This carefully researched, profusely illustrated volume identifies and explores some thirty outstanding resort complexes, explaining their architectural details, their social histories, and the often surprising stories behind their lovely wooden facades.

Lists and describes eighty historic resorts across North America--all built between 1847 and 1929, and distinguished by their grandeur, rural setting, atmosphere and design, and activity schedule--with information on their history and character

An architectural study of the large Adirondack hotels that focuses on the cultural history of travel and tourism.

A sweeping, richly illustrated architectural study of the large, historic New England coastal resort hotels

In small cities and towns across the United States, Main Street hotels were iconic institutions. They were usually grand, elegant buildings where families celebrated special occasions, local clubs and organizations honored achievements, and communities came together to commemorate significant events. Often literally at the center of their communities, these hotels sustained and energized their regions and were centers of culture and symbols of civic pride. America's main street hotels catered not only to transients passing through a locality, but also served local residents as an important kind of community center. This new book by John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle, two leading experts on the nation_s roadside landscape, examines the crucial role that small- to mid-sized city hotels played in American life during the early decades of the twentieth century, a time when the automobile was fast becoming the primary mode of transportation. Before the advent of the interstate system, such hotels served as commercial and social anchors of developing towns across the country. America's Main Street Hotels provides a thorough survey of the impact these hotels had on their communities and cultures. The authors explore the hotels' origins, their traditional functions, and the many ups and downs they experienced throughout the early twentieth century, along with their potential for reuse now and in the future. The book details building types, layouts, and logistics; how the hotels were financed; hotel management and labor; hotel life and customers; food services; changing fads and designs; and what the hotels are like today. Brimming with photographs, this book looks at hotels from coast to coast. Its exploration of these important local landmarks will intrigue students, scholars, and general readers alike, offering a fascinating look back at that recent period in American history when even the smallest urban places could still look optimistically toward the future. John A. Jakle is emeritus professor of geography at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Keith A. Sculle is the head of research and education for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. He and Professor Jakle have coauthored The Gas Station in America; Motoring: The Highway Experience in America; Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age; Signs in America_s Auto Age: Signatures of Landscape and Place; and Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture. With Jefferson S. Rogers, they are also coauthors of The Motel in America.

The Breakers, the Waldorf, the Biltmore, the Sherry, the Pierrethese landmark hotels are synonymous with grand luxury and style. When they were built, in the 1920s, their refined elegance and grandeur set the bar for hotels and resorts the world over. Responsible for creating these and countless other hotels throughout the United States, were the partners of a single architectural firm: Schultze & Weaver. Together, this duoan architect and an engineervirtually invented the glamorous lifestyle made famous in films like Grand Hotel. Catering to the social elite of which they were themselves a part, Schultze & Weaver synthesized the Old World style of Renaissance Italy, Moorish Spain, and Georgian England with all of the modern amenities that made hotel living luxurious. This book presents portfolios of fifteen of the firms most spectacular hotels, culminating in the Art Moderne masterpiece of the Waldorf-Astoria. Over two hundred period photographs and hand-colored architectural renderings chart the ascent of the American hotel in all its glory and glamour, before the Great Depression forever changed the lifestyles of America's rich and famous. Essays address the cultural and technological developments that underpin the creation of resort and residential hotels, including the elemental role played by Schultze & Weaver. This book is published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami, held in celebration of their tenth anniversary.

From its beginnings as the humble inn, the hotel has undergone enormous changes over the centuries. Elaine Denby charts the development of the Grand Hotel and how it has kept pace with technological innovations.

Built in the 19th and early 20th centuries, America's magnificent hotels were considered the "palaces of the people". "America's Grand Hotels" profiles dozens of these establishments, including San Francisco's Palace, Chicago's Palmer House, Boston's Tremont, and, of course, the Waldorf-Astoria and the Plaza in New York City.