Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Library Hotel Collection
Library Hotel Collection hotels
Intimate hotels take their cue from books, films and music, giving each house a different subject.
Library Hotel Collection makes small hotels around ideas guests can enjoy during the stay, from books in New York to music in Budapest. Henry Kallan’s namesake Library Hotel assigns its guest floors to the Dewey Decimal system, while Aria Hotel Budapest turns a former bank into rooms named for composers.
6 Library Hotel Collection hotels in 2 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.
- Owned by Henry Kallan
- Worldwide: 6 operating hotels — four in Manhattan, Aria Hotel Budapest, and Hotel X Toronto — on the current official portfolio. Library Hotel Collection
- On the atlas: 1 High Luxury, 4 Accessible Luxury, 1 Near Luxury
History
Henry Kallan’s New York hotels developed around separate identities, from the books of Library Hotel to the atmosphere of Giraffe, Elysee, and Casablanca. The collection later took its idea-led hospitality to Budapest. Aria’s music rooms near St. Stephen’s Basilica give the family a distinct European chapter.
Timeline
- 1902 — Earle S. L'Amoureux opens the Hotel Earle on Washington Square. By 1917 the building reaches the park corner.
- 1910 — The Hotel Metropole opens at the site of the later Casablanca, with running water in every room, a first for a New York hotel.
- 1926 — The Hotel Elysee opens in Midtown. Tennessee Williams will live there for fifteen years and die in the Sunset suite in February 1983.
- 1973 — Daniel and Rita Paul rename the Hotel Earle as the Washington Square Hotel.
- 1996 — Henry Kallan reopens the old Metropole building as the Casablanca Hotel, 48 rooms styled after the 1942 film.
- 1999 — Hotel Giraffe opens on 7 November at Park Avenue South and 26th Street. Architect Stephen B. Jacobs and designer Andi Pepper built it for Kallan.
- 2000 — Kallan opens the Library Hotel at 299 Madison Avenue. Stephen B. Jacobs converts the 1912 office building and adds two floors.
- 2003 — OCLC, owner of the Dewey trademark, sues the Library Hotel. A settlement lets the Dewey floors stay.
- 2015 — Aria Hotel Budapest opens in April in a former bank, 49 rooms by architect Zsolt Szecsi and designer Zoltan Varro.
- 2025 — The Hotel Elysee closes for a renovation ahead of its 2026 centennial. The plan reduces the house from 103 rooms to 83.
The houses to know
- Aria Hotel Budapest by Library Hotel Collection, Budapest, Hungary — Forty-nine rooms in an 1870s bank, each named for a musician, with one of two Boganyi pianos in the lobby.
- Casablanca Hotel, New York City, United States — Forty-eight rooms in the 1910 Hotel Metropole, reopened by Henry Kallan in 1996 as a house from the Bogart film.
- Library Hotel by Library Hotel Collection, New York City, United States — Sixty rooms and about 6,000 books, ten floors of Dewey Decimal classes, a block from the public library.
- Hotel Giraffe, New York City, United States — Stephen B. Jacobs's 1999 hotel at Park Avenue South and 26th Street, named for the animal and for the building's height.
- Hotel Elysee, New York City, United States — The 1926 Midtown house where Tennessee Williams lived for fifteen years, closed in 2025 for its centennial work.
- Washington Square Hotel by LHC, New York City, United States — The 1902 Hotel Earle on the park, 152 rooms, the Village house where Dylan stayed in 1961.
Newest openings
- No new Library Hotel Collection hotel opened in this window. The live story is the Elysee closure, under planned work below.
Opening next
- No new address, with a city and a year, is confirmed. The Elysee work is a renovation of an existing house.
Every Library Hotel Collection hotel on the atlas
United States
- Casablanca Hotel — New York City · Accessible Luxury
- Hotel Elysee — New York City · Accessible Luxury
- Hotel Giraffe — New York City · Accessible Luxury
- Library Hotel by Library Hotel Collection — New York City · Accessible Luxury
- Washington Square Hotel by LHC — New York City · Near Luxury
Hungary
- Aria Hotel Budapest by Library Hotel Collection — Budapest · High Luxury
Open The Maison in the atlas for Library Hotel Collection's full dossier, with prices and maps.