From the Archives: The Library Hotel

Originally published on Travel Books and Movies in 2015.) Any fan of books will be a fan of The Library Hotel.  Located on Madison Avenue and 41st Street in New York City, The Library Hotel is just that—a hotel with a library theme (and it’s located within walking distance of The New York Public Library, of course).

The hotel boasts more than 6,000 hardcover books for its guests to explore, a daily wine and cheese reception, access to a health club, and award-winning customer service.

Just like any library, this hotel is based on the Dewey Decimal System.  Each of the ten guest floors is associated with one of the ten categories in the system: Social Sciences, Literature, Languages, History, Math & Science, General Knowledge, Technology, Philosophy, The Arts, and Religion.  And the six rooms on each floor are further broken by topic, so on the eighth floor (Literature), the following rooms are available:

• 800.006 Mystery
• 800.005 Fairy Tales
• 800.004 Dramatic Literature
• 800.003 Poetry
• 800.002 Classic Fiction
• 800.001 Erotic Literature

Within each room, guests will find unique decorations and, of course, a collection of books that belong in that subject.

How fun does that sound?

The hotel offers even more book-related amenities:

• The Reading Room—open 24 hours, it’s a place for guests to relax with a book of their choice and complimentary breakfast in the morning and prosecco, wine, and snacks in the evening
• The Writer’s Den and Poetry Garden—a rooftop terrace with views of New York City that offers a fireplace and a green house, in the evening it becomes…
• Bookmarks Lounge—a trendy cocktail lounge serving literary-themed cocktails, such as the Hemingway made with rum, champagne, and mint
• DVD Rental Library—for the movie lovers, the hotel also offers a rental library that includes the American Film Institute’s Top 100 films

The Library Hotel is not a hotel for the budget traveler, but it is a hotel for literary traveler—make reservations soon!