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Acqua Beauty Bar founder Jamie Ahn’s ambitious 6,000-square-foot spa-lounge hybrid shows up its West 56th Street neighbors with three floors of luxe furnishings that include mahogany detailing, English-style leather banquettes, and a long bar covered in mother-of-pearl and lighted onyx. Corporate clients are catered to in the lounge with a projection screen, wireless Internet, and takeout menus of salads and sandwiches, while nearby, the private manicure and pedicure space—home to gelatin-thickened milk-and-olive-oil treatments—accommodates a party-perfect twenty. The second floor men’s spa boasts a steam room with individual cooling showers and an inlaid pebble wall, plus a barbering station with three reclining chairs. Shaves are performed with London’s Geo. F. Trumper line, available at the ground-floor boutique alongside Geisha fragrances and posh lingerie. In the dimly lit women’s spa downstairs, ladies get Shiatsu floor massages or dip into one of two multi-sensory “SpaOceana” hydropods. These rocket-shaped 53-gallon hot tubs, topped with translucent retractable covers and LCD displays bubble energetically while emitting colors, vitamins, herbal extracts, aromatic steam, and vibration. Also very of-the-moment, high-tech facials use plant and stem cells and smoothing vibrating paddles. Late-night hours encourage barside post-treatment toasts of Champagne and rose-hued mangosteen juice. — Rose Reis

Although new, Townhouse Spa has already accommodated many brides in its spacious couple’s room. A bride can get a manicure, pedicure, facial, and a trip to the spa’s famed Oceana Hydra-Capsule for an hour-long steam and massage. The spa can arrange bridal-party-catered spa packages for five to ten people.

Groom Package
The second floor of this wood-paneled spa is strictly men only, so guys can primp in peace. They have their choice of any of the services on the women’s extensive spa menu, but the Executive Treatment is all testosterone. For three hours, grooms prepare for the big day with a Fitness Facial,  manicure, and massage, out of sight—and mind—from the bride.

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Best of New York Awards

• Best Midwinter Pedicure (2008)

Featured In

• Snakes on a Frown (9/25/06)
• Townhouse Spa Opens in Midtown (8/7/06)