Brooklyn's Historic Bossert Hotel Will No Longer Be Just For Jehovah's Witnesses

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/5/9/85038/63111/hotels/Allelujah!_Brooklyn's_Historic_Bossert_Hotel_Will_No_Longer_Be_Just_For_Jehovah's_Witnesses

 

May 9, 2012  Here's some bad news for Jehovah's WItnesses, but good news for the rest of us: an exquisite 100-year-old Brooklyn landmark, the Bossert Hotel, is ready to be converted back into a regular old public use hotel again, after years of being owned, operated by, and inhabited by almost solely Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

Our friends at Brownstoner report that the building has applied to reconvert back to its original hotel use, meaning guests from all over, religious preferences aside, can come and enjoy the interior's polished white pillars, gilded ceilings, and bi-level marine-themed rooftop restaurant.

 

This is great news one more than one count, as the recent crop of Brooklyn hotels has skewed a little too hip and modern for our tastes. We'd love to see this place open up again as a tribute to its original 1912 Renaissance Revival design, with very few changes made to the interiors.

 

As we learned last fall, the hotel has functioned for the past thirty years as a regular old Brooklyn apartment building for some, yet for visiting Jehovah's Witnesses, the rooms were available completely free of charge. Which sure was generous, but never did anything to open up the Bossert experience to a wider audience. Hopefully now, the 14-story gem can eventually become a Brooklyn must-see—and, for the right price, a must-stay.