Nine Orchard – a bank vault reborn on the Lower East Side

At the corner of Canal and Orchard Streets, where Chinatown meets the Lower East Side, Nine Orchard occupies the tower raised in 1912 for the Jarmulowsky Bank. Sender Jarmulowsky founded his bank in 1873 to serve the immigrant Jewish community on the Lower East Side, and the twelve-story headquarters went up in 1912, a Beaux-Arts tower designed by the firm Rouse & Goldstone. The timing proved ruinous: when the First World War broke out two years later, German investors pulled their money, the bank suffered a run, and it failed. The building spent most of a century in decline before a meticulous, decade-long restoration brought it back as a hotel that opened in June 2022, a meticulously restored Lower East Side landmark transformed into 113 rooms, fine dining and event spaces. The MICHELIN Guide gives it two Keys, and its kitchens belong to chef Ignacio Mattos, known for Estela, Altro Paradiso and Lodi, who runs both the restaurant and the cocktail lounge downstairs.

01The house

The building then spent close to a century in various states of decline, including a 1990 renovation that stripped the fifty-foot tempietto off the roof. It was designated a New York City landmark in 2009, and the restoration that followed ran the better part of a decade, worked from the original 1912 blueprints. A sixty-foot replica of the rooftop tempietto, lost decades earlier, was approved in 2014 and back in place by early 2020, and the work won a Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 2021.

With the help of historians and artisans, a team of world-class architects restored the century-old bank to its former Neo-Renaissance splendour, replicating the original clocks and the domed rooftop tempietto and matching the historically accurate millwork and cornice mouldings found throughout the building's floors. The ownership has since changed: the tower traded hands for a reported ninety-two million dollars in August 2025, though Nine Orchard continues to operate from the same address.

02Rooms and suites

Each of the 113 residential-inspired guest rooms offers a quiet retreat from the streets outside, with original mouldings and distinctive artisanship set against large windows that fill the space with natural light. Original mouldings and large windows are complemented by a collection of commissioned artworks from local artists and one-of-a-kind furniture; custom-made Ojas speakers and amplifiers are programmed with four New York-inspired stations curated by Devon Turnbull and DJ Stretch Armstrong.

Insider tip

Entrance on Orchard Street; Corner Bar and Swan Room open to non-guests for dining and drinks.

At the top of the range, the Supreme View King Suite is 400 square feet, sleeps two in a King bed and features a sitting area and sweeping city skyline views, while the Terrace Suite runs to 600 square feet, including a private 200 square foot terrace, with the same skyline views over the Lower East Side rooftops.

03Where to eat

The first floor's two culinary experiences are overseen by Ignacio Mattos, the New York chef behind Estela, Altro Paradiso and Lodi, marking the first time he has run a hotel's food and drink programme. Corner Bar is the comfortable all-day restaurant, inspired by classic taverns, serving creative renditions of classic dishes from breakfast through to a late dinner, with a beverage list built around a wide selection of wines and spirits.

04The bar

The Swan Room occupies the former bank teller hall, a grand living room by day that turns into a lavish cocktail lounge by night. Vaulted ceilings, pink Tennessee marble floors and Botticino marble walls create a backdrop for bold artworks and patterned banquettes, a design lifted almost directly from the 1912 blueprints. It is, quite literally, the room where tellers once counted immigrants' savings, and the marble underfoot was chosen in 1912 to make a neighbourhood bank look permanent — a history that makes the martinis taste a little more serious.

05The neighbourhood

The hotel sits at the corner of Canal and Orchard streets, on ground that was an actual orchard in the early 19th century, in the happening pocket of the Lower East Side on the edge of Chinatown. Walking out the front door is a choice of directions: one way leads beneath paper lanterns into Chinatown and on to cocktails at Apotheke, set inside a former opium den; the other leads toward a coffee and a walk along the East River.

06Making the most of a stay

Nine Orchard Presents turns the hotel's event spaces into a venue where New Yorkers and visitors meet through arts, entertainment and conversation, including a recurring jazz series in the West Room. On the top floor, the rooftop Greenhouse is reached by lift and opens onto skyline views, seasonal landscaping and the towering sight of the hotel's own 60-foot tempietto, making it one of the more coveted outdoor event spaces in Manhattan. The hotel also belongs to Leading Hotels of the World, and guests have access to a 24-hour gym and a treatment room.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.