Mandarin Oriental, New York

Manhattan

Manhattan is the economic, cultural and financial center of New York as well as the most visited by tourists. Famous for its immense buildings and its bustling activity, it has a huge number of very different neighborhoods often related to their ethnic reality like Chinatown or Little Italy, or by their geographical location. Thus the southern part of the island is Downtown which includes the famous financial district known simply as Wall Street, Chinatown, Soho, which stands for “south of Houston Street”, Tribeca and Chelsea. In the north of the city, Uptown groups the residential quarters like the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side.

In the heart of Manhattan island, between Union Square and Central Park South, midtown includes the business quarter, chic boutiques and department stores like the legendary Macy’s as well as the city’s tallest buildings. It’s also where Grand Central Station is located, the huge central railway station and Central Park with its miles of greenery in the center of the urban jungle. All of New York’s varied neighborhoods contribute to its diversity.

Chinatown has the largest concentration of Chinese in the western world. The Lower East side has become a trendy upscale quarter. Chelsea is known for its artistic life. The very wealthy Upper East Side is considered to be the most conservative, whereas the Upper West side is more or less intellectual. As for Times Square with its incredible energy and activity, its immense brightly lit advertising panels and its innumerable Broadway theatres, it is as emblematic to New York as the Champs-Elysées is to Paris.

Welcome to Largo Winchville

At the southeast corner of Central Park, where Broadway meets 8^th Avenue and the Park, on a huge plaza known as Columbus Circle, we see the two towers of the Time Warner Center. This complex consists of 229 meter twin towers connected by a vast commercial mall. It is also the site of the Mandarin Oriental New York. Sheltered from these large glass walls, the hotel occupies the 35^th to the 54^th floors of the building.

The Mandarin looks like something out of Largo Winch, the comic book character who is one of the richest men in the world. As is always the case at Mandarin hotels, the décor combines elements of its oriental heritage with those of the site where the hotel is located. Here, the style is 1940s New York urban chic with black, red, gray, cream, white and brown tones for the rooms, which harmonize perfectly with the Asian cherry wood furniture. The same atmosphere can be found in the suites although the colors change. The suites with a view of Central Park are in cream and brown with touches of green and gray and earth color, with touches of gold in the living room of the Taipan suite. One of the bedrooms is in dark red and gold and the other is somewhat colder in atmosphere with silver, teal blue and white. The entirety is punctuated with original works of art and oriental furniture which adds an Asian touch to the art deco style.

The Presidential suite on the top floor of the skyscraper is the perfect luxury retreat, with silk covered walls for the bedroom or wood paneling from Mozambique in the office, hand made oriental rugs and art objects from New York and the Orient. Largo seems to be expected at any moment!

A few floors below, the Asiate, decorated by the well known designer, Tony Chi, is one of the most popular restaurants in New York. Inspired by Central Park, which guests can see through the monumental bay windows, it is dominated by a sculpture in the form of a tree branch. It’s the ideal place for a late meal after spending a mad evening on Broadway.

Mandarin Oriental hotels are among the most expensive in the world. Two nights in the Mandarin Oriental New York’s Presidential suite for two people plus a private meeting with a fashion creator, plus a meeting with Nori Sugie, the Chef of the Asiate restaurant, plus a half-day of spa treatments costs approximately 40,000 dollars!