Phiip Hubert designed Chelsea hotel, the twelve-story red brick building in 1883. This hotel has its distinctive features ranging from the delicate flower ornamented iron balconies on its façade, to its grand staircase, which extends upward twelve floors. At the time of construction the building was the tallest in New York. The building first intended to be apart of “ Hubert Home Clubs” as housing for artists. However after a few years the Chelsea fell into bankrupt due to economic stress, suspicions of new Yorks middle class about apartment living, opening up of upper Manhattan and the plentiful supply of houses there and the relocation of the city’s theater district. 1905 Managed by Knott Hotels, the Chelsea reopened as a hotel in 1905, and continued to be passed down in the family hands of Joseph Gross, Julius Kraus and David Bard. For more present time news in 2011 the hotel was sold to Joseph Chetrit for $80 million. Since the hotel has been under Josephs control is has been under construction not allowing reservations for guests but long time residents remain in the building, some protected by state rent regulations. 2013 Ed scheetz became the owner of hotel Chelsea and plans to reopen in 2015.
Historic residents of Chelsea:
Literary artist: Mark Twain, O. Henry, Herbert Huncke, Dylan Thomas, Arthur C. Clarke, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Arnold Weinstein, Leonard Cohen, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Arthur Miller, Quentin Crisp, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac (who wrote On the Road there), Robert Hunter, Jack Gantos, Brendan Behan, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Thomas Wolfe, Charles Bukowski, Raymond Kennedy, Matthew Richardson, James T. Farrell, Valerie Solanas, Mary Cantwell, René Ricard. Charles R. Jackson, author of The Lost Weekend, committed suicide in his room on September 21, 1968.
Actors and film directors: Stanley Kubrick, Jonas Mekas (was long-time resident from 1967 to 1974), Shirley Clarke, Hal Miller, Mitch Hedberg, Dave Hill, Miloš Forman, Lillie Langtry, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Vincent Gallo, Patricia Chica, Maria Beatty, Eddie Izzard, Uma Thurman, Elliott Gould, Elaine Stritch, Michael Imperioli, Matt E. Novak, Jane Fonda, Russell Brand, Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer film star Baybi Day, Gaby Hoffmann and her mother, the Warhol film star Viva, and Edie Sedgwick
Musicians:
Much of Hotel Chelsea’s history has been colored by the musicians who have resided or visited there. Some of the most prominent names include Grateful Dead, Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Bobby “Werner” Strete, Mod Fun, Virgil Thomson, Chick Corea, Alexander Frey, Jeff Beck, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Mink DeVille, Phil Lynott, Paul Jones, Henri Chopin, John Cale, Édith Piaf, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, Alejandro Escovedo, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Walker, Canned Heat, Sid Vicious, J.D. Stooks, Vivian Stanshall, Richard Hell, Keith Grant, Jobriath Boone, Little Annie, Lotti Golden, Rufus Wainwright, Lance Loud, Abdullah Ibrahim/Sathima Bea Benjamin/Jean Grae, Vasant Rai, Jacques Labouchere, and Leonard Cohen. Madonna lived at the Chelsea in the early eighties, returning in 1992 to shoot photographs for her book, Sex, in room 822. Falco, Ryan Adams, The Libertines, The Fuse, Michael McDermott, Melissa Auf der Maur, Tim Freedman, and Anthony Kiedis have spent time at The Chelsea.[citation needed] Taylor Momsen’s band, the Pretty Reckless, did a photo shoot in room 822 of the Chelsea. British pop band La Roux shot the second version of the music video for their song “In for the Kill” at the Chelsea. The video for Dave Gahan’s solo single “Saw Something” was filmed in the hotel.
Visual artists: Robert Blackburn, Larry Rivers, Brett Whiteley, Christo, Arman, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel, Ching Ho Cheng, David Remfry, Philip Taaffe, Ralph Gibson, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Robert Crumb, Ellen Cantor, Jasper Johns, Edie Sedgwick, Claes Oldenburg, Vali Myers, Donald Baechler, Herbert Gentry, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lynne Drexler, Moses Soyer (who died there in 1974), Nora Sumberg and Henri Cartier-Bresson have all spent time at the hotel. Experimental film maker, and ethnomusicologist Harry Everett Smith lived and died in Room 328. The painter Alphaeus Philemon Cole lived there for 35 years until his death in 1988 at age 112.
Fashion designers: Charles James
Warhol Superstars: Hotel Chelsea is often associated with the Warhol superstars, as Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey directed Chelsea Girls (1966), a film about his Factory regulars and their lives at the hotel. Chelsea residents from the Warhol scene included Edie Sedgwick, Viva, Ultra Violet, Mary Woronov, Holly Woodlawn, Andrea Feldman, Nico, Paul America, René Ricard and Brigid Berlin.
Other: survivors of the titanic as it is a short distance from pier 54, the white star line dock where the titanic was supposed to dock. Sailors returning from duty in world war 1.
The hotel was also seen in many movies, shows, music ( songs and videos), and books.
