Best place to live as a starving artist
Jumeirah Essex House
160 Central Park South
New York City
212-247-0300; jumeirahessexhouse.com
Even with moderate success, the life of an artist ain’t always easy ...
unless you’re plucked by the Jumeirah Essex House’s new Artist
In Residence program. The hotel, built in 1931 and on the edge
of Central Park South, has long used its lush green environs as a
source of inspiration and respite for its guests. Now, the hotel is
inviting a few handpicked artists to come and experience the hotel
in a new way—by shacking up at the Essex House while creating
original artworks—inspired by the Park and this historic landmark—
to be showcased in the hotel’s newly made-over lobby gallery.
Created by in-house curator Katherine Gass, this uncommon program offers photographers, painters and other creatives a chance
to experience Central Park and its particular urban elegance and
express it in a whole new way ... really makes those crumbling lofts
seem way under par.
Rooms from $339
Best destination for the
historically obsessed
The Liberty Hotel
215 Charles St.
Boston
617-224-4000; libertyhotel.com
History buffs will be intrigued to hear
that the newly opened Liberty Hotel
takes up residence in the city’s former
jail—originally built in 1851, the Boston
Granite Style building fell into disrepair
in the ’70s, after more than 100 years of
housing some of the area’s most-talked-about criminals. After several years of
painstaking renovations, this landmark
building has emerged anew, offering
sleek, refined rooms with plenty more
modern-day frills than in its former
incarnation. But despite the gorgeous
views, flat-screen TVs and Molton
Brown bathroom goodies, The Liberty
has preserved the wrought-iron bars on
the windows ... not that anyone would
want to escape from this little Charles
Street paradise. Rooms from $300
