At
the time of its construction between 1883 and 1885, the Hotel Chelsea
(otherwise known as the Chelsea Hotel, or simply The Chelsea) was the tallest
building in Manhattan. At only twelve
storeys high, it didn’t take long for other buildings in Manhattan to surpass
it, but what the hotel lacks in elevation it more than makes up for in
pedigree and drama.
Located West 23rd
Street, the hotel contains 250 apartments and over the years has been home to
some big names including Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Arthur
Miller, Iggy Pop, and Jane Fonda.
Not all visitors to the hotel left warm and vertical though. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas expired from
alcoholism/pneumonia there in 1953, and Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sex
Pistols bassist Sid Vicious was stabbed to death there in 1978 (and he was
later charged with her murder).
Less
tragically though, the painter Alphaeus Philemon Cole lived at The Chelsea for
35 years until his death in 1988, at the grand old age of 112. Bravo, sir!
The hotel closed for renovations in 2011 and while it no longer accepts
new long-term leases, the building is still home to many residents who lived
there before the rental policy changed.
Architecturally the hotel is known for its delicate ironwork balconies
outside, and its grand staircase and artworks inside.
If The Chelsea’s walls could talk, they’d probably
tell stories of brave Titanic survivors, and returning WWI soldiers, who had
emergency housing there when they got back to New York. Or perhaps stories of Andy Warhol’s Factory
regulars, who holed up at the Hotel to sleep off the effects of the night
before.
And the hotel is widely regarded
to be one of the most haunted places in New York, leaving even former resident
Janis Joplin to admit, “a lot of funky things happen in The Chelsea”.
