For his part, Schrager says he likes the architect not only because of his professionalism, but “because he can voice an opinion on the right color.” Even if the colors veer wildly from crème to caramel.įor this particular venture into the high end, Marriott took over one of the lesser-known architectural treasures of New York, the old Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (now known as the Clocktower) on the east side of Madison Square Park, at Madison Avenue and 24th Street.

Yes, there is the natural-wood-and-white Yotel near Times Square. Rockwell affably responds that he has designed a number of muted interiors.

The gimlet-eyed among us might remark that Marriott is to “luxury” what David Rockwell is to “understated”: the Rockwell Group is known for colorful, jazzy environments such as New York’s Tao Downtown restaurant, not to mention the steam-punkish stage set for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots and the bodacious backdrop for Hair Spray. Aiming for an “understated timeless aesthetic,” Ian Schrager Company enlisted the Rockwell Group to help with the interior design of the first Edition in Manhattan. The first opened in Waikiki, Hawaii, in 2010, and then came more Editions in Istanbul, London, and Miami Beach before arriving this spring in New York. So it was quite surprising when in 2007 Schrager began a partnership with the chain of chains Marriott International to create a global cluster of “modern luxury” Edition hotels. Since entrepreneur Ian Schrager opened the minimal-modern boutique hotel Morgans, in New York, in 1984, his slightly eccentric caravanseries have proved successful with a cosmopolitan crowd who spurn the conventional accommodations of U.S.

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