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At a Glance
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I had the pleasure of staying at The Beekman during a milestone year, this August, the hotel celebrated ten years in Lower Manhattan. The anniversary marks a decade since the Temple Court Building, vacant for more than a decade before its restoration, reopened its doors on August 23, 2016 as The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel. The hotel is commemorating the decade with a collection of anniversary offerings, bespoke packages, signature culinary moments and neighborhood partnerships, and of them, the one still running is the grandest: Jet Set to The Beekman, a package that flies guests in by BLADE helicopter to Pier 6, meets them with the house car, and settles them into the West Turret for a private terrace reception and a dinner for six by Tom Colicchio's team, paired with 2016 vintage wines. The anniversary storytelling runs alongside it, including a portrait-driven docu-series on the people behind the restoration. The ten years have brought their share of honors: the atrium was designated a New York City Interior Landmark in 2024, and in 2026 Condé Nast Traveler awarded the hotel its inaugural "Triple Crown," recognizing its appearances on the Hot List, Gold List and Readers' Choice Awards. Staying in the middle of it, you feel the occasion in the building, the sense of a landmark being celebrated, not just a hotel marking a date.
"What makes The Beekman so special is its ability to honor its remarkable history while continuing to evolve," said Titus Negrescu, General Manager of The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel. "There's a certain feeling you get when you walk through The Beekman's doors, an immediate sense of wonder that comes from the architecture, followed by a warmth and familiarity that makes you feel like you're part of something special. It's the people and experiences within these walls that bring that feeling to life."
My first impression was, quite simply, luxury, from the bellhop opening the door to the luggage carts lined up outside. Walking in, you feel as though you are entering a private members' club. The staff was warm, polished and attentive upon my arrival.
There is a reason the arrival feels different here. The Beekman occupies the Temple Court Building, completed in 1883, the same year as the Brooklyn Bridge, and one of Manhattan's very first skyscrapers. It is a designated New York City landmark, and stepping through its doors feels simultaneously like a step back in time and an arrival somewhere entirely of the moment. The check-in desk is draped in Persian rugs, the lobby floor a black-and-white hexagonal marble mosaic, and bookcases and velvet sofas line the walls, less a hotel lobby than the sitting room of a very well-kept private house.
The entrance is hushed, but you truly feel you are somewhere special when you reach the lively bar and restaurant. It feels like its own world, set apart from everyday life, a place where you can settle in and enjoy yourself in beautiful surroundings. The setting transports you to another era, and it becomes more singular still as you head up to your room.
My reaction was "wow," and I could see the same response on the faces around me. Standing in the middle of the hotel, you look down at the restaurant and bar, then up at the soaring architecture. Truthfully, you need to be there to appreciate it. You find yourself looking down, up, and around, simply taking in the space.
My first impression left me looking forward to the weekend, and to everything the hotel had in store.
The room was elegant and impeccably kept, if not the most theatrical part of the property. It delivered everything one expects of a hotel of this caliber: spotlessly clean, deeply comfortable, a well-regulated temperature, an excellent shower, and, ultimately, the unmistakable feeling of being on vacation. The rooms are appointed with custom-designed oak beds, Carrara marble bathrooms and Sferra linens, the materials are right, even where the room plays it straight.
The hotel provided cookies and champagne, and the turndown service did a lovely job of tidying up and organizing my belongings. Again, it was everything you would expect, without going over the top. Some properties add small touches around your laptop or sunglasses that make the service feel especially personal. While I didn't experience those extras here, the team certainly made its presence felt.
And above the rooms like mine sit the penthouses: the hotel's Turret suites, set into the twin turrets at the top of the Temple Court Building, the fullest expression of the place, with the atrium falling away below. The West Turret is the room the hotel built its anniversary Jet Set package around, private terrace and all. If the standard rooms play it straight, the turrets are where The Beekman shows off.
One thing I noted was the outside noise at night: beeping and general street sounds. It wasn't terrible, but it was noticeable in the evening.
Design and atmosphere are where The Beekman stands apart, and the centerpiece explains why. The heart of the building is a nine-story Victorian atrium crowned by a pyramidal glass skylight, ringed on every floor by wrought-iron balconies with foliate railings, wooden handrails and cast-iron brackets shaped like dragons. Sunlight pours down through the skylight onto the bar and restaurant below, and every corridor and balcony looks into the space, so the entire hotel is oriented around this one soaring room.
What makes it remarkable is that it very nearly disappeared. The atrium was sealed off in the 1940s and remained hidden for roughly seventy years, until the building's restoration returned it to the public in 2016. The interiors are by Martin Brudnizki, the designer behind Annabel's and much of Soho House, who restored the Gilded Age bones and layered them with mid-century furniture, deep green walls, Persian rugs and antique glass lamps, with the historic encaustic floor tiles repaired and recreated where they were broken. Brudnizki has described the atrium as a stage set for the New York social scene, and in the evenings, the bar full below, the balconies glowing above, that is precisely what it feels like.
The site itself carries literary history: Clinton Hall stood here, home to the Mercantile Library, a famed lecture hall where Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke and Edgar Allan Poe worked on his Broadway Journal. You will spot Poe references in the artwork, and the design leans into that story rather than sanding it off.
The design is classic, elegant, and entirely its own. You can imagine the interesting people who have spent time here across the decades, and being part of the setting, the grand, open bar, the sumptuous surroundings, makes you feel a little special yourself: this is a room you could happily spend the entire evening in, laughing, lingering, and enjoying the company you're with.
