Art Deco Hotels – Release Your Inner Flapper
Our edit of 10 of the best Art Deco Hotels includes iconic examples in London and Devon, New York and Miami, Cannes and Juan-les-Pins, Prague and Lisbon. French Art Deco may historically have led the way, but this great style is very much a worldwide phenomenon. Staying at any one of the world’s most famous Art Deco hotels is a thoroughly immersive way of experiencing this style at its best. You are elegantly enveloped by some of the finest examples of original Art Deco architecture, interiors and the full range of the decorative arts.
As a complete style Art Deco has produced dynamic collaborations between architects, painters, sculptors, and designers often resulting in complete environments in this style. There are even complete Art Deco districts like Old Miami Beach, Florida, where there are 800 surviving Art Deco structures and quite a few Art Deco hotels.
Having said that, many of our choices are however, elegant fusions of Art Deco and various classical and modern styles, both in their architecture and interior design. The degree to which the overall design can be said to be Art Deco is sometimes greater or lesser in our choice of hotels – particularly following recent refurbishments. But even where its influence is more subtle, the Art Deco spirit is always inescapable.
The Art Deco hotels in our list are some of the world’s largest, tallest, most luxurious, most glamorous, and also most romantic. By dint of their deeply evocative complete design environments, many of these hotels have been the settings for film, dance and music and some have inspired literature. How often can you say that about other hotel styles?
Claridge’s, London
Claridge's main entrance designed by Oswald Milne
Claridge’s was redesigned in the latest Art Deco style in the 1920s becoming the favourite party venue for London’s bright young things. Art Deco pioneer Basil Lonides was commissioned to redesign the restaurant and several suites. His magnificent engraved glass screens still adorn the restaurant today. The hotel was to became a world-renowned showcase for top British designers by the end of the 1920s. Oswald Milne designed a new main entrance and a façade of Roman stone and jazz moderne mirrored foyer completed Claridge’s new look. The great success of the Art Deco redesign was to inspire a much larger project in the early 1930s. Milne added a contrasting cubic brick block as an extension to the east side of Claridge’s. A major restoration in 1996 by the New York-based designer Thierry Despont, was inspired by archive photographs from the 1930s. The result is an updated Art Deco style that is best witnessed in the Foyer area with its striking Dale Chihuly chandelier. David Collins was also invited to create the new Claridge’s Bar.
