The Hoxton, Williamsburg

The Rosenwach works on Wythe Avenue made the wooden water towers that stand on New York's roofs, and in 2009 the factory burned down. In 2018 the Hoxton went up in its place: nine storeys of new building in brick salvaged from the old one, and the carriage house that survived is now the main kitchen. The trade is still in view. From a window on the Brooklyn side, a water tower stands on its stilts above the old brick roofs, beside a brick smokestack; from the Manhattan side, floor-to-ceiling glass looks across the East River to the Empire State Building. The rooms come as Cosy or Roomy, which saves the brochure some adjectives. Clothes hang on an open brass-framed rail, and beside the bed, on a round wooden table, sits a black rotary phone.

Recommended for anyone who would rather eat in Williamsburg and cross the river for Manhattan than the other way round. Both kitchens are Michael Solomonov's. K'Far, in the lobby, opens at eight with coffee and ricotta kubaneh and carries on until dinner. Laser Wolf, on the roof, is a shipudiya, an Israeli skewer house loosely named after the butcher in Fiddler on the Roof: hummus and salatim, then kebabs and whole branzino off the charcoal grill, with Manhattan across the water. The L train is five minutes' walk and the ferry eight, and the ferry is the better crossing, the skyline growing all the way over. A Roomy sleeps two adults and a child, the crib is free, and the dog can come too. From Thursday to Saturday the grill stays lit until one in the morning, above brick that came out of one fire and has nothing to fear from charcoal.