Title from collection. The Pantlind reopened in 1981 as the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel with a totally refurbished building and a twenty-nine story addition on the west side of the hotel, along the Grand River.
The Beaux Arts was a highly eclectic style, very popular in parts of Europe, and for some purposes, in the US at the time of the construction of the Pantlind Hotel, and for perhaps thirty years before. It was particularly popular with both builders and patrons for hotels (Waldorf-Astoria), as an indication of cultural sophistication and excessive opulence. The style expressed parts of several other, more pure styles, including the Italian Renaissance, Classical Revival, and the Baroque. One might view the Beaux Arts as a re-working of the purer Italian Renaissance (of which the St. Cecilia building is a great local example) into a sometimes dizzying display of opulence. Hotel guests viewing the outside of the building would expect to encounter yards of red velvet and gold tassels, with acres of gold leaf just inside, which is exactly what was there, originally.

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