Spa Peachy: Townhouse Spa
In November 2000, Jamie Ahn left the world of finance for facials and pedicures and opened Acqua Beauty Bar, spa nirvana in Union Square. Setting a new standard for 14th Street, the award-winning Acqua Beauty Bar incorporates traditional Eastern techniques, holistic ingredients and modern technology to create a uniquely blissful spa experience.
In July 2006, Ahn opened a second spa location in Manhattan, Townhouse Spa on 56th. Approximately 6,000 square feet, Townhouse is the perfect place to socialize in a quiet, serene setting. This new concept of spa-as-lounge was inspired by New Yorkers who desire to linger at the spa into the evening hours. Offering new exclusive spa treatments from celebrity stylists and skin care collections, Townhouse encompasses three floors: one for men, one for women and one to shop, mingle and dine.
Townhouse Spa’s highlights include the Phoenix Suite, perfect for private meetings, celebrity interviews or strategy sessions with your assistant. You can even plug in your laptop as you put the final touches on a million-dollar proposal and pedicure.
Manicure and pedicure areas offer the perfect party venue, while Townhouse guests are invited to spa-on-the go with an incredible retail scene. Men have their own private floor with full-service spa treatments, including a one-spot-stop for hair trims, shaves, scalp massages, shoe shines, manicures, pedicures and mini-facials—all with the luxury of plasma TVs to keep an eye on the score.
The Location: Townhouse Spa is located at 39 West 56th Street between Fifth & Sixth Avenues.
Opened: July 2006
Phone: 212/245.8006
Hours: 7 Days a week—10 to 9 pm and later upon request
The Size: Three floors, approximately 6,000 square feet.
The Focus: Privacy, personalization and spa celebrations.
The Feel: Home-away-from-home. Understated elegance and metropolitan modern with a traditional twist. Gracious service with a hotel suite-like experience. Room service for cravings between treatments. Phoenix Suite with wireless internet, dual massage beds and fireplace. Lamp and candle lighting, imported area rugs and 24-seated lounge for pre-or post-spa dining. Extended hours. Spa anytime.
The Thought: Let’s spa together. A new place to gather. A private spa for men, a separate space for women. Full-service treatments for head-to-toe maintenance. Blow outs by appointment with top-notch stylists for men and women. Multi-modality massages, immaculate manicures and pedicures, exotic body treatments from Africa, the Far East and South America as well as Morocco. Specialized seasonal spa packages.
Design: Award-winning New World Design Builders led by Chris Kofitsas, one of the most respected in spa creation, with finishing touches by Eva Buchmuller, a classically trained painter renown for the design and execution of all NYC's Squat Theatre sets. Eva’s spectacular work at Townhouse includes delicate painting with Venetian Plaster technique in a beautiful pearl color throughout the spa and sea foam blue on the women’s floor. Her artwork also decorates the Phoenix Suite with a melody of paint, plaster and wax, creating a gorgeous faux leather look.
Details: A mix of masculine and feminine. Vaulted ceilings and spa portals to distinguish resting from digesting. Wood details from around the world, opalescent tiles and a steam room with personal waterfalls. A lounge with leather-tufted banquettes, walls decorated with mother of pearl shavings and a projector screen ideal for product launches and corporate events. A bar built from a 3,000-year-old Walnut tree in its natural state, decorated with mother of pearl and lighted onyx. Private manicure and pedicure party area for 20 with shared manicure tables and tiled floors resembling leather. Spa suites offer guests a place to loll, linger or negotiate million-dollar deals. Stairwells with plush burgundy carpets and iron railings and mahogany wood treatments throughout. Phoenix Suite, a couples suite, a multi-service massage bed (Grand Versailles), LCD TVs, and a library of music and inspirational readings. Jamie has thought of everything- right down to the smallest detail at Townhouse, from XBOX video games for the guys to a basket of cold towels and cucumber eye presses outside the steam room in the locker room.
The Floors: Men’s Floor: Highlights include a barbershop station with three sleek, reclining chairs for hair trims, shaves, shoe shines, manicures, pedicures and mini-facials. A lounge complete with L-shaped leather sofa, LCD TVs, wireless access and space for manicures and pedicures for four. Also find 12 lockers, shower, steam room with cooling rain showers and multi-purpose rooms for massages, facials and body treatments.
Women’s Floor: Highlights include a locker room with gorgeous vanity mirror, two showers, eye brow threading, on-the-spot blowouts, make up stylists, a steam room for five, four multi-purpose treatment rooms and the private Phoenix Suite with fireplace, LCD TVs, desks equipped with phone and internet access, massage beds, private shower and dining menu service.
Main Floor: Three Sections: Retail with full-service makeup counter of onyx and pearl glass beads, a velvet-covered wall draped with lingerie and camisoles, product and accessory showcases, coat check and a special area for skin analysis; lounge area of bar and dining space with a projector screen perfect for corporate events and pre-and post-spa dining and a manicure and pedicure party section for as many as 20 guests with five pedicure stations and special areas for waxing and threading.
