Top 10 20th-century hotels

Hotels are protean structures. Demolished and rebuilt to satisfy the economic demands of their owners; revamped to accommodate the needs and whims of their guests: few hotels survive for many years unscathed. No doubt most are more pleasant places as a result, but blandness lurks behind this process. Like the digitally altered images that fill glossy magazines, we have little idea of what has been lost in this quest.

These hotels are icons of 20th-century architecture and design. Built by pre-eminent architects of the last century, many suffered years of neglect before being restored. Only recently are these remarkable legacies starting to be respected and loved. Perhaps this reflects a growing nostalgia for the 20th century, as well as an increasing dissatisfaction with lacklustre hotels that could be anywhere in the world.

Here’s the list:

  1. Le Corbusier hotel, Marseille, France
  2. Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Dessau, Germany
  3. Africa Pension, Asmara, Eritrea
  4. Historic Park Inn, Mason City, Iowa, US
  5. Laine Hotel, Riga, Latvia
  6. New Yorker Hotel, Miami Beach, US
  7. Hotel Therme, Vals, Switzerland
  8. Brasilia Palace Hotel, Brasilia, Brazil
  9. La Concha, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  10. Habana Riviera, Havana, Cuba

You can read this article on The National.

2012