1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge stands at the Pier 1 entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park, a waterfront where cargo ships worked until 1983. The park pays for its upkeep from buildings inside its footprint, and this is one of them: a ten-storey block developed by Starwood Capital and Toll Brothers City Living, opened in February 2017 under Barry Sternlicht's 1 Hotels. Brooklyn Heights neighbours went to court over its height and the view from the Promenade, and lost. Over half of it is built from regional and reclaimed material, including Domino Sugar Factory heart pine and Brooklyn Botanic Garden walnut, with a 25-foot planted wall in the lobby. It is LEED Gold and holds one MICHELIN Key.
The 195 rooms are sold by their view. The Park King is the smallest at 225 sq ft (20 m²), looking over the park. The Dumbo King, 300 sq ft (27 m²), looks inland across Furman Street towards DUMBO. The Bridge King is the same size turned north to the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Liberty King looks west over the water to the Lower Manhattan skyline. The glass runs floor to ceiling and much of it slides open, though nobody gets a balcony. Every room has a filtered water tap and a rain shower in mahogany and marble. Most have no bath, so ask the front desk to guarantee one or book a bigger suite, up to the 2,000 sq ft (185 m²) Riverhouse and its carved stone tub.
The view is the reason to book. The hotel sits just south of the bridge, about 200 metres from its Brooklyn tower, close enough that a Bridge King window frames that tower and its cables, with the Manhattan Bridge behind and the Manhattan shore beyond. The Financial District skyline lies to the west, and belongs to the Liberty King rooms and to Harriet's Rooftop on the eleventh floor, while Harriet's Lounge, indoors on the tenth, has it behind glass. In season a roof-deck plunge pool has loungers kept for guests. At street level Barbuto Brooklyn slides its glass walls open onto the park, which serves as the garden: three lawns, steps built from granite salvaged from the Roosevelt Island Bridge, and a waterfront promenade facing the Financial District.
The trade is the bill and the borough. A $45 nightly amenity fee plus tax goes on every room, the pool closes for the winter, and the rooftop is a public bar, with DJs at weekends and the lounge open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Midtown is a subway ride from High Street, nine minutes' walk away. Book it to wake to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across it after breakfast.
