This was a YMCA?
It’s a skeptical thought, pinging into my head as I contemplate the luscious woodwork in the lobby of Philadelphia’s Le Meridien hotel. We’re having a drink in the lounge area near the bar, and I’m staring at the gorgeous ornamental arches that embrace the entryway and lead into the registration room and the restaurant. Rich, gleaming wood paneling covers the lobby walls, crowned by an elaborate molding. The ceiling is high high high. It’s so Gilded Age. Like the library in a robber baron’s mansion.
Not that any robber baron ever lived here. Just good young Christian men, apparently, come to seek their fortunes in the big city and in need of safe and affordable digs. My husband, when I inform him of the 1912 Georgian Revival building’s original use, immediately asks, “Where’s the pool?” Everybody thinks the Y’s just all about the gym. But for a long time, it was just as much about housing. And yes, inexpensive housing, even though this looks about as far from cheap as you can get. In the old days, they were big on culture and refinement, and believed in building ’em beautiful, whatever the use.
And Le Meridien is beautiful, though not so much in that Gilded Age way these days. My eye goes from the wood-paneled walls to the huge flat-screen TV behind the bar to a blocky white metal chair with rose-stencil cutouts on the seat and back that no one would mistake for antique or even old. It’s as modern as they come.
Make that moderne. In fact, make it ultra moderne. That is definitely the vibe at this year-old Starwood property smack in the middle of town, just a block from Philly’s magnificent City Hall, which we admire from our window at lunch one day in the very hip (and excellent) French restaurant, Amuse.
It’s only in our fifth-floor room that I feel the shades of the former Y. That’s because, tasteful as it is, with its soothing gray walls and carpeting, the white linens on the bed and the red curtains at the single, narrow window, the room is, um, small. And has a not-exactly-stunning view onto the wall of a nearby building. The bathroom, while large, is shower- only.
Ah, well. That’s the big city. But you still get a great night’s sleep (fabulous down pillows!) and wake to all the promise of another grand day in the heart of a fascinating town.
The details
Le Meridien Philadelphia, 1421 Arch St., 866-716-8114, . Rates from $199.
