Ironrose Hall

The Athenaeum of the Consilium of the Phoenix

Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan Island, New York

Spells in Place:

• XXX: Potency XXX Ward, with Bans against XXX (XXX)

Background Points: XXX (Hallow •••• [Resonance: XX], Library •• [XX], Sanctum ••••• • [Size X, Security X])

Ironrose Hall used to be a gentleman's social club in the 1920s. In the times since, it has seen life as a restaurant, a bed and breakfast, and most recently a pub and cigar bar. It closed down when its owner died in the World Trade Center disaster, and has gone unused since then.

It was purchased by a mage named Theophrastus, an older gentlemen, in the wake of the Feast of Wisdom. He has since decided to turn this building into the new Athenaeum of New York. He has not received any objection from any of the other Mysterium in the city, though Jonathan of the Evangelists has stated a preference for finding the old Athenaeum.

In the meantime, he runs his medical consulting practice out of a corner suite of offices. His normal clients are doctors and the very wealthy seeking answers to the problems that they themselves do not have the expertise to answer, the time or resources to research or both. He runs this business under the name of Philip Hohen.

Ground Floor

The Ironrose Hall façade faces the street outside, which sees plenty of foot traffic by shoppers in the Manhattan historical river district on the Upper West Side. It boasts a fine porch around the front of it, including a small lavatory (L) that is now locked and closed, no longer in service.

• Grand Taproom: This taproom, with two rows of supporting beams running down the middle of the room, was once the heart of the Ironrose Hall. It has seen use as a meeting room for a gentlemen's society, a large living room and as the taproom of a pub. Its decorations are still very much in that vein, with wrought iron and dusty brass everywhere, and old framed prints from Europe. Off to one side is a lavatory (I), and the cloakroom (K). There is also a fireside lounge (M) off to one side as well.
• Dining Room: The dining room is a very formal room, with a grand table and chandelier over it. It is clearly new to the premises, having been purchased by Theophrastus in anticipation of announcing its official dedication with a banquet to host the Consilium of New York.
• Servery: The servery has seen a variety of uses. It was originally the room to which dinner courses were brought right before they were served, in order to make room in the actual kitchens for cooking and baking. It has also been used as a prep kitchen and the bedroom of the bed and breakfast proprietors. It is largely empty now, save for tables along its walls. It also connects to the bar room (D), open to the bar in the taproom. It was here that many of the pub regulars came to play darts and the like, and there are remnants of that on the walls. A skylight far up on the second story ceiling shines down the wells cut in the floors above.
• Kitchen: A more than ample set of kitchens. Though modern plumbing has been installed, it even includes an old well pump system down a small corridor, as well as a dumbwaiter. There are two circular ovens built into the walls, and impressive amounts of workspace. The range is along the eastern wall, and refrigerator and freezers are built into the western wall.
• Garden & the Maze: The gardens and maze are somewhat overgrown, from a lack of care. There is a lavatory (L) that has been cleaned and repaired here, however, and the greenhouse (E) is cleaned and repaired as well, though not put to any use thus far. Nonetheless, the gardens are very peaceful, scattered as they are with statuary and lush vegetation.
• Hohen's Offices: Hohen uses two of the smaller rooms on the ground floor as the offices of his consulting business. The street-level lobby (Area F) acts as his entry foyer. The room beside it (G) is his waiting room, with a connection to the lavatory (H). The stairs in the lobby lead upstairs to his office and professional library (see First Floor). Guests are also welcome to use the patio (C) outside for smoking.
• Other Rooms: There are a variety of other rooms on this floor. A private dining room (B) acts as the common dining area for the Athenaeum, and adjoins a private terrace (A) that opens to the gardens outside. The old private banquet hall (J) is now filled with boxes and dust, its door to the outside locked.

