Anyone Want a Desk From the Wellington Hotel?

There were still a lot of desks available at the Wellington Hotel liquidation sale. The beds were all but gone, the headboards too. The wardrobes were few and far between. Even a box labeled "luggage holders" sat empty. But the desks and what I could charitably identify as "the worst of the lamps" remained.

Midtown Manhattan’s century-plus old Wellington Hotel shuttered in December of 2021; during the height of the pandemic, it had been used as housing for those without. A few months ago, it was revealed that developer Gary Bartnett’s Extell Development Company had purchased the property. As New York magazine classified it in 2010, Extell "is emblematic of a new type of New York real estate firm that specializes in developing ultraluxury buildings that are akin to gated communities in the sky, where buyers with millions to spend can satisfy nearly any desire without ever stepping outside." In the way that these types of buildings have become interchangeably commonplace, Midtown hotels like the Wellington were also once a dime a dozen: early 20th century properties with non-distinct features, ornate carpeting, big beds, mahogany duped furniture. A night at the three-star establishment would cost you about $229, neither the least nor most expensive stay in New York City that you could muster.

For the past two months, the Wellington has held a slow liquidation sale, handing off the hotel’s myriad furniture and other goods to anyone who comes in off the street with any interest. I popped in Thursday and Friday, the final two days, eager to grab a lamp, maybe. What did anyone buy at a hotel liquidation sale anyway?

Dominick Mirabile of Best Buy Auctioneers ran the show, standing at the center of the torn-down lobby behind a desk, bartering a Bible with a man as I walked in. "Two dollars," the customer offered, to which Dominick accepted. Best Buy Auctioneers had to clear out "800 rooms in eight weeks," no small feat, though Dominick told me most people snagged "whole rooms, bed, wardrobe, headboard, lamp," and all that. No need to stay at the Wellington Hotel if you had Wellington Hotel at home. 

To be fair, I’m sure the Wellington has seen better days; the scene was decidedly less glamorous than the recent Gramercy Park Hotel liquidation sale appeared to have been (also run by Best Buy). To walk around its lobby was to bear witness to all its myriad imperfections and crumblings. A blocked off kitchen bar, a ceiling segment collapsed and exposed, wires dangling just out of reach of patrons. The biggest steals, as far as I could determine, were the media tables: one for Bibles and one for hotel paperbacks. Little I recognized but each looked well-loved, or at least paged through, in its own way. Off to the side of the mini-bookstore was a trash can (was that for sale?) of mostly Laurel and Hardy VHS tapes. The most baffling items were a set of faux-fur covered toboggans, all leaned up against a wall labeled "THREE WOMEN" in the same font as the Lisa Taddeo novel. Had they shot the Three Women adaptation at the Wellington Hotel?