Editing Hotel Chelsea (section)

=== Critical reception ===

==== Cultural commentary ====
''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine characterized the hotel in 1964 as "New York's most illustrious third-rate hotel";<ref name="Cheshes 2022a" /> the same year, ''The New York Times'' described the Chelsea Hotel as having "long represented the cultural mood that is now spreading through the West 20s".<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1964 |title=Culture Breathing New Life Into Old Neighborhood; Chelsea Reviving an Elegant Past; Culture and Renovation Are Changing a Neighborhood of Rundown Tenements |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/16/archives/culture-breathing-new-life-into-old-neighborhood-chelsea-reviving-a.html |access-date=October 17, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021222922/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/16/archives/culture-breathing-new-life-into-old-neighborhood-chelsea-reviving-a.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Another journalist called the hotel in 1965 an "Ellis Island of the avant-garde".<ref name="Cheshes 2022" /> A ''[[Boston Globe]]'' reporter said that, while the hotel was internally known as an artists' residence, "those on the outside are confused by the names and the rococo facade of stories that have dragged the Chelsea down like an old roue to the bottom of history".<ref name="West 1968" /> Donna Hilts of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote in 1975 that "the beatnik '50s, the hip '60s, the freaky '70s—each found a way of appreciating the freedom, the tradition and the old rug coziness of the Chelsea".<ref name="Hilts 1975" /> [[Paul Goldberger]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1981 that the Chelsea "has had a history that is something of a cross between the Algonquin Hotel and a crash pad",<ref name="Goldberger 1981">{{cite web |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |title=Exploring Restored Chelsea, an Area on the Way Up |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 16, 1981 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/16/arts/exploring-restored-chelsea-an-area-on-the-way-up.html |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524083434/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/16/arts/exploring-restored-chelsea-an-area-on-the-way-up.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and British reporter [[Peter Ackroyd]] wrote in 1983 that the Chelsea was reputed as "one of the least stuffy hotels in New York".<ref name="Ackroyd 1983" /> A ''Chicago Tribune'' reporter said in 1983 that the Chelsea "has certainly set standards of its own".<ref name="Fleming 1983">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|170532860}} |title=Hotel Chelsea celebrates a centennial of the bizarre and controversial |last=Fleming |first=Robert |date=December 11, 1983 |pages=J8, J9 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref>

In 1993, ''The New York Times'' wrote: "Stubbornly resistant to change, the Chelsea is—still—hip."<ref name="Nathan 1993" /> The same reporter described the hotel as a "Tower of Babel of creativity and bad behavior" that nonetheless remained successful.<ref name="Paul 1994" /><ref name="Nathan 1993">{{cite web |first=Jean |last=Nathan |title=Within the Walls of the Chelsea |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 7, 1993 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/style/within-the-walls-of-the-chelsea.html |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526084902/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/style/within-the-walls-of-the-chelsea.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1995, ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' contrasted the hotel with the more upscale [[Algonquin Hotel]] in [[Midtown Manhattan]], which was also known for its literary scene.<ref>{{Cite news |title=On Tap: Literary Lights: Watering Holes in Lower Manhattan Illuminate Another Side of America's Literary Capital. Pull Up a Chair, and Drink in the Legend – at the White Horse, Lion's Head, or Chumley's |last=Bunch |first=Will |work= The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=November 26, 1995 |page=T.4 |id={{ProQuest|1841045047}}}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' described the hotel's lax management in 1999 as "a factor that attracted a stellar crop of artists in its century of operation",<ref name="Miller 1999" /> while a ''[[GQ]]'' writer said the same year that "there are two Statues of Liberty on New York—the one for immigrants out by Ellis Island and the one for weirdos at 222 West 23rd Street".<ref name="Vowell 1999" /> In the 2000s, the ''[[Irish Times]]'' said that the Chelsea was "reputed to be the last Bohemian place on earth".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Emer |date=February 3, 2001 |title=Heartbreak Hotel The Chelsea Hotel, New York |page=72 |work=The Irish Times |id={{ProQuest|309330658}}}}</ref> ''Variety'' described the hotel as having "long been synonymous with the bohemian scene",<ref name="Felperin 2008">{{cite web |last=Felperin |first=Leslie |date=May 24, 2008 |title=Chelsea on the Rocks |url=https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/chelsea-on-the-rocks-1200522099/ |access-date=October 13, 2023 |website=Variety |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021222922/https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/chelsea-on-the-rocks-1200522099/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]]'' of [[Adelaide]] wrote that "The Chelsea exists as a microcosm of New York."<ref name="Leve 2007" />

''[[The New York Observer]]'' wrote in 2010 that the Chelsea's "hulking physicality" distinguished the hotel from neighboring structures, though "it's the litany of cultural touchstones in (or formerly in) residence that makes it the Chelsea".<ref name="Turner 2010" /> According to ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', the hotel "had something that no amount of money or interior decoration could buy: a singular style and a unique legend".<ref name="Brown 2021" /> Sherill Tippins said in 2022, "It's hard to imagine what American culture would be like if we hadn't had the Chelsea. It's an enormous factory of creative thought and ideas."<ref name="Cho 2022" /> ''The New York Times'' compared the [[Christodora House]] in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] to the Hotel Chelsea,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Alex |date=August 31, 2016 |title=How the Christodora House Became the Chelsea Hotel of the East Village |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/fashion/christodora-house-east-village-book.html |access-date=October 14, 2023 |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007160430/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/fashion/christodora-house-east-village-book.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and ''Town and Country'' described the hotel as "a symbol of New York City's vibrant culture".<ref>{{cite web | last=Li | first=William | title=The Best Room At... Hotel Chelsea | website=Town & Country | date=April 16, 2024 | url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a60501419/hotel-chelsea-new-york-review/ | access-date=September 8, 2024}}</ref>

