Tag: Historic Hotels
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London’s Great Northern Hotel Is Now Boarding At King’s Cross Station
Having shown you an aerial view of London's Great Northern Hotel and its integration in the redesign of King’s Cross Station, we ventured over earlier this week to find out how four years of renovation had spruced up this once-derelict 1854 hotel. Not surprisingly, its location at the intersection of six London underground (metro) lines, national, and international railway stations, means there is a hive of activity around the hotel.
Once you step through the doors and move up from the buzzy downstairs bar to the guest floors and one of its 91 rooms, all of that fades away, to be replaced by unexpected silence and lots of that new hotel smell we love so much. Three available room categories include entry-level Couchettes, top-floor Wainscots, and larger Cubitts. We could happily spend time in any of them, but to us the choice for one over the other is best based on your reason for staying and your color preference. Read on to find out why.
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Lessons In Cute: Swooning Over the Fullerton Hotel's Bellhop Bear
You know those people who can't walk by a pet store without coo-ing over the adorable puppies in the window? Or, say, walk around a mall without popping their head in every darn shoe store? Well, that's pretty much us when it comes to cute teddy bears, and we totally fell for this little guy on a recent spin through the lobby at Singapore's Fullerton Hotel.
Dubbed the "Fullerton Bellhop Bear," he is one of four collectible stuffed animals being offered by the iconic hotel.
The complete Fullerton Bear collection includes: The Fullerton Postmaster Bear (referencing the hotel's history as a former post office), The Fullerton Bellhop Bear (pictured), The Fullerton Bay Ship Captain and The Fulleron Panda Plush Bear.
And just in case you're rolling your eyes right now at the frivolity of this post, keep in mind that the sale from each bear goes towards supporting two charities chosen by the hotel: Mainly I Love Kids (MILK), and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF- Singapore). The fundraising initiative started last year with just the Postmaster Bear, but due to its popularity, the hotel debuted the other 3 bears this past April.
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The Ultimate Hotel Desk Amenity: Antique Custom Embossers
Here's something you're not likely to find at too many other hotels in New York City (or anywhere, for that matter): an old-fashioned embosser, bolted to a desk at the brand new High Line Hotel.
We think the embosser perfectly sums up the historic, literary vibe of the guest rooms, which all have custom-built furniture, classic novels, and hand-picked antique rugs. As writers, we could happily see ourselves holing up in here, typing away at our antique wooden desk as the light streams in from the east-facing window.
Despite the plethora of old-school amenities here, the embosser is hands-down our favorite feature of the hotel, and one can be found in every single guest room.
If you're wondering just what you'll be embossing, each device contains a brass plate imprinted with one of the hotel's five logos. Yes, that's right—five logos. Overkill? Maybe. But then again, when you can boast about having a custom desk embosser in every room, why not five? Heck, why not twenty?
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New York Hilton Midtown Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity...Or, At Least, Hotels
We recently mentioned an Atlantic City casino hotel that was celebrating its 10th birthday with cash giveaways and a big ol' concert. Well, that's one way to do it.
Over in Manhattan, New York Hilton Midtown is celebrating the big 5-0 by launching a new website that fills people in on the hotel's colorful history (did you know this was the first hotel to replace keys with keycards? Yeah, neither did we!).
But there's more happening here than just reminiscing over old black-and-white photos (see above).
Another component of the birthday celebrations are what the hotel is calling 50 Random Acts of Hospitality, which calls for New York Hilton Midtown employees to "engage in random acts of hospitality". In case you're wondering just what that means, the acts will include: offering complimentary room upgrades, handing out umbrellas on rainy days and helping guests score tickets to local attractions and events.
In other words, everything a hotel is supposed to do anyway.
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5 Things We Learned From Assouline's New 'Luxury Collection' Book
If you're feeling wistful this weekend, a good way to kick back and set out on a magical hotel journey—without ever leaving your home—is to flip through Assouline's new 160-page Luxury Collection book, which is part of their Hotel Stories series.
