Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Refinery Hotel Opens in Former Midtown Hat Factory

 The Refinery Hotel on West 38th Street in Midtown opened in May 2013. The 200-room boutique includes a restaurant and lounges on the groundfloor and rooftop.
Refinery Hotel Opens in Midtown
View Full Caption

MIDTOWN — Hats off to Midtown's newest boutique hotel.

The Refinery Hotel, located in a former millinery, has opened on West 38th Street near Sixth Avenue. With Singer sewing-machine style desks in each room, hat-making tools lining the lobby walls, exposed ceilings and a lobby lined in limestone tile, the 200-room destination harkens to its Garment District past while retaining a feel of Midtown luxury.

"The name is a play on the words refinery and refined," marketing director Manya Duhoffmann said, referring to the hotel's mixture of blue-collar design features and starched white cotton amenities. "With the hats and the tea salon, it refers to its history, but it's a place that's refined, too."

The hotel includes Parker & Quinn restaurant, which officially opened for dinner Tuesday night, as well as Winnie's Tea Lounge, a ground-floor bar named for a Prohibition-era speakeasy that once served cocktails in teacups. A rooftop lounge with a retractable roof is set to open this summer.

The restaurant, outfitted with a large marble-topped bar, black-and-white tile floors and liquor lockers for regulars, features a range of cocktails and small plates, plus entree staples such as hanger steak, duck confit and striped bass. It's owned by In Good Company Hospitality, the team behind Park Avenue Tavern, Yorkville Creperie, Libation and three other eateries in New York City.

"The idea was to be a little bit different from the hotel," partner Terence Tubridy said. "The hotel's design is light, it has clean lines. Here, you walk in from the hotel lobby, you're almost walking through our kitchen. It's supposed to be a feeling of, 'Am I even supposed to be back here?'"

Parker & Quinn will expand its service to include breakfast and lunch later this week, Tubridy said.

The rooftop lounge will feature a large bar and views of the Empire State Building. Duhoffmann emphasized that although the venue will be open year-round, it will not become a raucous open-air party scene.

"It has a nice giant bar, but it's not going to be a crazy party," she said. "I'm selling this as a corporate hotel or a place where people can bring families, so even I don't want that."

Rooms at the Refinery, which opened last month, start at about $300.