New York, United States

Civilian Hotel

Price per night from$189.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD189.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Backstage theatrics

Setting

A sashay from Broadway

When the curtain first came up on Civilian Hotel, its lovingly exhaustive tribute to Broadway was met with gasps of wonder and general applause. Taking inspiration from its surrounding neighborhood, at its center is a one-of-a-kind collection of theatrical memorabilia curated by luminaries of the industry. Interiors are awash with thespian references, set in spaces that often feel like a privileged peak into a backstage dressing room. The theme continues across the towering hotel’s 27 floors, through its sumptuous theater-box-style rooms and up to a buzzing rooftop bar. The result is a wonderfully immersive love letter to New York’s theatrical heritage. Civilian Hotel, you may take a bow. 

Smith Extra

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A Civilian-branded stainless-steel refillable water bottle

Facilities

Photos Civilian Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

203

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £170.52 ($217), including tax at 14.75 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional service charge of $3.50 per room per night on check-out.

More details

Rates don't include breakfast, but it can be purchased for an extra fee.

Also

ADA compliant rooms are available with roll-in showers and in-shower seats with handrails.

At the hotel

24-hour reception, free WiFi, concierge, luggage storage, charged laundry. In rooms: 32-43 inch Smart TV with Google Chromecast, Drybar hair dryer, clothes steamer, Egyptian cotton sheets, air-conditioning.

Our favourite rooms

With their vintage playhouse touches, red velvet banquettes, and costume-trunk-inspired closet, each of the rooms is a snug world of theatrical escapism. We enjoyed the extra square-footage of the Spacious Room and, although all rooms have views, be sure to put in a request for a higher floor for spectacular cityscape vistas.

Spa

There’s no spa but you do have free access to the TMPL health center just a block away, home to a 25-meter saltwater pool, a sauna and steam room, state-of-the-art gym and a range of fitness classes.

Packing tips

A pack of autograph-friendly pens just in case you ‘bump into’ a Broadway star as they leave the theater.

Also

Civilian Hotel donates a portion of its profits to American Theatre Wing to help in its mission to support talent and creativity in the theater industry.

Pet‐friendly

Fluffy companions are welcome with Cozy rooms accommodating pets weighing in at under 40lbs. Larger animals need to be booked into a Spacious room. A $50 fee is charged for each stay and includes use of a bed and bowl, plus a treat, a toy, and paw wipes. See more pet-friendly hotels in New York.

Children

Little Smiths are more than welcome, though cots and extra beds are not available and there aren’t any child-oriented facilities. Bars and rooftop areas are also adults only.

Sustainability efforts

Worthy of mention. The hotel provides glass water carafes in all rooms and water stations in the hallways, and organic toiletries come in biodegradable bottles. Kitchen ingredients are sourced from local farmers and suppliers, food waste is composted, and plastic bottles are a no-no.

Food and Drink

Photos Civilian Hotel food and drink

Top Table

A table in the hotel’s snug second-floor inner sanctum, The Blue Room, puts you right next to the hotel’s hallowed collection of props from some of Broadway’s best-loved shows.

Dress Code

With a setting this theatrical, a little razzle-dazzle is called for.

Hotel restaurant

The hotel’s ground floor Rosevale Kitchen is their take on a zhuzhed-up American theater diner. A curved, ribbed leather ceiling and mirror panels are joined by red leather banquettes and brass accents for an upscale-brasserie feel. The menu is centered on French classics with an Asian twist such as steak tartare with Thai larb flavors and duck a l’orange with five spice jus. Also attached to the hotel is an Emmy Squared pizzeria, offering New York style pies with a Detroit edge.

Hotel bar

The Rosedale Cocktail Room is awash with vintage New York styling and Broadway-inspired artwork. Order their popular spicy margarita and browse the numerous floor-to-ceiling glass cabinets featuring original set design pieces. The high-ceilinged bar also opens to a spacious, open-air terrace with cafe seating overlooking 48th Street. Expect regular live jazz, as well as one of the largest selection of vermouths in the city. For a more elevated drinking experience, head skyward to the 27th-floor Starchild Bar. This double-terraced rooftop bar attracts post-work revelers and afterdark partygoers with large shareable cocktails, DJ sessions, and spectacular skyscape panoramas. 

