The old is always the new. And that iconic beacon of culture the Mercer Hotel in SoHo, New York knows this best. In a world where there are too many screens, too many digital moments, and endless impersonal emails, The Mercer is offering us old-world charm, not least in the form of its first-ever library, in collaboration with Dashwood Books.
As a property – in a landmark Romanesque revival building – the hotel is embracing little touches from the old world, and exploring what analogue looks like. The Mercer has opted to return to real room keys that have weight in the hand, and handwritten notes with fresh flowers to delight guests.
Most wondrously, there are no iPads and extra screens in the rooms complicating the simplest tasks. Even their iconic clock with hands, and their new bees on the hotel rooftop feel like a hankering for the wholesome and the more natural.
Room keys at the front desk
The Mercer hotel’s library curated by Dashwood Books
One of the hotel’s most incredible feats is its new private library, with floor-to-ceiling mahogany bookshelves curated by Dashwood Books and tended weekly. The choice of Dashwood Books was easy – a neighbourhood institution just three blocks away, it is known for equipping Gucci’s nearby 63 Wooster Street bookstore with some 2,000 titles, and curating many private collections.
‘I opened my specialty store 17 years ago now, inspired by the Japanese book culture, where they honour and respect books above all,’ says David Strettel, photographer and owner of Dashwood Books.
‘People respond to art books – they have a visceral reaction to the amalgam of good design and well thought-out content. I wanted to offer that to the guests of the hotel; they can peruse a carefully selected reference library in the lobby (or in the suites) and have a feeling of home away from home,’ Strettel adds.
He brings in a variety of books – ranging from vintage design and photography titles to rare books imported from Japan, and others by independent European publishers that just won’t sell elsewhere. You may find yourself enjoying a cup of tea and thumbing through Money by Prill Vieceli Cremers, Red Flower, The Women of Okinawa by Mao Ishikawa, or Annebella Pollen’s The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift.
Besides the highly specialised and unique books, the hotel is also buying up independent magazines, so that guests can sit, order a cocktail and page away – just another touch of tactile nostalgia. These crucial and beautiful analogue moments are for putting down the phone, sitting quietly and meditating on all this book beauty.
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Didn't make it to Alcova Miami this year? These are our 10 favourite thingsAt the third US edition of the exhibition, designers reinterpreted ancient traditions, artfully refracted light and encouraged sexual exploration
-
Inside the Melbourne exhibition which puts fashion renegades Rei Kawakubo and Vivienne Westwood in conversation‘Westwood Kawakubo’ at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne draws on the designers’ shared ‘spirit of rebellion’, curators Katie Somerville and Danielle Whitfield tell Wallpaper*
-
The W New York, Union Square gets a grown-up revamp by Rockwell GroupThe noughties hotspot has reopened with a more mature – yet never muted –new look. Wallpaper* checks in
-
An around-the-world art tour with RosewoodFrom London to New York, Amsterdam and São Paulo, the hotel group showcases curated art that reflects the unique local context
-
At Café Zaffri in New York, history is served with a rebellious streakThe team behind Raf's unveils a new Union Square haunt that dishes up redefined Levantine cuisine in a reimagined Old New York dining room
-
Faena New York just landed in the Big Apple – and it's an excuse for a good timeArgentine hotelier Alan Faena’s first New York address serves up high-octane hospitality with a dash of leopard print
-
At Duryea’s Sunset Cottages in The Hamptons, it’s all about stillness and open horizonsA beloved Hampton restaurant becomes a tucked-away retreat set on a windswept bluff above Fort Pond Bay in Montauk
-
A24 just opened a restaurant in New York, and it’s as cinematic as you’d expectHidden in the West Village, Wild Cherry pairs a moody, arthouse sensibility with a supper-style menu devised by the team behind Frenchette
-
Size doesn’t matter at Now Now, a micro-hotel for solo travellers in New YorkCan you pack style into 32 square feet? We find out
-
The best New York rooftop bars that go above and beyondFrom the West Side to Williamsburg, these are the very best watering holes for good booze, stylish patios and even better views
