There are actually a bunch of historic Westins:

- The Westin St Francis, San Francisco - 1904
- The Westin San Jose - 1926
- Moana Surfrider - 1901
- The Westin Portland Harborview - 1927 (admittedly, the historic interiors are all gone)
- The Westin Book Cadillac - 1924
- The Westin Great Southern, Columbus, Ohio - 1897
- The Westin Poinsett, Greenville, SC - 1925
- The Westin Nova Scotian, Halifax - 1928
- The Westin Paris - Vendome - 1878
- The Westin Excelsior, Florence - 1928, building much older
- The Westin Excelsior, Rome - 1906
- The Westin Palace, Madrid - 1912

Still, it's true, the vast majority of Westins are modern buildings.

The brand has had so many identities.

It started as a collection of existing Pacific Northwest/West Coast hotels. The St. Francis is the sole remaining hotel in the chain from this period.

In the late 50s, the chain started building modern hotels. The Bayshore Inn is the oldest remaining one of these, now called The Westin Bayshore Vancouver. At this point, the chain still owned and operated pretty much all of its properties.

In the 70s, the chain suddenly grew enormously, building a slew of huge, modern hotels in big cities, often designed by John Portman (LA Bonaventure, Atlanta Peachtree Placa, Detroit Renaissance Center, etc). These were often just managed or franchised, not owned anymore, like Sheraton and other chains were also doing.

The chain stayed focused on big city convention/business hotels until the Starwood era, when it started opening more suburban hotels and resorts.

It feels like the chain has stayed pretty much static since the sale to Marriott, except in China, much like Sheraton.