Named in honor of Ludwig Bemelmans, the creator of the classic Madeline children’s books, Bemelmans Bar is a timeless location. The bar maintains its Art Deco legacy with chocolate-brown leather banquettes, nickel-trimmed black glass tabletops, a dramatic black granite bar and a 24-karat gold leaf-covered ceiling. Guests are charmed by its distinct New York style and the large-scale murals in the hotel bar, the only surviving Bemelmans' commission open to the public.
Bemelmans was a successful artist for The New Yorker, Vogue and Town and Country and had achieved enormous success with the Madeline children’s books series. Using his distinct style of art, he transformed the bar with whimsical scenes of Central Park that included picnicking rabbits and ice skating elephants. He painted the murals, still enduring, at the Hotel Carlyle in 1947 in exchange for his family’s getting 18 month’s residence on its seventh floor.
Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898 – October 1, 1962) was an Austria-Hungary-born American writer and illustrator of children's books and an internationally known gourmet. He is known best for the Madeline picture books. Six were published from 1939 to 1961; a seventh was discovered after his death and published posthumously in 1999.
