Grand American Hotels

In the preface to this handsome photographic tribute to a former age, architecture critic Paul Goldberger refers to the great hotels of American and certain Canadian cities as popular icons: only the privileged have enjoyed the opulent service and appointments at the Plaza or Waldorf in Manhattan, at Chicago's Drake, the Beverly Hills in L.A. or the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal; nonetheless, these hostelries and the comforts they represent are solid presences in city skylines and the fantasies of the public. Hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations, selected by photo editor Walter, capture details and wide-angled views of luxurious dining rooms and lobbies; the text by Donzel ( Grand European Hotels ) and Gregory, publisher of Vendome, offers historical overviews of the hotels and references to specific parties and events associated with each. Many of these hotels have been restored and refurbished, yet, as this volume points out, their heyday was closer to the beginning of this century than to the end. ( Dec.)