Cellars

The cellars of Ironrose Hall are hardly expansive, though they have always fit the needs of the place. The most remarkable feature is the hot mud pool (C) just off of the smoker's bar (E). Though it was closed up during the Hall's use as a restaurant and pub, it has seen ample use during its more private incarnations. It includes a small shower and changing room (B).

• Larder: The larder is stocked well with shelves and hooks for hanging preserved meat, though it is utterly empty, as the kitchens above are more than sufficient to store the food needed by Ironrose Hall currently. The only passage into this room is through the kitchens above, and it opens onto four wine cellars (D) and contains a tap for the well (A).
• Game Room: The game room is populated with a variety of high tables with stools around them, all dust-covered. This room has seen all manner of table games in the past, including being used for gambling during the Prohibition. Theophrastus intends to turn this room into the library, after he has replaced the door with a much stouter portal.
• Vault: The vault here is a new renovation of several smaller rooms. The door that leads into it from the smoker's bar outside is a metal-cored stout oak door that has been enchanted to be much stronger, and its locks more difficult to unlock. Within the room are several pedestal nooks mounted along the northern wall, with sealing glass doors. Along the southern wall (F — I) are a variety of steel-doored vaults. The room itself contains enchantments that protect it.

First Floor

The first floor contains additional public room area, in the form of upper dining rooms, a second bar and the upper taproom. It is circled almost entirely along its outside by a wooden-railed balcony (E), and lavatories (A) are found throughout its length. There is a skylight that shines down from above (B), passing through a railed-in light well cut in the floor above the Servery below.

• Upper Taproom: The upper taproom has been completely cleared out and fitted with a variety of tables and desks. Shelves are being built into the walls, and it is clear that this room will serve the Athenaeum as a library. Theophrastus has already set up a reading settee in the window nook in the eastern part of this room. There are also smaller private lounges (D, F) that lead off of this room. One of these (F) also has the staircase that leads up to the bedrooms above.
• Hohen's Offices: Hohen uses two other rooms on this level as part of his consulting business office. The level above his lobby (F) serves as his office, while he maintains an extensive medical, herbal and alchemical library in the adjoining room (H).
• Bar: This room, which once served as a bar, has been filled with comfortable Victorian-era antique lounge furniture. The bar access remains here, however, and it is perfectly arranged to allow discussions and debate.
• Upper Dining Room: The upper dining room is furnished with a pair of tables, as well as a buffet table along the western wall, in the northwest corner. Theophrastus intends for this to be the dining area for visiting and resident Mysterium.
• Suite 1: This is Theophrastus quarters, well Warded and private.
• Servant's Hall: Formerly the work area for servants, this contains a variety of storage closets (C), the laundry and the like. It also once boasted a small lounge area for resting servants next to the hearth, but this area is entirely utilitarian.

Second Floor

The second floor is entirely private, and not meant for visitors, though it was once the floor for those who rented rooms here as a bed and breakfast. It boasts several small sitting areas (F), and several lavatories (A), and is encircled by several balconies (E).

• Sitting Room: The sitting room is the central living space for those who have bedrooms here. It is elegantly appointed, and meant to house those Awakened who visit Ironrose Hall, or who have just arrived from out of town, and need a place to live for a while until they find their own sanctums. Several bedrooms (G) branch off of the sitting room, and there are a couple of lavatories (A) available, as well.
• Bedrooms: The bedrooms at the Ironrose Hall are simply appointed, but furnished with sturdy and well-made materials. Some of them are smaller than others, but all of them have a bed, bureau and wardrobe, a vanity, correspondence desk and chair and a seat beside the window.
• Suite 2: This suite is reserved by Theophrastus for important visitors, especially other Curators or other important folk within the Mysterium. It is incredibly elegantly appointed, with a private breakfast balcony.
• Servants' Dorm: A large area fitted with tables and bunks built into the wall, this area sees no real use at all. The closet nearby is fairly empty as well, reserved for the use of a visitor (who is assumed to be placing any traveling companions he is with in the bedrooms [G] just south of this closet).