Luxury Hotels - Turning historic buildings into fine hotels

MSNBC Itineraries: Turning historic buildings into fine hotels (http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/22/10814881-turning-historic-buildings-into-fine-hotels)

A neat way to preserve history...and have a nice hotel stay!

The latest developer to take a swing, of course, is Donald Trump, who announced a deal last month to convert the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C., into a 260-room luxury hotel. Originally opened in 1899, the Pennsylvania Avenue landmark is famous for its grand Romanesque design and the panoramic views from its 315-foot clock tower.

Interesting article-- thanks for posting.

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Yes, this has been done on numerous occasions.
Amanresorts has .
Fullerton Hotel, Singapore is another GPO, etc conversion

Four Seasons Milan is another excellent hotel that comes to mind, which is by far the best in Milan in my opinion.

Of course there are countless other examples of historic buildings being turned into hotels.

Interesting article, thanks for posting. RC New orleans was a department store before being converted into a hotel. This is a great way to save historic structures and provide an interesting hotel stay.

The Nines in Portland used to be a department store and is now a neat Starwood Luxury Collection property.

The Four Seasons Istanbul at Sultanahmet is a former prison; the (hopefully) soon to open Lion's Palace in St. Petersburg and the Gresham Palace in Budapest are also good examples.

This trend in on the increase. More and more banks are becoming hotels (probably less dangerous for us all).

The classic Four Seasons have already been mentioned. Here are some more examples:-

Mandarin Oriental Barcelona (Bank)
The Conservatorium Amsterdam (Bank & Music Conservatory)
The Dylan Amsterdam (Theatre)
One Aldwych London (Bank)
Hotel de Rome Berlin (Bank)
Soho House Berlin (Department Store and ex Stassi headquarters)
The Lanesborough London (Hospital)
Amantaka Luang Prabang, Laos, (Hospital)

There are lots more, too!

One Aldwych was originally headquarters of the Morning Post but later occupied by Lloyd's immediately before being converted into a hotel.

One Aldwych was originally headquarters of the Morning Post but later occupied by Lloyd's immediately before being converted into a hotel.

Interesting - I did not know that! Thought it had been a bank for years.

Il Palazzo at the Bauer, Villa Feltrinelli, and Villa d'Este were all of course private homes.

Il Palazzo at the Bauer, Villa Feltrinelli, and Villa d'Este were all of course private homes.

and some are still home/villa/hotel. including feltrinelli, both under burns and current owner. as well as say villa tre ville. and more recently ballyfin. not sure about bauer's palazzo mocenigo.

then there are those still being used as official residences - umaid bhawan palace and rambagh palace. are they actually the primary residence?

aman summer palace is very cool, will be interesting to see how access at upcoming versailles hotel compares

FS Istanbul was a prison as far as I know.
And of course the whole Aman Sveti Stefan island is a historic site, not just one building.