Vogue Magazine called it "New York's Most Glamorous New Restaurant," and as Casa Cruz New York enters its fifth year, the iconic venue welcomes a record number of members and guests seeking enjoyment, community, and a world-class art collection.
NEW YORK, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire-±¬ÁϹ«Éçapp/ -- The award-winning design firm Hernandez-Eli Architecture has debuted its work in collaboration with acclaimed restaurateur, designer and entrepreneur Juan Santa Cruz for one of North America's most elegant and unforgettable dining destinations, Casa Cruz. With its extensive art collection and growing reputation as a haven for creatives, the restaurant-club has hosted Fashion Week events recently with top designers like Sandra Choi and David Yurman.
Known for refined and glamorous experiences in a hotspot with 99 six-figure investor partners, Casa Cruz offers highly curated, often exotic dishes in its magnetic location in an Upper East Side townhouse. Expanding its offerings in recent months, Casa Cruz has launched new lunch menus, including a quick-service option that opens doors to more guests.
A breakout project for Hernandez-Eli Architecture, or — a firm better known for its social and environmental mission behind inspired architectural solutions for learning environments, innovative residences, museum public realm works, and affordable housing designs — Casa Cruz reflects the close collaboration between the visionary owner Juan Santa Cruz and the meticulous, craft-oriented practice led by HE's founder and principal, Juliet Hernandez-Eli, the architect and designer.
"Their new menus offer a natural extension of the venue's sophisticated material palette and décor, with handcrafted metals, custom de Gournay wallpapers, and original artworks by Keith Haring, Fernando Botero, and Louise Giovanelli," says Hernandez-Eli. "Craft and artisanship are privileged first and foremost in both circulation and programmed spaces."
Vogue has called it "New York's most glamorous" restaurant, and just this season Tripadvisor extolled its "exquisitely designed" interiors. A follow-up to what Architectural Digest called the "" Casa Cruz pop-up that rocked New York just a decade ago, spans all six stories of its 12,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts townhouse on 61st Street near Madison Avenue. Entirely gut-renovated and carefully reconstructed to build a two-story restaurant, a sophisticated bar, a fourth-floor lounge for members only, and a fifth-floor private event venue, all interconnected by a curving "sculpture staircase."
Detailing and Materiality
As The New York Times reported, guests find much "[t]o admire: the copper detailing, Brazilian cherry paneling, turntables with vintage LPs, Boteros, Warhols, fireplaces and walls upholstered in Casa Cruz green corduroy — the same propriety shade as the double crepe staff dresses by Emilia Wickstead," the New Zealand fashion designer based in London.
Each floor and space offers a unique visual and tactile experience, making them as diverse as their menus and programs, adds Hernández-Eli, who has also created university lounges and welcoming pantries for clients such as the New York Institute of Technology. She points to the hammered-copper members bar, custom carved marble bathroom sinks, a sinuous lacquered stair railing, as well as bespoke copper door handles and the sculptural custom banquettes, bars, and gantries.
"A copper-inlaid marble compass rose adorns the lobby floor and points due north," says Hernandez-Eli. "Fluted curved door handles are mounted on high-polish copper backplates, designed to reflect the handle geometry and provide the illusion that the handles continue on both sides. The design of our curved copper walls carefully reflect and focus lighting inward, enveloping patrons in a warm glow."
Celebrating Success in 2026
With tours and events, longtime members and newcomers are celebrating the success of Casa Cruz Restaurant & Club, the multistory hospitality venue at 36 East 61st Street in Manhattan.
To arrange access, interviews, project background and imagery, contact Alex Abarbanel Grossman, C.C. Sullivan, [email protected] or (973) 897-3940. C.C. Sullivan serves as press liaison for Hernández-Eli Architecture (HE), and we are glad to help arrange interviews, imagery and background for related coverage.
About HE
Founded in 2017, Hernández-Eli Architecture (HE) is an architecture and art practice founded by architect Juliet Hernandez-Eli, R.A. A registered minority- and woman-owned business enterprise, HE is dedicated to architecture and the built environment as transformative works of art and catalysts for cultural and socioeconomic progress. The firm practices this ethos across a diverse portfolio spanning research and experimental works, cultural, institutional, commercial and residential projects. HE works with progressive clients to realize relevant futures for their constituents. These projects and institutions include public realm and infrastructure improvements for the Museum of Modern Art, New York; spaces for learning and gathering for the New York Institute of Technology for both their Manhattan and Long Island campuses; learning spaces at Riverdale Country School's campuses; and affordable housing for nonprofit operators such as IndiaHome, dedicated to creating new ways of living for an aging and marginalized community. The firm works at both ends of a spectrum to create meaningful architecture; at the scale of space and at the scale of details. The commitment to craft, artisanship, and carbon footprint reduction grounds each project.
About Juliet Hernández-Eli
HE Founder and Principal Juliet Hernandez-Eli has been a registered architect in the states of New York and Connecticut and elsewhere, and she practices nationally. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Princeton University and a Master in Architecture from Harvard University. She has taught at Harvard University, Pratt Institute, and Boston Architectural College, and she served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at UC Berkeley. Her work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Architecture Magazine as well as books by Princeton Architecture Press and Actar Publishing.
Media Contact
Chris Sullivan, Hernandez-Eli Architecture, 1 212-945-0703, [email protected],
Alex Abarbanel-Grossman, C.C. Sullivan, 1 973-897-3940, [email protected],
SOURCE Hernandez-Eli Architecture
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