Fury as bohemian New York hotel immortalised in song by Bob Dylan is sold to Holiday Inn-style developer

Iconic Hotel Chelsea bought for $85m

• Scene of Dylan Thomas's famous last drinking session and Nancy Spungen's death

 

 New York's bohemian crowd is up in arms after an architect more famous for Holiday Inn than hippie chic was drafted in to renovate Manhattan's iconic Chelsea Hotel.
Famous as a veritable den of iniquity, it was home at one time or another to the likes of Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop and Leonard Cohen.
But now the free spirits fear developer Joseph Chetrit, its newest owner at a price of $85m (£51m), will ask architect Gene Kaufman to whitewash the walls in the same way he did when working for the international chain.

Death of the Chelsea? Bohemians fear it is the end of the road for the iconic hotel which has been bought by a property developer

Boho chic: The Hotel Chelsea, as it is officially named, was built in 1883, but it was not until the 1930s that it started to become a hangout for artists

'The whitewash of the Chelsea begins,' said long time tenant Ed Hamilton,  author of the book Legends of the Chelsea Hotel, and who has revealed on his blog that noted artworks are being stripped from the walls.
He said: 'Chetrit is a commercial real estate developer and someone who isn't interested in the history of the hotel but is out to make a quick buck'.

 

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The Hotel Chelsea, as it is officially named, was built in 1883, but it was not until the 1930s that it started to become a hangout for artists.

Regulars: Bob Dylan (left) wrote a song while staying at the hotel, and Janis Joplin (right) was celebrated in another tune by Leonard Cohen after he saw her there

Love story: Nancy Spungen (left) was found stabbed to death in Room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel, a crime for which her boyfriend Sid Vicious (right) would have stood trial had he not died from a heroin overdose

It was the honeymoon destination for Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan wrote a song about writing a song there, while Arthur C Clarke penned 2001: A Space Odyssey, in Room 322.
Leonard Cohen sang 'I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel' about Janis Joplin, and, among many other films and television shows, it was used as a set for Luc Besson's Léon: The Professional in 1994 and an episode of series 24.
Sid Vicious' girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death in Room 100 - a crime for which the Sex Pistol would have stood trial had he not died from a heroin overdose.
And Dylan Thomas drank 18 glasses of whisky before being taken to hospital to die of pneumonia.
Stanley Bard, who was manager of the hotel before being ousted in 2007, was said to have only selected the most interesting of characters as tenants and sometimes accepted art works in lieu of payment.
Mr Chetrit has not commented on the claims, while Mr Kaufman told the Wall Street Journal that the project would be 'more like a renovation' and 'subtle'.

Set: Parts of Léon, which starred Jean Reno and a young Natalie Portman, were filmed in the Chelsea

Hardly appropriate: An architect who designed the Holiday Inn has been drafted in to renovate the Chelsea, to the disgust of its fans