==== Architectural and hotel commentary ====
When the hotel was completed, a writer for the ''New-York Tribune'' regarded the hotel's "finish and appointments" as a "very close second" to that of the Navarro Flats on Central Park South,<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 23, 1884 |title=Some Men About Town |page=3 |work=New-York Tribune |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-some-men-about-town/133546323/ |access-date=October 16, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021222924/https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-some-men-about-town/133546323/ |url-status=live}}</ref> while the ''[[Courier Journal]]'' described the Chelsea as "the latest triumph of civilization".<ref name="Archard 1885" /> According to [[David Goodman Croly]], the building's design signified the fact that New Yorkers had become "more capable of organization, more sociable, more gregarious than before".<ref name="Tippins p. 31" /> [[The Sun (New York City)|''The Sun'']] wrote that the Chelsea was one of numerous "living temples of humanity" that could be used as a model for urban apartment living.<ref name="Tippins p. 32" />

In the mid-20th century, the hotel's decor was the subject of negative commentary. Yevgeny Yevtushenko likened the smell of his room to the [[Dachau concentration camp]],<ref name="The New York Times 1978" /><ref name="Brown 2021" /> and Arthur Miller said the decor was more akin to "Guatemalan maybe, or outer Queens" than a "grand hotel".<ref name="Brown 2021" /> Donna Hilts said in 1975 that the hotel's brick facade "reminds a visitor of a Victorian dowager, down on her luck, cracked and faded, but still trying to keep up appearances".<ref name="Hilts 1975" /> The Associated Press wrote in 1978 that the hotel's lobby was "singularly unprepossessing", with tenants' art juxtaposed with the original fireplace,<ref name="Newsday 1978" /> while a ''[[Newsday]]'' reporter described the space as "a museum of the anarchic monstrosities of the 1960s".<ref name="Colford 1983" /> Paul Goldberger praised the architecture but disliked its neon sign, saying that "the building is so strong as a work of architecture that the sign compromises it not a bit".<ref name="Goldberger 1981" /> Ackroyd said in 1983 that his room was "not particularly comfortable [but] has a grim {{As written|splend|our}} of its own".<ref name="Ackroyd 1983" />

Terry Trucco wrote for ''The New York Times'' in 1991 that her room "got plenty of light and was oddly cheerful", though she described the furniture as old and the bathroom as "ghastly";<ref>{{cite web |last=Trucco |first=Terry |title=Manhattan for Under $100 a Night |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 6, 1991 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/06/travel/manhattan-for-under-100-a-night.html |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021222923/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/06/travel/manhattan-for-under-100-a-night.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> a writer for ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' said the same year that the corridors felt like "an institution in long decline".<ref name="Bartlett 1991" /> A writer for ''[[The Palm Beach Post]]'', reviewing the hotel in 1996, said that the rooms were large but "not especially clean".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Chelsea Culture, Shopping, Sports Complex Revive Area |first=Charles |last=Passy |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=December 1, 1996 |page=1I |id={{ProQuest|321892918}}}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1998 that the hotel's hallways resembled a street in Venice or Rome and that the apartments were "furnished in an artistic collision of styles".<ref name="Gray 1998" /> ''[[The Observer]]'' of London called the Chelsea's lobby "an overgrown taxidermist's Valhalla" in 2000.<ref name="Cale 2000" /> The ''[[Poughkeepsie Journal]]'' wrote in 2002 that the Chelsea stood "in the middle of the block with an air of quiet dignity", with its balconies being its most prominent feature.<ref name="Sell 2002" /> A ''New York Times'' reviewer wrote in 2005 that, despite the hotel's worn-down condition, its "grungy elegance" was preferable to chain hotels' "soulless architecture".<ref name="Lee 2005" />

After the hotel reopened in 2022, the ''[[Financial Times]]'' wrote, "Depending on one's nostalgist leanings, the new Hotel Chelsea is either a travesty of history, or instantly on the must-do list."<ref name="Shollenbarger 2022" /> A critic for ''[[Condé Nast Traveler]]'' wrote, "The design isn't too flashy, isn't too rock-and-roll, isn't too homey, yet it has a lick of each of these elements."<ref name="Condé Nast Traveler 2019" /> The first edition of the [[Michelin Guide|Michelin Keys Guide]], in 2024, ranked the Hotel Chelsea as a "one-key" hotel, the third-highest accolade granted by the guide.<ref>{{cite web |last=Elbaba |first=Julia |date=April 25, 2024 |title=Here are the four top NYC hotels, according to the Michelin Guide |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/four-nyc-hotels-receive-top-honor-michelin-key-hotels-2024/5353643/ |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=NBC New York |archive-date=June 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613162910/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/four-nyc-hotels-receive-top-honor-michelin-key-hotels-2024/5353643/ |url-status=live|postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=Weaver |first=Shaye |date=April 24, 2024 |title=These NYC hotels were just awarded Michelin 'Keys' |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/27-new-york-city-hotels-have-been-awarded-michelin-keys-042424 |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=Time Out New York |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615003706/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/27-new-york-city-hotels-have-been-awarded-michelin-keys-042424 |url-status=live}}</ref> The same year, ''[[Suitcase (magazine)|Suitcase]]'' magazine wrote that "the spirit of Philip Hubert's socialist-leaning vision [was] very much alive", with many of the original architectural decorations being retained.<ref name="Suitcase 2024" />