to warm wintry nights. The prototype is in Amanpuri, the first Aman hotel in Phuket which hotelier owner Adrian Zecha opened in 1988, designed by architect Ed Tuttle. His vision of pared back luxury flew in the face of showy neoclassical hotels and over time the expanding group garnered loyalists including Bill Gates and latterly, Fendi’s Kim Jones.
Each suite also showcases a large-scale mural by contemporary Japanese artist Ryoko Adachi. Printed on delicate rice paper, the works are inspired by the 15th-century masterpiece Pine Trees (Shōrin-zu byōbu) by Hasegawa Tōhaku, appointed as a National Treasure in 1952.
No Aman would be complete without a spa. Covering three-storeys, New York’s version is centred by a 20-metre indoor swimming pool flanked by firepits and daybeds lit by the glow of magnificent copper light installations. For dedicated sybarites, two vast Spa Houses comprise double treatment rooms, Banya and Hammam spaces, and private outdoor terraces with hot and cold plunge pools that are also available for private hire.