Retail
Treasures: The Townhouse retail scene is packed with rare, exclusive treasures from around the world. Stylish and sensual spa-at-home stock, Asian loungewear, elegant jewels, buckwheat mittens, bathrobes for your puppy and celebrity-coveted product collections including Terme di Salsomaggiore, Savon, Sonya Dakar, Actifirm, IS Clinical, Epicuren, Arcona, Cellcosmet, Selona, Sharps for Men, Nufolia soft exfoliating cloths, Aroma M , UBH, Acqua Tan, Zents and Octavia Teas. Also find the Suracell Personal Genetic Health Program developed by renowned age management physician, Vincent Giampapa, M.D. F. A. C. S. Suracell identifies individual genetic nourishment needs, promotes repair of damage caused by the stresses of life and is clinically proven to improve the cellular process related to aging.
Highlights:
Exclusive Phoenix Suite with services including manicures, pedicures, massages, facials and body treatments with a private, deluxe shower. Pretty pit-stops for quick make-up, hair and manicure touchups and a projector screen to illuminate event images from corporate logos to family photos.
Floating services throughout Townhouse Spa and Spa Sherpas so guests don’t feel forgotten or overwhelmed as they’re pampered with luxurious treatments.
Spa treatments by age—from Cellcosmet
Healthy tonics, elixirs, rare imported teas from Asia, a libation or two, and a nutritionist on-board. Known in Asia as the Queen of Tropical Fruits, Mangosteen is mixed with a flute of fine champagne. This signature libation has vitamin-infused, ultra potent, anti-oxidant properties and is served when scheduling one of Townhouse Spa’s special spa packages.
A serene lounge with spa fare to meet-and-eat after spa treatments. Cuisine includes fun and light food created by some of Manhattan’s most talented chefs. Light lunch offerings include a spinach and strawberry salad with champagne vinaigrette, blueberry, mango and jicama salsa as well as gourmet sandwiches like roasted turkey with tomato jam.
New exclusive spa treatments from celebrity stylists and skin care collections and results-driven treatments for décolleté and derrière.
Makeup lessons for photo-ready faces from the artists at MUD institution.
Spa suites for two-to-twenty for get-togethers and business meetings and a steam room with personalized waterfalls—your very own place in the spa.
Treatments: Typical (Epicurean), Tropical (live plant cells) and Technical (LED, photo modulation light therapy, laser), Micro-ablation, Dermasonic (ultrasound for cellulite), and multi-sensory hydro-spas.
Top Shelf
Treatments SpaOceana…“Peace in a Pod”: This space age all-in-one treatment includes a 53-gallon personal hydrobath pod with over 20 massage jets operating simultaneously with a state-of-the-art digital LED lighting system. SpaOceana offers a revolutionary sampling of hydrofusion–the perfect combination of radiant heat and steam with adjustable temperature and a cooling mist, which can be infused with vitamins, natural essential oils and herbal aromas. Cocoon yourself in the pod and instantly shut the world out for the ultimate relaxing treatment.
Cosmecellular Facial
High Touch
Rejuvenate with Townhouse Spa’s new Cosmecellular Facial (60min/$275.00) with revolutionary cell control therapy. Cell control therapy is an innovative method that respects each step of the skin's biological aging and considers your own biological age and hormonal identity of skin. The Cosmecelular Facial begins with an application of Purifying Gel to cleanse and purify and a full face and neckline massage. Active Treating Tonic is applied to stimulate and tone the skin with an electrolytic action that produces a biological micro-peeling. After a fine, gentle peeling massage, Active Treating Tonic compresses the skin and Activator Gel is applied before a full face and neck massage. Active stabilized bio-integral cells, revitalizes the skin and produces a veritable cellular treatment. After a gentle massage, Eye Contour Cream supports the following Occlusive Mask. The rejuvenating facial is completed with a light massage with cellular Cream.
Dermasonic… “The Magic Wand”: A new, innovative way to treat cellulite that combines ultrasound treatment with non-invasive subdermal therapy (N.I.S.T) in one hand-held device.
Vibraderm…More effective than Microdermabrasion: Vibraderm can literally reverse your scars with its own smooth, vibrating paddle. Applied to the skin, this paddle increases circulation and gives the appearance of rosy, plump, radiant skin. Vibraderm refines the skin just like microdermabrasion, but allows a comfortable treatment without suction or abrasive crystals.
Revivassage… “The Hybrid Massage”: Grab your second wind. Like the much-coveted Toyota Prius, with Hybrid Synergy Drive®, this custom-blended 90-minute full-body massage incorporates cutting-edge, advanced techniques for the most efficient, energizing treatment. Clients will enjoy aromatherapy blends with a mixture of acupressure, shiatsu stretches, deep tissue and reflexology massages. Revivassage relaxes and melts away knots and tension and reenergizes, so the client leaves feeling awake and refreshed.
Private
Memberships: For the spa-going expert–VIP treatment. No sponsorship required, only a desire for decadent pampering. Benefits include special spa packages, priority booking, promotional pricing on facials, pedicures and products, the opportunity to try new treatments first, and invitations to private parties and events.