The Luxury Collection: Hotel Stories devotes a mini-chapter to each of the 80+ hotels under Starwood's chi-chi Luxury Collection brand. There's history, and celebrity interviews, and design details—but you can technically find those things anywhere on the internet. What really makes the book stand out are the photos. Rich, full-color, splashy images of ITC Mughal, Gritti Palace, Al Maha and tons more.
While drooling over the images, we managed to scan a bit of text too. Here are five takeaway facts about Luxury Collection we didn't previously know:
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6 Vintage NYC Hotels To Make Jay Gatsby Feel Right At Home
In honor of Baz Luhrman's much-hyped The Great Gatsby hitting theaters tomorrow, we've put together a list of Manhattan hotels where (we think) Jay Gatsby himself would have stayed. From art deco glamor to 1920s-themed cocktails, these are a few 'great' hotels with vintage style all of their own.
This historic hotel opened in 1929 under the name "The Lexington," then for a while it became the Radisson Lexington. Now, nearing completion of a multi-million dollar renovation, it's back to being The Lexington. The new design pays homage to jazz age glamor with "brilliant gold elevator doors, and verses from Irving Berlin's Russian Lullaby…dancing through the room." Rates from $359/night.
Jay-Z and Leonardo DiCaprio showed up at The Plaza on Wednesday night to celebrate the The Great Gatsby's premiere, which didn't surprise us at all. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda were big fans of this hotel, and in their honor, a Fitzgerald Suite will debut tomorrow (starting at $2,800/night), featuring Art Deco furnishings, photos of the author as well as the cast of the 2013 film, the complete F. Scott Fitzgerald collection, and gramophone-shaped iPhone speakers.
As a bonus, the hotel teamed up with Moët & Chandon to create a Gatsby-inspired cocktail, made with Moët Imperial and a sugar cube soaked in green Chartreuse. The drink is available exclusively at the Plaza, and is a unique way to 'soak up' some history. Non-suite rates from $584/night.
Four more after the jump!
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The Stoneleigh In Dallas Has Morphed Into a Le Meridien
The most historic hotel in Dallas has officially changed hands, but all of the historic flair of The Stoneleigh Hotel will remain untouched just under the Le Meridien name.
The hotel, originally built in 1923, has seen plenty of stars through out the years; it was where Hollywood's movers and shakers stayed while visiting the Texas city. It has seen everyone from Elvis Presley, Judy Garland and Katharine Hepburn in its glory days, to Jessica Simpson and Lebron James more recently after a 2008 refurb.
The new owners, HEI Hotels, plan to update the lobby-bar with modern furniture and take advantage of the unique courtyard to attract Dallas' social-set to the Uptown area hotel. Already, the landmark Beaux-Arts building has changed the restaurant name to T/X, and serving up revamped Latin-American cuisine. We do appreciate when hotels give their properties a little love and spruce things up a bit, even when they're historical legends.
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ATL's Racy Clermont Lounge To Be Reborn As Boutique Hotel
The last time we talked about Atlanta’s Clermont Lounge, it was during our review of Anthony Bourdain’s “The Layover”. In that episode we learned about this old-school strip club establishment whose aging dancers seemed to tickle the fancy of both Bourdain, Alton Brown and countless other celebs and tourists.
But there’s another part of the Clermont that’s been ignored--the Motor Hotel, which shut down in 2009. Built in the 1920s, the brick building became a hotel in the ‘40s and over the years fell into disrepair. It was ordered to close by health inspectors because of dirty linen, bedbugs, mold and unsanitary plumbing. It has sat abandoned while the downstairs lounge continued to operate.
In comes BNA Associates LLC, a team of Nashville and New York real estate developers determined to revitalize the Ponce de Leon Avenue place into a 98-room upscale boutique hotel set to open as early as 2014.
While some welcome the revitalization, others are more concerned about the future of the Clermont Lounge and its “talented” staff. Apparently they need not worry—for now.
"The Clermont is important to the Atlanta community, and the beloved Clermont Lounge is part of our redevelopment, as we do not plan on interfering with it," said Ethan Orley of BNA Associates.