Last orders

10pm.

Room service

In-room dining is provided by Pizza by Emily, part of the adjoining Emmy Squared pizzeria which stays open til late.

Location

Photos Civilian Hotel location
Address
Civilian Hotel
305 W 48th St
New York
NY 10036
United States

Civilian Hotel is located in the heart of New York’s Theater District, one block from Broadway and between Hell’s Kitchen and Central Park.

Planes

The closest place to touch down is Newark Airport, at around half an hour by car. The other main transport hub is JFK Airport, which is at least 45 minutes away. Arranged through the hotel, fares start at $75 per transfer.

Trains

If you’re arriving by railway, Grand Central and Pennsylvania stations are both around half a mile from the hotel. You’re also within a short stroll of several subway stations, with 50 St just a block away.

Automobiles

Few visitors choose to navigate NYC with their own wheels, and for good reason. Though if you insist, reception can arrange discounted parking just steps from the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Most who stay here are likely to have a show lined up, so it’s handy the hotel is a short shimmy from at least a dozen Broadway play houses. The bright lights of Times Square are also just a couple blocks away, which is home to several more landmark theaters. Shoppers looking to splurge will find plenty of opportunities in the ritzy boutiques of nearby Fifth Avenue. For more pocket-friendly pursuits there’s the vast leafy playground of Central Park just half-a-mile away. A visit to the ever-developing Hudson Yards is worth the stroll, particularly for its eye-catching arts center The Shed and its roster of regularly changing exhibitions. If knee-trembling heights is your thing, Summit One Vanderbilt combines dazzling art installations with breathtaking panoramas from over 90 stories up, with vertigo-inducing glass floors adding to the drama.

Local restaurants

Just across 8th Avenue, La Masseria has been serving up South Italian fare in an old-school setting for as long as most people can remember. It’s a perfect spot for an unfussy plate of pre-theater pasta washed down with a bottle of chianti. A couple blocks away, Yakitori Tori Shin is a top pick for Japanese food. Get close to the action with a seat at the counter, order the charcoal skewers and choose from their impressive selection of sake.

Local cafés

Nearby Amy’s Bakery has been a 9th Avenue landmark for over 30 years now, and still prides itself on making every loaf by hand with locally sourced flour. Freshly baked treats range from breakfast pastries to sourdough bagels and what they claim to be the best sticky buns in New York. The equally established Sullivan Street Bakery is another local favorite where baking is 24/7 with an emphasis on artisan, Roman-style breads and brewed-to-perfection Italian coffee.

Local bars

Named after a veteran cop from the prohibition era, Dutch Fred’s is a popular nearby haunt for flamboyantly prepared cocktails in an atmosphere that distills Hell's Kitchen’s upbeat energy. Colorful concoctions are joined by craft ales and shareable plates. Iconic Birdland Jazz Club is the quintessential New York music venue with roots trailing back to the 1940s. Today it still attracts the who’s-who of the scene with performances across two distinct levels with the option of dinner and drinks during the show.

Reviews

Photos Civilian Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this thespian-themed hotel in Midtown Manhattan and unpacked their greasepaint and souvenir theater programs, a full account of their Broadway break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Civilian Hotel in New York…

The Civilian Hotel’s brick-arch, street-level facade was carefully crafted to mimic the feel of a vintage New York theater. Tilt back, though, and just behind its 27-floors of mirrored glass that soar anonymously skyward. Yep, this hotel is all about theater, darling. Its narrow entrance could be a stage door, which invites you into the behind-the-curtain world of the playhouse. Dazzling marquee lighting references a dressing room mirror. A spiral stairwell is draped in sumptuous red velvet festooned with golden tassels. Black-and-white stills from iconic Broadway shows line the walls. 

And that’s just the start; sprinkled throughout are hundreds of historical artifacts, props, costumes and artworks from the thespian world. Tony award-winning set designer and architect David Rockwell served as impresario, and his boundless love of Broadway can be seen in every nook. But more than a museum, it’s a living celebration of the dramatic arts where out-of-towners can take in a show before heading to the rooftop bar to rub shoulders with the movers-and-shakers of Manhattan’s arts scene. 

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Price per night from $189.00