Hotel Chelsea doors from the rooms of Andy Warhol, Jimi Hendrix, and more coming to auction

March 13, 2018

Screenshot of Iconic Chelsea Doors via Guernsey’s

Up until its first controversial sale to developers in 2011, drama at the Chelsea Hotel was reserved to its longtime list of celebrity occupants. From being the site where Sid Vicious reportedly stabbed his girlfriend to death to where Dylan Thomas went into a coma just before dying to the home of Madonna in the ’80s, the landmark is more associated with NYC characters and culture than perhaps anywhere else. And now average New Yorkers will have the rare opportunity to own a piece of this history. amNY reports that Guernsey’s auction house will be selling 55 original doors from the hotel, which, after “exhaustive research,” can be traced “to the iconic individuals who lived behind them,” including Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, Jack Kerouac, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Wolfe, Jim Morrison, and Jackson Pollack.

Via Wiki Commons

According to Guernsey’s, a homeless man “in search of a roof overhead” obtained the “well worn, white-washed, and plain” wooden doors that had been discarded during the building’s current renovation. The man, Mr. Jim Georgiou, lived at the Hotel Chelsea with his dog Teddy previously. Though Georgiou is no longer homeless, he recalls the difficulties of living on the street and therefore, has requested that a portion of the auction proceeds go to CityHarvest to help feed hungry New Yorkers.

Bids for the doors will begin at $5,000 when the auction commences on the evening of April 12th. Until then, beginning on April 5th, the doors will be on display at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery at 529 West 20th Street. More information is available here >>

[Via amNY]

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