Editing Hotel Chelsea (section)

==== 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" />