Chicago's great hotels, the Palmer House and the Grand Pacific, were at the time of their erection the largest hotels in the country, but they have been surpassed by the huge pile of the Palace, at San Francisco, probably the largest city hotel in the world. The Palace is now connected by a covered bridge with the Grand Hotel, which was the largest in the city previous to the erection of the former. All the capitals, bases, and mouldings of the thousands of pilasters and columns which are spread over the interior and exterior of the Palace are Doric except in their proportions. A series of seventy or more bay-windows run through all the storeys above the stores which occupy the street-front of the ground-floor. Each storey of each bay is adorned with Doric columns of wood, which differ only in slight variations iu height, and each bay is a replica of its neighbor. In the interior there is a grand courtyard, sur rounded by tier after tier of galleries, each supported by Doric columns, while the central space is covered with a plain glazed roof. The Grand Hotel is somewhat rococo in style, but has some variety in outline and is decidedly superior to its towering neighbor.
Suburban and Country the great number of hotels dotting this vast country from the heights of the Kaaterskills to the edge of the Atlantic, it is hard to choose those which should be mentioned.
Ponce de Lcon largest and most magnificent hotel in the world is the Ponce de Leon at St. Augustine, Florida (5/. 69, fig. t). It is built in the style of the Early Spanish Renaissance, which was strongly influenced by the Moorish spirit. The main material used for the build ing—towers and all—is a shell-deposit (coquina) which, mixed with cement, forms one indestructible composite. The walls were not built, but were cast or moulded as they arose, and they thus form one vast mon olith of a light mother-of-pearl color that glitters in the sun and turns to dark blue the shadows cast upon them by the deep reveals. The main coloring is a bright-salmon terra-cotta, which is principally used in the ornamentation. This is very rich on the towers and in the court, but the outer walls, following the style of the architecture, are simpler, the lively colored terra-cotta appearing only in the coignes, in the arches and veran das, and in the corner towers. The main entrance is rich with faience. The roof is of dark Spanish tiles. The very material conforms to the natural conditions of the place, and as a contrast to the flat and monotonous country around the building is as varied in outline as possible. The hotel is built around a terraced court about which runs a corridor. The court,
which is of tropical splendor, is adorned with fountains and with palms, vines, roses, and other luxuriant plants. A unique feature of the court is the great grilles, or cages, rising from the top of each side-entrance to the corridor of the third storey. These grilles are filled with climbing plants and gorgeous flowers, among which flash birds of brilliant plumage. But perhaps the most charming vista of this magnificent structure is pre sented by the interior of the rotunda, which is of four storeys, around each of which there runs a corridor with different arches and columns. The rotunda is supported by four great piers and eight oak columns, on each of which are carved four lifesize caryatides. The great dome is decorated with figures carved in high relief, and above these are allegorical paint ings representing the history of Stain and Florida.
The illca,:ar at St. Augustine 69, fig. 2), though differing in detail front the Ponce de Leon, follows the same general architecture. The great façade presents a pleasing variety of towers, pavilions, minarets, arcades, and roofs of old Spanish tiles. The Alcazar, as an adjunct to the Ponce de Leon, serves the purpose of providing amusement and occupa tion to the guests of the hotel. There is a crescent arcade of booths opening on the Alameda. The quadrangular court of the interior, a tropical garden, is surrounded by a covered arcade, behind which are numerous bazaars.
The Sara/0ga Hotels, at Saratoga Springs, New York, are among the largest, the most costly, elegant, and comfortable, in the world. The Grand Union is a magnificent structure of brick and iron of modern style, with a street-frontage of 24o0 feet. Along its entire eastern front of Soo feet runs a giaceful iron piazza of three storeys. The rear rooms open upon the handsome interior court-square, beautifully adorned with trees, shrubs, and flowers. The United States Hotel constitutes one continuous line of buildings, six storeys high and over 1500 feet in length. It is Nor man in style, and its mansard roof is embellished with pediments, gables, dormer-windows and crestings, and three large pavilions. Congress Hall is built in the most substantial manner of brick with brownstone trim mings. Its walls are 20 inches thick, and are hollow in the centre. The roof is mansard, with three pavilions. The hotel has a western frontage of 416 feet, with a high promenade piazza 20 feet wide and 249 feet in length. Two wings, each 30o feet long, extend from the western front, and at the rear ample piazzas overlook the interior court.