The LEED List No. 02 – Crosby Street Hotel

I spent this week at the Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo, nestled on a quiet cobblestone block that renders even a cloudy afternoon beautifully composed. I’ve walked past it countless times, but this was the first occasion I allowed myself to truly study it. Not simply as a guest, but as a student of design. I arrived for afternoon tea, a visual and sensory delight in itself, and stayed far longer than anticipated, observing how the space moved, breathed, and held its guests.

Crosby Street Hotel is situated on a quiet cobbled street in the heart of New York’s vibrant SoHo neighborhood. It is the first hotel outside of London by renowned British hotelier Firmdale Hotels and marks a bold but graceful debut in the United States. Built from the ground up, the hotel rises eleven stories and spans 85,000 square feet. There are 86 bedrooms and suites, each generously proportioned and thoughtfully composed. The building includes a guest library, several meeting and event spaces, a private leafy garden, a fully equipped gym, and a 99-seat screening room. The Crosby Bar, elegant and unassuming, opens onto a sunlit restaurant and serves as a natural extension of the hotel’s rhythm.

The interiors are the work of Kit Kemp, co-owner and creative director of Firmdale Hotels. Known for her fresh and expressive style, Kemp’s design at Crosby is neither restrained nor overly stylized. It is confident, layered, and joyous. Velvet upholstery, sculptural lighting, patterned wallpapers, and curated art lend the hotel a spirit that is both playful and composed. Color pairings are unexpected but harmonious. Textures are soft and deliberate. The atmosphere is quietly theatrical without ever tipping into excess.

“The hotel has settled into its space like someone settling into a very comfortable armchair and in that way it looks like the art is a part of the place, rather than a gallery or somewhere where you stand, walk around and go out. It's actually a home, and it's a home from home, and that's how the art should look within a hotel.” — Kit Kemp, Every Room Tells a Story: Art at Crosby Street Hotel

Crosby Street Hotel is also the first hotel in New York State to earn LEED Gold certification. This distinction places it among a small group of buildings that demonstrate a comprehensive and sophisticated approach to environmental performance. Gold certification reflects the achievement of over sixty percent of the available LEED points, which recognizes thoughtful innovation in energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, and materials stewardship. These buildings model a design ethic that is as responsible as it is beautiful.

What is remarkable at Crosby is how lightly this responsibility is carried. There are no markers or didactic gestures. Instead, the sustainability is woven into the fabric of the experience. Over seventy-five percent of construction and demolition waste was diverted from landfills. Low-VOC paints and regional materials were used throughout. A green roof mitigates runoff and supports biodiversity. Rainwater capture and operable windows reduce energy loads and reinforce a sense of openness that is rare in Manhattan. Natural ventilation is not an amenity. It is a design principle.

The garden behind the hotel is one of its most graceful offerings. Sculpted but never stiff, it feels like an inherited space rather than an imposed one. Guests move through it slowly, almost instinctively, as though it were recalibrating their sense of pace. According to the USGBC, this connection to outdoor space, along with the hotel’s water-efficient landscape strategy, played a meaningful role in its certification. But none of that is the point. What matters is the stillness it creates.

Inside, the lighting is warm and painterly. Pools of light are placed with intent, framing moments without demanding attention. Materials speak in texture. Velvet, terracotta, stone, and hand-thrown ceramic all find their place. None of it feels incidental. Every finish contributes to a tactile narrative. Whether regional, recycled, or simply enduring, each detail feels both refined and necessary.

Crosby Street Hotel also holds three Michelin Keys, the highest rating awarded in the Michelin Guide’s inaugural list of outstanding hotels in the United States. This recognition reflects not only its quality of service but the fullness of the guest experience. Here, sustainability does not interrupt luxury. It defines it.

This visit reframed my understanding of what sustainable hospitality can look like. Not as a checklist or a set of certifications, but as a kind of elegance. A rhythm. A clarity of thought and feeling. Where 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge feels rooted and elemental, Crosby is expressive, urbane, and luminously calm. Both succeed by making sustainability structural, not supplemental.

Sometimes the most responsible buildings are the quietest. They do not need to persuade you. They let you feel it. In the hush of a library. In a garden that softens your shoulders. In the grace of a window that opens.

Always, In the Details.

All images courtesy of Crosby Street Hotel and Firmdale Hotels. Sourced via official websites and press materials. Used here for educational and editorial purposes.

Crosby Street Hotel -79 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012 - firmdalehotels.com/hotels/new-york/crosby-street-hotel/

Kit Kemp Design Studio - Ham Yard Village, 3 Ham Yard, London, UK W1D 7DT - kitkemp.com/

Stonehill Taylor - 31 W 27th St 5th floor, New York, NY 10001 - stonehilltaylor.com/