Library Hotel, a Gothic Revival sliver on Madison Avenue at E 41st Street, stands out. Literally. The building’s distinctive copper-skinned bay windows project out from the building line, so occupants can look straight up Madison Avenue.
Built in 1913, the 12-story office building was originally headquarters of the Fred F. French company, a vertically-integrated real estate/architectural/construction firm. French eventually moved to Fifth Avenue and the character (and number) of tenants at 299 Madison changed over the years, until it lay vacant in the 1990s.
In 1999 new owners converted the offices into a library-themed boutique hotel – somehow fitting six rooms into each 25-by-100-foot floor. Stephen B. Jacob Group was the conversion architect.
Library Hotel Vital Statistics
- Location: 299 Madison Avenue at E 41st Street
- Year completed: 1913
- Architect: Hill & Stout
- Floors: 12
- Style: Gothic Revival
Library Hotel Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry
- The New York Times Streetscapes / Readers’ Questions; Two Buildings With Unusual Touches, and Histories (December 6, 1998)
- The New York Times Converting Madison Ave. Offices to a Boutique Hotel; A 60-Room Luxury Library (April 25, 1999)
- Daytonian in Manhattan blog
- Library Hotel website
- American Library Association website
- Stephen B. Jacobs Group (conversion architects) website