dash design helps complete historic Lexington New York City's $50M renovation

The historic Lexington New York City, a 725-room Autograph Collection hotel in midtown Manhattan, recently unveiled the final phase of its three-year, $50-million renovation. 

The hotel’s owner, DiamondRock Hospitality Company, worked with interior architecture and design firm dash design to complete the build-out. dash design also completed renovations to the hotel’s guestrooms and public areas in 2013.

Design-wise, the property now blends old and new elements. The hotel’s meetings and events space, for instance, combines a technologically advanced media center with design inspired by the 1950s. (Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe once lived on the hotel's 18th floor.)

Speakeasy & Interlude

The final step of the refurbishment was the conversion of the 5,000-square-foot S. Dynasty restaurant into a meetings and events center, including two meeting rooms—The Speakeasy and The Interlude—connected by a foyer area called the Swing Room. 

The Speakeasy and The Interlude serve as the two main meeting rooms, with a color palette of neutrals and purples intended to evoke the Art Deco design that defined the Jazz Age. The rooms also have open floor plans that allow for flexible furniture layouts accommodating up to 120 people. Both rooms have walls of windows overlooking Lexington Avenue. Artwork by New York-based Mao Kudo and Portland-based Rose Dickson can be found on the wall. The Swing Room serves as a pre-function space with a residential feel. The Speakeasy can accommodate up to 45 guests, while the Interlude can hold up to 85.

Adjacent to the Swing Room, an art-inspired nook is available for breakout or impromptu meetings.

“Our proximity to Grand Central Terminal, the United Nations, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and Times Square, makes The Lexington New York City a convenient location for corporate meetings and functions,” June McDougall, managing director of the hotel, said in a statement. “This renovation has allowed us to transform the space left when S. Dynasty closed last November into a prime corporate destination, offering all the modern technologies that create a seamless event-hosting experience.”

Custom Media Environments designed and installed the tech systems, which include retractable projectors and projection screens that stow away in the ceiling when not in use; ceiling speakers for audio conferencing capabilities and which connect to wireless or lavaliere microphones; wireless presentation capabilities; and wall-mounted touch panels for control over the entire audio-visual system, lighting and window shades.

Designed by architectural firm Schultze & Weaver, The Lexington New York City first opened in 1929. The Lexington New York City, which was the 45th hotel to join Marriott’s upscale Autograph Collection, is managed by Highgate.