LabelKing
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- May 24, 2002
- Messages
- 25,421
- Reaction score
- 268
Has anyone stayed at the SAS Royal Hotel, which is now unfortunately owned by the Raddison chain? Fortunately, however, for the hotel is that the Raddisson has not "restored" the whole thing with a gamut of unappealing and contemporary riffs off of the classic Arne Jacobson design. This also reminds me of the Gresham Hotel, which while preserving the esthetic integrity of the original edifice, has completely over-restored the whole thing, making it yet another "Heritage Centerpiece" for tourists and plutocrats to stay in. It might as well be Art Nouveau Disney version. Also keeping in line with the theme, are the stupid actions of the Russians and the Germans in demolishing their Cold War era structures. The most egregious examples are the demolition of Berlin's Palast der Republik and Moscow's Hotel Moskova--for a parking structure of all things. Oddly, they are going to build a sham replica of the Hotel Moskova but for all sakes it's going be good as a Chinatown Rolex. Another disgusting abuse is this demolition of the Paul Rudolphs Mitcheels house in Westport, CT by the new owners who expressed in a particularly vapid statement about buying the house for its lot. These sort of esthetic philistines should never be allowed to purchase significant pieces of design.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/ny...c05b64&ei=5070