Library Hotel

Profile

Opened in 2000, the Library Hotel caters to the leisure/business traveler hungry for a little culture and coziness. Oversize books line the lobby wall, where guests can bone up on Winston Churchill’s collected writings or the paintings of Francis Bacon while waiting for a cab. The literary theme continues in the rooms, named according to the Dewey Decimal Classification, with headings like Languages, Math and Science or Literature. Inside are books to match, and the photographs above the headboards reflect the category, too: famous people in the Biography Rooms, ancient Greeks in Philosophy. The décor is your standard modern beige-and-sage, though the polished granite desks stand out. The top floor houses the poetry garden and the writers’ den, both with balconies, and on the second floor is the reading room—complete with its own concierge, in case you decide to abandon your novel in favor of a Broadway show. — Lisa Selin Davis

More character than the average midtown hotel. You have a stash of books should the weather keep you marooned inside.

Cons
It's sandwiched between high rises, so the rooms tend to be a bit dark.