1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge – granite from the bridge, grown on Pier 1

At the head of Brooklyn Bridge Park, on the old cargo pier once known as Pier 1, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge sits between the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the bridge itself. The ten-storey building, designed by Marvel Architects with interiors by INC Architecture & Design, stands beside the park with views of the bridge and across the East River to Manhattan. Planning began in late 2011, and Hurricane Sandy struck just as the drawings were finished, reshaping how the hotel meets the water. It opened on 16 February 2017, the first ground-up building for the eco-conscious 1 Hotels brand, developed as a joint venture between Starwood Capital Group and Toll Brothers City Living. It now holds 195 rooms and suites, including the two-king-bed Riverhouse, and the MICHELIN Guide awards it one Key, praising its eco-conscious design, reclaimed materials and integration of nature within a working waterfront.

01The house

Marvel Architects clad the lower storeys in Quincy granite, the same stone used on the Brooklyn Bridge a few hundred metres away, a deliberate link between the new building and its 1883 neighbour. Timber salvaged from the cargo warehouses that once stood on this stretch of pier was worked back into the ground floor, and the same waterfront block carries Pierhouse, a residential wing also designed by Marvel Architects.

Inside, a 25-foot green wall by landscape architects Harrison Green climbs through the double-height lobby, beside a spiral staircase punctuated by two commissioned works: a draped installation by Brooklyn artist Jarrod Beck made from rubber salvaged from a tornado-damaged roof upstate, and 6,000 pounds of hammered obsidian by Rachel Mica Weiss, arranged near the stairs as a nod to the stone lining the park outside. One of the lobby's long tables is built from pine beams reclaimed from Brooklyn's old Domino Sugar Factory.

02Rooms and suites

The 195 rooms and suites are named for the view they hold — Park King, Liberty King, Bridge King, Dumbo King among them — each with floor-to-ceiling windows that slide open onto the park. Twenty-nine two- to six-bedroom suites and the Riverhouse, the hotel's two-king-bed presidential suite, take the upper floors, with panoramas running from the East River to the bridge and the Manhattan skyline. Every room carries hand-chiselled stone, reclaimed flooring and filtered water taps, with Bridge King rooms running to around 300 square feet and Liberty Kings slightly larger at 325.

Insider tip

Five-minute ferry or A/C, 2/3 or F trains to Manhattan; steps from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Studio and one-bedroom suites — Liberty Studio, Bridge Studio, Skyline One-Bedroom — add separate living areas and nightly turndown on request, while every room, whatever its size, comes with a Nespresso machine, cotton bedding and Bamford bath products.

03Where to eat

On the ground floor, Barbuto Brooklyn carries James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathan Waxman's California-Italian cooking across the East River from his three-decade-old West Village original, built around his JW Chicken with salsa verde, a kale salad and JW gnocchi, served under full-height glass that frames the bridge.

Alongside it, the open-air Barbuto Garden serves pizzas and seasonal cocktails at communal tables, while Neighbors Café handles coffee and grab-and-go food for early starts.

04The bar

Harriet's Lounge occupies the tenth floor, pouring cocktails in a low-lit, glass-walled room with leather booths; one floor above, Harriet's Rooftop opens onto the terrace and plunge pool that have become the hotel's best-known view, looking straight across the river to Lower Manhattan.

Down in the lobby, Quarry Bar handles evening drinks at ground level, named, fittingly, for the stone that also built the bridge outside.

05Bamford Wellness Spa

Bamford Wellness Spa sits on Level -1, built around products that Carole Bamford first developed on her organic farm in the English countryside. Treatments range from a goop Vitamin C+ Radiance Facial to Dry Flotation therapy and HigherDOSE add-ons — PEMF mats, red-light masks, infrared sauna blankets — and the spa runs from 9am to 7pm on weekdays and until 8pm at weekends.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits inside Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre, 1.3-mile stretch of reclaimed waterfront that runs from the bridge south along the East River. What was once abandoned piers and disused infrastructure beside the hotel is now a run of meadows, wetlands and tidal pools, home to ducks and turtles within sight of the rooftop pool.

Brooklyn Heights' brownstone streets lie a short walk inland and the promenade a few minutes further; Manhattan itself is a five-minute ferry ride away or a short ride on the 2, 3, A, C or F trains from the neighbouring stations.

07Making the most of a stay

A daily amenity fee covers the hotel's Audi e-tron house car service, Mind & Movement fitness classes and the lobby farmstand's seasonal fruit. A 50-seat screening room and the 24-hour Fieldhouse gym round out the public spaces, alongside a yoga and barre studio. Check-in runs from 4pm and check-out is at noon, with an early-departure charge equal to one night's rate.

The hotel operates entirely on wind power and runs its own rainwater reclamation system, part of the sustainability record that underpins its one MICHELIN Key.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.