Pocketbook HUDSON A 19th-century textile factory is reborn as a boutique bolthole engaged in an ongoing dialogue between past and present. Words: Timothy Anscombe-Bell Photography: © Adrian Gaut (unless otherwise stated)
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n Hudson, New York – a town whose identity has long been shaped by cycles of industry, abandonment and return – Pocketbook arrives with an unusual degree of
humility. Rather than positioning itself as a destination to be discovered, the hotel is presented as a place to belong: a welcoming, culturally porous space shaped by friendship, local collaboration and a belief that hospitality works best when it listens first. Occupying the city’s largest landmarked building, a former textile and novelty factory dating from 1883, Pocketbook spans an entire city block and nearly 70,000ft2. Yet despite its scale, the hotel feels disarmingly human. This is not a monument to adaptive reuse, but a social project rooted in the rhythms of Hudson itself. Locals drift through its public spaces. Artists, designers and neighbours appear as collaborators – active participants in the life of the hotel. And the atmosphere is relaxed, convivial and deliberately unpolished. Stylish, yes, but never self-conscious. This ethos is no accident. Pocketbook is the product of a close-knit group of partners: Sean Roland and Nancy Kim,
© Sean Davidson
together with Gabriel Katz of MacArthur Holdings alongside Jeremy Selman and Vipin Nambiar of HN Capital Partners. Kim and Roland, whose backgrounds include Ace Hotel and
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