Dreaming Walls

In 1884, the Chelsea Hotel in New York was the first cooperative apartment complex in the United States. With high and lavishly ornamental ceilings, a neogothic cast-iron stairs, and an attractive location near Broadway, it quickly attracted eccentric residents, among them the writers Mark Twain and Thomas Wolfe. In the 1960s, the complex was regarded as an icon of the counterculture movement, thanks to residents such as Patti Smith, Jim Morrison and Robert Mapplethorpe. The artists living there today fear that the recent major renovation work marks the end of an era. Dreaming Walls takes us inside the fascinating apartments, weaving together past and present.