The document discusses various historic buildings that have been transformed into modern hotels, highlighting projects in locations such as Poland, the U.K., California, and Canada. Each hotel renovation aims to restore historical elements while incorporating contemporary design aspects and amenities, ensuring they meet modern standards. The transformations not only revitalize the structures but also contribute to the cultural and economic revival of their respective areas.

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Hotels Remaking History
ron nyren
Historic buildings often make declined have gained new life as tectural and interior elements
Ten renovation and ideal hotels, whether or not they downtowns strive to recover. to reclaim the site’s history and
retrofit projects make over began life as one. Converted indus- Often it is necessary to reduce provide a sense of place—for both
trial structures, office buildings— the room count in older buildings locals and out-of-town guests.
structures to meet the and even a water tower—have to ensure that rooms are large
been repurposed as hotels. In enough to meet contemporary Ron nyRen is a freelance architecture, urban
needs of the contemporary other cases, historic hotels that fell standards. Modern design touches design, and real estate writer based in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
hospitality industry and into disrepair when central cities interweave with restored archi-
tap the place-specific
power of older buildings.

2. 1. andel’s Hotel Lodz
LoDz, PoLanD
One of Poland’s largest cities, Lodz served as a major London-based Jestico + Whiles and OP Architekten
textile industry center in the 19th century. By the of Vienna, the facility also includes a large atrium, a
1990s, however, the industry had fallen into decline, restaurant, and seven conference rooms. On the roof,
and the textile mills at the city’s heart were left vacant. the ballroom and the swimming pool are enclosed in
The mixed-use project Manufaktura opened in the city glass; the pool cantilevers above the main entrance.
center in 2006, converting industrial buildings dating The design restored and preserved historic red-brick
to the 1850s to house cultural and leisure facilities and walls, vaulted ceilings, and cast ironwork while insert-
adding a new retail center. Last year, andel’s Hotel ing contemporary sculptural elements, such as the
Lodz opened in a former weaving mill within Manufak- atrium’s elliptical concrete forms lit by color-changing
tura and now offers 220 standard guest rooms and 58 lighting. Vienna International Hotels & Resorts of
suites and extended-stay apartments. Vienna is the hotel’s operator.
Designed for Vienna, Austria–based real estate
developer Warimpex Finanz- und Beteiligungs AG by
©Vienna international Hotelmanagement ag
©Vienna international Hotelmanagement ag

3. 2. The Boundary
LonDon, U.K.
On Boundary Street in the Shoreditch area of east London, London joint venture Prescott &
Conran Ltd. created a hotel and dining venue out of a vacant, deteriorated industrial ware-
house built in 1893. Design firm Conran & Partners, also of London, removed the mansard
and added two floors containing duplex bedrooms with double-height living spaces.
The design retains the building’s brickwork, large sash windows, and light wells. The
new floors are clad in green copper with a timber sunshade. Opened last year, the build-
ing includes a restaurant, a roof garden with bar and grill, a café, and a food store. Each
of the 17 guest bedrooms reflects the style of a different designer or design movement,
including Bauhaus, Charles Eames, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and the Shakers.
Sustainable design features include natural ventilation and materials obtained from
local suppliers. A new groundwater cooling system, which relies on an artesian aquifer
under the restaurant, operates the air conditioning, refrigeration systems, ice machines,
and other equipment.

4. 3. Citizen Hotel
SaCramenTo, CaLifornia
With the help of a subsidy from the city of Sacramento and historic tax credits, local devel-
oper Rubicon Partners and local design firm Vitae Architecture recast the 14-story, 1920s-
era California Western States Life Insurance office building as a 198-room hotel. Creating
the Citizen Hotel involved gutting and rebuilding most of the interior, restoring the art deco
exterior and marble-paneled elevator lobby, and seismically retrofitting the structure.
The operator, San Francisco–based boutique hotelier Joie de Vivre Hospitality, held town
hall–style meetings with residents and local organizations to help brainstorm a personality
for the hotel that would be in tune with the city, emphasizing an urban, historic, traditional
look with graphic touches that refer to the city’s role as the political center of the state.
Opened in 2008, the Citizen Hotel is located across a park from City Hall. It includes a
climate-controlled, tented terrace deck, plus conference and meeting space; the Grange
restaurant occupies a metal-and-glass extension designed by San Francisco–based
Michael Guthrie & Company.

5. 4. Gladstone Hotel
ToronTo, CanaDa
The Gladstone Hotel is billed as Toronto’s oldest continuously operat-
ing hotel, dating back to 1889, but by the end of the 20th century, long-
deferred maintenance resulted in water damage and general dilapidation.
In 2002, the family of local architect Eberhard Zeidler purchased the build-
ing and began extensive renovations, completed in 2005.
Zeidler Partnership Architects restored the Richardsonian Romanesque struc-
ture’s stone ornamentation, brickwork, wood siding, and arched windows, as
well as the original hand-operated elevator. Plumbing and wiring were updated
and new wood floors installed. Each of the 37 guest rooms and suites was
designed by a different local artist or team of artists, chosen by the Zeidlers
through a juried submission process. The hotel also has a café, a bar, meeting
and conference rooms, a ballroom, and short-term rental artists’ studios.
tom arban

