From the time they emerged in American cities in the 1820s,
commercial luxury hotels were far more than places where a traveler
could eat and sleep--they were icons of style, opulence, and
technological sophistication. Molly W. Berger offers a compelling
history of the American hotel and how it captured the public's
imagination as it came to represent the complex--and often
contentious--relationship among luxury, economic development, and
the ideals of a democratic society.
From New York to San Francisco and points in between, Berger
profiles the country's most prestigious hotels, including Boston's
1829 Tremont, which served as a model for luxury hotel design; San
Francisco's world famous Palace, completed in 1875; and Chicago's
enormous Stevens, built two years before the great crash of 1929.
The fascinating stories behind their design, construction, and
marketing reveal in rich detail how these buildings became cultural
symbols that shaped the urban landscape.
Though America's large, luxury hotels were impressive
architectural and corporate accomplishments, they were lightning
rods for public debate about urban development and economic power.
Inside the buildings unfolded human dramas that shaped ideas about
race, gender, and class. Berger deftly explores the tension between
both elite and egalitarian values that surrounded America's luxury
hotels.
The American hotel evolved into a "machine for living," soaring
to skyscraper heights, defining ideas about technological
innovation, and creating a unified system of production and
consumption unique to the modern world. "Hotel Dreams" is a deeply
researched and entertaining account of how the hotel's material
world of machines and marble integrated into and shaped the society
it served.
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