Post Company Completes One Cornelia with Kees Cocktail Bar

Joining agave bar Mixteca and the first New York City outpost of L.A. taqueria Tacos 1986, the subterranean cocktail bar Kees now completes One Cornelia, the multi-concept West Village hospitality hot spot. Jeff Bell, owner of the pioneering hidden cocktail bar Please Don’t Tell (PDT), helms Kees, which draws its moniker from the Dutch nickname for Cornelius (a nod to its location and Bell’s ancestry). Post Company—the visionary multidisciplinary design studio behind Raf’s, Fedora, INNESS, MOLLIE, and more—not only designed Kees, but One Cornelia’s other two concepts, as well.

An understated glamour, informed by New York City’s historic hotel bars and infused with “luxurious going out energy,” according to Bell, dresses the space. “For me, the truly special aspect of Kees is its sense of intimacy and surprise,” Jou-Yie Chou, a founding partner of Post Company, tells Surface. “The concept itself—a destination cocktail bar tucked beneath a street-corner mezcalería and taco stand—is delightfully theatrical, while also serving as a subtle nod to the relationship to Please Don’t Tell.”

From vintage armchairs to velvet banquettes, a chamfered stone bar beneath a custom ribbed-glass lightbox, veined marble, and sculpted Venetian plaster columns lend textured sophistication. The welcoming nature of wood and patinated brass accents contribute to this. “What is perhaps most unexpected, however, is the atmosphere,” he adds. “Despite its dramatic premise, the room feels remarkably warm and inviting. It is a place designed to linger, with intimate nooks and tucked-away corner booths that encourage conversation and discovery.”

That feeling comes from both the scale of the space, with its dropped ceilings, and—according to Chou—“its richly layered material palette: tapestry-clad walls, softly glowing hand-blown glass pendant lights, and tactile finishes that envelop guests in warmth. At its center, the bar radiates a gentle glow, its geometric metalwork drawing inspiration from Gothic ornament, while grounding the room with a quiet sense of permanence.” And yet, despite the enveloping majesty, the bar program is delectably approachable.