Travel

Get a Retro Room: 10 Historic Buildings Turned into Great Hotels

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There are some great hotels out there, no doubt; ones with great rooms and places to eat, perfect locations, and famously great service. Then there are hotels that offer all of those things, but are also housed in a great classic building, the type of place you look at and think, “They just don’t build them like this anymore.” There are plenty of others across America, but these ten in particular offer everything you could want from a truly iconic hotel.

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1 / 10

Hotel Langham, Chicago

The view from the Langham, looking over Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and all of the iconic buildings the Windy City has to offer is worth the price of admission alone, but there’s so much more to this downtown hotel than just the view. Since it’s the old IBM Building designed by architect Mies van der Rohe, you’re literally sleeping in a work of art. All of that, plus world-class service and beautiful rooms make this the kind of hotel experience you splurge on.

Cris Miolina 2 / 10

Palomar, Philadelphia

Built in 1929, the Architects Building was the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and today it’s the home to Philly’s premier boutique hotel. Located in the heart of the city, you get great food, great service, a wine hour from 5–6, you can bring your pets, and the Palomar holds a prestigious LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. So it’s a new spin on an old classic.

3 / 10

Hotel Settles, Big Spring, TX

Pretty much left for dead since the 1980s, the building underwent a $30 million dollar renovation in 2012, and the “grand dame” of Big Spring is now one of the American hotels you should go out of your way to stay in.

4 / 10

Chicago Athletic Association

It’s difficult to convince any savvy traveler that it’s really worth staying in the touristy part of any city, and the part of Chicago so close to Millennium Park is about as heavy with out of towners as you can get. Chicago Athletic Association, housed in a handsome Gilded Age Venetian Gothic building, is worth dodging the people with the selfie sticks. In fact, it’s one of the best new American hotels.

5 / 10

The Roosevelt New Orleans

There are plenty of classic places in The Crescent City, but there’s just something that just stands out about this place. Opened in 1893 as “The Hotel Grunewald,” The Roosevelt New Orleans is the type of hotel that you walk around thinking about the history that has gone through there. The place was a hotbed for jazz in the 1920s and 30s, and today it is one of the places people will point you to if you want to grab a Sazerac.

6 / 10

Park Central Miami, Miami Beach

You want classic Miami Beach Art Deco? The Park Central is where you go. It was iconic when it was built in 1937, and it remains to this day one of the buildings you think about when you think about the area’s iconic neon lights and classic buildings.

7 / 10

Historic Hotel Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA

You know any hotel that features its famous ghosts on its website has some history, and since Historic Hotel Bethlehem operates on the site of the city’s original hotel that was opened in 1741, you know that this building that was built in 1922 has that in spades.

8 / 10

Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, MA

The epitome of New England coziness, the Red Lion Inn has been in operation since the 18^th century, and it looks like it in the best way possible. With a great bar, welcoming lobby cat, pool, hot tub, a porch filled with rocking chairs, and a hand-carved turkey sandwich that might be the best you’ll find in the entire region, you find a reason to spend a night or more here.

9 / 10

Georgian Terrace Hotel, Atlanta

Southern hospitality and old school glamour meet in this hotel that’s been Atlanta’s finest for over a century. President Calvin Coolidge, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tallulah Bankhead all stayed there, but Bruce Springsteen, the Ramones, Patti Smith, the Pretenders, Kiss, and Billy Joel all played there. So you get the glitz, but you also get the rock.

10 / 10

The Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee

Way ahead of its time when it was opened in 1893, this Henry C. Koch-designed building was billed as the “Grand Hotel of the West,” and has remained one of Brew City’s greatest buildings ever since.

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