Waterford X The Knickerbocker: A Classic Mix
The Knickerbocker Hotel is proud to have a long and storied partnership with Waterford, makers of unrivalled hand-cut crystal drinkware and home décor since 1783. Waterford’s designs — always evolving and contemporary, yet timeless in their clarity and brilliance — are an elegant embodiment of The Knickerbocker’s ethos of gracious hospitality, ebullient wonder and quiet good taste. They dazzle at our celebrations throughout the year.
This spring, we are thrilled to celebrate the artistry in residence of four signature Waterford collections in our Tribute Suites. From the glamorous Lismore Diamond and Lismore Diamond Essence collections in our Martini Suite, to the dramatic Lismore Black collection that graces our suite named for artist Maxfield Parrish, Waterford and The Knickerbocker have set the stage for you to toast your iconic New York moments.
The Caruso Suite
Enrico Caruso made his home at The Knickerbocker for more than ten years during his long tenure with the Metropolitan Opera, and considered the hotel’s management and staff family. He was known for sharing his love of The Knick with others by giving impromptu performances from his ninth-floor window as the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve or with a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner to mark the end of World War I. Our Caruso Suite, a luxurious 1,200 square foot, one-bedroom pied-à-terre honors the Man with the Golden Voice — one of the world’s most beloved celebrities of his day and a forever muse of our hotel — with pieces from Waterford’s Lismore Collection. Introduced in 1952 and inspired by the Gothic architecture of Ireland’s 800-year-old Lismore Castle, this stunning collection is as intertwined with Waterford’s heritage as Caruso’s legacy is with The Knickerbocker’s.
The Martini Suite
Two olives, and two distinct glass designs, please. Our Martini Suite, with its 15th floor views of Times Square, is an Empire State classic, just like the drink for which it’s named and the two Waterford collections in its private in-room bar. The Lismore Diamond and the Lismore Diamond Essence pair modern contours with elegant spires and diamond shapes that reflect the New York City skyline outside the suite’s sweeping windows. Although the oft-told legend that the martini was invented in The Knickerbocker’s bar turns out to be apocryphal, these two timeless collections are a testament to the fact that there are few places on Earth that embody the cocktail’s cool perfection quite like the Martini Suite at The Knick.
The Cohan Suite
Give your regards to Broadway from our 16th floor C(ohan) Suite that overlooks Times Square and is just minutes from the statue of George M. Cohan, longtime Knickerbocker resident and father of American musical comedy. The Cohan Suite’s theatrical arches are echoed in the hand-crafted arch cuts of the room’s Lismore Arcus glasses which, in turn, evoke the vaulted ceilings of County Waterford’s Lismore Castle.
The Parrish Suite
The 30-foot x 8-foot tryptic of Old King Cole that John Jacob Astor IV commissioned Maxfield Parrish to paint for The Knickerbocker’s bar when it opened in 1906 now presides over another Astor hotel bar, the King Cole at the St. Regis, but it will forever tie Parrish to The Knickerbocker’s illustrious history. The gleaming Lismore Black collection that sits in the Parrish Suite is an ode to the painter’s color-saturated artistic style. The glasses’ artful chiaroscuro contrast may also be a nod to Parrish’s dark sense of humor – it’s rumored that King Cole is an unflattering depiction of Astor himself, who strong armed Parrish, a teetotalling Quaker, to paint the divinely debaucherous mural.