6. 5. Hilton President Kansas City Hotel
KanSaS CiTy, miSSoUri
In its heyday, Kansas City’s President Hotel played
host to entertainers such as the Marx Brothers and
Frank Sinatra in its Drum Room lounge. Built in the
1920s, it is listed in the National Register of Historic
Places. But for 25 years after its closure in the 1980s,
the only residents were pigeons. Developer Ron Jury
of Overland Park, Kansas, and local firm Gastinger
Walker Harden Architects have resuscitated the struc-
ture, which reopened as the Hilton President Kansas
City Hotel in 2006.
The design revamped the 453 small guest rooms
into 213 larger rooms and suites; restored the Drum
Room and other meeting and community spaces;
and reconstructed ceilings, terrazzo floors, and col-
umns. It is the first completed project in Kansas
City’s redevelopment of the South Loop, which also
includes the Power & Light entertainment district.
mike sinclair

7. 6. Hotel Felix
ChiCago, iLLinoiS
For years, Chicago’s Hotel Wacker served as a
single-room-occupancy property. Oxford OBG
Investment Partners of Chicago purchased the
building in 2007 and, with hospitality design firm
Gettys and architecture firm Cubellis, both of Chi-
cago, restored the 12-story hotel’s historic 1926
exterior and reconstructed the interior to meet
modern standards. Opened last year as the Hotel
Felix, the building incorporates contemporary
sculpture, prints, and photographs in the two-
story lobby and other public spaces.
Green design strategies include recycled-con-
tent carpet, use of rapidly renewable resources
such as bamboo and cork flooring, high-efficiency
mechanical systems, and heat/motion sensors
that put thermostats into efficiency mode when
guests leave their rooms. The hotel is designed
to achieve a Silver rating under the U.S. Green
scott tHompson
Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Envi-
ronmental Design rating system.

8. 7. Joule Hotel
DaLLaS, TexaS
The Dallas National Bank Building, built in the Gothic revival
style in 1927, had much of its ornamentation stripped during
remodeling over the years. In 2008, the 20-story building
reopened as the 129-room boutique Joule Hotel. Adam D.
Tihany, with New York City–based Tihany Design, and local
architect of record Architexas re-created the facade using the
original architectural drawings.
Tihany’s interior design includes commissioned photographs
of Dallas displayed throughout the building, as well as a large,
rotating gear in the lobby as a reference to the city’s role in the
oil and gas industry. Named after a unit of energy, the hotel
includes an adjacent new ten-story tower, the rooftop terrace
of which supports a cantilevered swimming pool that extends
over the street below. Juno Development was the developer for
owner Tim Headington, president of Headington Oil Company;
both companies are located in Dallas. The project drew on tax-
increment financing from the city as well as historic tax credits.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide of White Plains, New
York, is the operator.
eric laignel

9. Urban splasH/© simon webb pHotograpHy
8. Midland Hotel
moreCambe, LanCaShire, U.K.
The Midland Hotel, which opened in the 1930s in the seaside town of
Morecambe, was designed by English architect Oliver Hill as a three-story
art deco structure that follows the curve of the seawall, maximizing views
of the water; its exterior was coated with white cement impregnated with
fragments of glass and carborundum.
As the resort town’s popularity fell in the 1950s, the hotel fell on hard
times and was vacant when the Liverpool offices of developer Urban
Splash and architecture firm Union North took it over in 2003. The team
restored and upgraded the building, creating a weatherproof version of the
deteriorated glittery finish, preserving historic components such as large
wall panels by English artist Eric Gill, and adding six suites in a new roof-
top addition clad in zinc. The 44-room hotel reopened in 2008.
Urban splasH/© simon webb pHotograpHy

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9. Mövenpick Hotel Hamburg
hambUrg, germany
Nearly 200 feet (60 m) tall, a water tower dating to 1910
served as a landmark of the urban district of Sternschanze in
Hamburg long after its closure in 1961, but it had reached a
state of significant disrepair. Patrizia Project Development
GmbH of Augsburg, Germany, brought in architect Falk von
Tettenborn of Munich to convert the structure, located in a
park, into a hotel for Glattbrugg, Switzerland–based Mövenpick
Hotels and Resorts.
The work involved restoring the brick exterior, removing the
reservoir and pumping equipment, replacing the roof struc-
ture, and inserting a new load-bearing structure in place of
the steel one, which had rusted beyond repair. A tunnel cut
©möVenpick Hotels & resorts
beneath the surrounding park brings guests into the lobby,
eliminating the need for a vehicular drop-off in front of the
tower that would have disrupted the park. New glass atriums
bring light into the lobby; a glazed two-story extension incor-
porates a restaurant and conference spaces. Opened in 2007,
the hotel incorporates 226 rooms on 16 levels.

11. 10. Westin Book Cadillac Hotel
DeTroiT, miChigan
Detroit’s decay took a toll on what was once
the world’s tallest hotel. Developed in 1924 in
the center of downtown by three local brothers
named Book, the Italian Renaissance revival
structure closed in the 1980s. Water penetration
damaged what vandals and scavengers had left
behind. Then Cleveland-based Ferchill Group
partnered with the city to return the building to
its former glory, using a combination of private
financing, city and state loans, and brownfield
tax credits.
Kaczmar Architects, also of Cleveland, led the
efforts, which involved demolishing crumbling
floors and creating 455 hotel rooms, 67 condo-
minium units, and three restaurants in a structure
that once had had 1,136 rooms. Completed in
2008, the project also included restoring historic
terra-cotta, brick, and plaster; installing historically
appropriate windows; and restoring two ballrooms
and building an addition to house a third. Star-
wood Hotels and Resorts is the hotel operator. UL
kaczmar arcHitects incorporated
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