The food and beverage experience at The Beekman was very good, and it has a range few hotel dining programs in the city can match, because two of New York's defining chefs cook under this roof.
Tom Colicchio runs the atrium restaurants. Temple Court, his dining room, serves modern American cooking drawn from turn-of-the-century New York, chestnut agnolotti, short rib ravioli and steak tartare give you the register. Beneath the atrium itself, The Bar Room at Temple Court pours cocktails named for the architects and builders of old New York, served from a bar lined with antique brass and emerald stools, alongside Colicchio's all-day menu, from breakfast through late evening.
I enjoyed breakfast at the bar one morning. The French toast was delicious, although my tea could have been better.
I also had the pleasure of attending the weekend jazz brunch, a live band playing through the afternoon. It made for a very nice few hours with friends. We ordered French onion dip, burgers, and ravioli. My friends had beer, while I tried a non-alcoholic sparkling drink, it was nice to see a few thoughtful non-alcoholic options available.
The French onion dip, ravioli, and burger were all very good. The mocktail wasn't particularly memorable, but it did the job. Overall, the food impressed me, and I had no major complaints.
The other half of the food scene is Le Gratin, Daniel Boulud's bouchon Lyonnais on the ground floor, a loving recreation of the bistros of his hometown of Lyon. The signatures are the quenelle de brochet, escargots gratinés, steak frites, and a gratin dauphinois made to his mother's recipe. Between Colicchio's atrium and Boulud's bistro, you could eat every meal of a weekend here without repeating yourself.
The Beekman has a gym with the equipment you need to get a workout in, but wellness isn't the reason I would choose this hotel.
There isn't a locker room, sauna, or a broader luxury wellness experience. It is, simply, a gym where you can get your workout done.
The Beekman stands at 123 Nassau Street in the Financial District, toward the southern end of Manhattan, a block from City Hall Park and convenient to the FDR Drive. What surrounds it is old New York: the Woolworth Building across the park, the Brooklyn Bridge a few minutes' walk in one direction, and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and One World Trade Center about a ten-minute walk in the other. The South Street Seaport, Wall Street and Brookfield Place are all close. For visitors looking to explore the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and Lower Manhattan's historic landmarks, it is a wonderful area to stay, arguably the best-positioned hotel in the city for that itinerary.
The trade-off is distance from Midtown and uptown. During my stay, getting uptown took roughly 15 to 20 minutes by cab and around 35 minutes by public transportation, depending on the destination and traffic. Whether the location works for you depends on the trip you are planning. One mitigating factor: the transit at the door is about as good as downtown gets, the Fulton Street hub and Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall stations put the A, C, 2, 3, 4, 5, J and Z lines within a few minutes' walk, so while uptown is a ride, almost everywhere in the city is a direct one.
Downtown, The Beekman's peer set is small and serious: the Four Seasons New York Downtown, sleek and corporate with a genuine spa; The Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, quieter and more residential, a retreat from the city rather than a stage in it; and Fouquet's, all Parisian polish. Each does something The Beekman doesn't: the Four Seasons wins on wellness, the Greenwich on calm. None of them has anything like the atrium. The Beekman is the downtown luxury hotel you choose when the building itself is the experience, and on that measure, in its own peer set, it stands alone.
The value case starts with the rate. My room was a King Premium, a category that runs roughly $850 to $1,050 a night in the autumn, before taxes, no more than the big Midtown luxury names charge for a comparable room. What that rate buys here is the building, the dining and the scene, rather than square footage or a spa. You are paying for atmosphere, not amenities, and on those terms, value earns its 8.4.
I would recommend The Beekman for active couples, groups of friends, and bachelor or bachelorette weekends. It also feels well suited to business travelers and to visitors who want the hotel itself to be part of their New York experience.
It may be less suited to young families, or to those looking for a quiet, relaxed stay. With its lively bar and restaurant, this is a place for people who want to socialize, meet others, and feel part of a scene.
My overall experience at The Beekman was enjoyable and distinctive, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to stay there. The architecture, design, and atmosphere make it a memorable experience for the right guest.
For a weekend, a special occasion, or a business trip, it is a genuinely fun place to spend your time.
Luxury Index Verdict: 8.9 out of 10. The Beekman is a hotel you stay in for the building and the buzz: a genuine 1883 landmark with the most theatrical public space in downtown New York and two serious restaurants, carried by an atmosphere few properties anywhere can reproduce. The rooms, wellness and location ask small compromises, and for the right traveler, they are compromises well worth making. Would I return? Yes, for the atrium at night and a stool at the Bar Room alone, and I would send any first-time visitor to Lower Manhattan here before anywhere else downtown.
On the number: the Overall is an editorial judgment, not a straight average; the seven category scores average 8.6. The verdict weights the design, the atmosphere and the dining most heavily, because they are the reasons a guest chooses this hotel; the wellness shortfall counts for less here than it would at a resort.
The RESIDENT™ Luxury Index
Brandon Travin is Director of Sales and Partnerships at RESIDENT. He reviews hotels through the eyes of the traveler who wants the hotel itself to be part of the trip.
Our reviews are first-hand and independent: we stay, we dine, we give our honest take, and they run across print, resident.com, our LinkedIn newsletter (Resident Insider), Instagram (@resident.magazine), and Pinterest.
RESIDENT was hosted by The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, October 22 to 25, 2026, for the purposes of this review. The opinions are the writer's own.
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