[Photo: Clermont Hotel]
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Did We Stumble Upon A Secret Passageway At Millennium Biltmore LA?
We reported last month on the flurry of trendy new hotels coming to Downtown LA, but one place that's not likely ever to go out of style is the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, which opened back in 1923.
Located on Pershing Square, the hotel was designed by the same firm as the Waldorf-Astoria, and its richly-decorated interiors are appropriately over-the-top.
For example, Rendezvous Court (which originally functioned as the main lobby) was inspired by a Spanish cathedral, and features vaulted wood ceilings, Italian travertine stone walls, and a bronze double staircase. The impressive space was even featured on a recent episode of Glee!
Wandering through the hotel's opulent ballrooms (there are four total), we came across a bizarre feature in the Gold Room, a large banquet room that's divided into an upper and lower half by a semi-circular balustrade. And at the far end of the room, we noticed that a small door had been left ajar. Not one to pass up the opportunity to act out an Indiana Jones scene, we peeked inside and realized (to our delight) that we had discovered a secret passageway leading to another part of the hotel!
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Soak Up Eastern European History At These 7 Old-World Hotels
If Paris, Rome and London have begun to lose their luster and you're looking for a novel way to explore Europe's vast terrain, don't fret. Way over on the other end of the continent, countries like Romania, Hungary, Poland, Estonia and Croatia beckon with 17th century castles, lush countryside, and unspoiled coastal cities. Here's a look at some of the most stunning old-world hotels to be found in the region.
Three Sisters Hotel, Estonia
This Relais & Chateaux-branded property is actually made up of three former merchant houses, built in the fourteenth century, and located within the walls of Tallinn's Old Town. Guest rooms (all renovated in 2003) convey the building's intimate, medieval vibe, but it's the suites that get the most play: four-poster beds, claw foot tubs, and spacious living rooms with the original ceiling beams.
Downstairs, guests can cozy up next to the fireplace, sip on vodka in the dungeon-like Beluga Bar, or head to the award-winning Bordoo restaurant for a five-course degustation menu (65 EUR pp) featuring Estonian specialties like onion consomme, steamed whitefish, elk "cocotte," beef fillet and apple with salted caramel.
Rates from $500/night.
Six more after the jump!
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Take A Sip Of History in the Brown Palace Hotel Lobby
Ask anyone in Denver about the city's oldest hotel, and they'll either point you towards the Oxford Hotel or the Brown Palace (technically, the Oxford opened a year earlier, in 1891, but in our eyes, they're both pretty special). However, in terms of star power, we think the Brown Palace wins out.
The hotel, which recently became an Autograph Collection property in September, has hosted every president since Teddy Roosevelt, with the exception of Calvin Coolidge and Barack Obama. And on the ground floor, the room that Henry C. Brown (the hotel's founder) used as his office is now a kick-ass cigar lounge named Churchill, with a customized humidor of over 60 cigars.
But our favorite feature about the hotel is the thing you see above. It's a water fountain, yes, but the story goes deeper than that.
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Choo Choo! Denver's Union Station Hotel Scheduled For 2014 Arrival
Lots of new hotels are on their way to Denver (Renaissance, Aloft and a second Westin at Denver Int'l Airport), but perhaps the most exciting is a 112-room hotel opening in the city's iconic Union Station.
Originally built in 1894, the station is crowned with a vintage sign reading, "Union Station: Travel by Train" in giant red neon letters, harking back to the station's heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was serviced by 80 trains a day.
Now, almost one hundred years later, Union Station is set to become a hive of activity once more.
Most of the 112 guest rooms will be housed in two pavilions attached to the main terminal. One category of lower floor rooms will be more on the narrow side, with a design inspired by the interiors of old Pullman railroad cars (cool!). Meanwhile, upstairs, another category of loft-like rooms will boast exposed brick, timber beams, and 17 foot high ceilings.
Best of all, the rooms will all feature double-paned windows and soundproofed walls to keep out any "choo choo" noises traveling up from the station below.
