demo

REGAL REMODEL
HÔTEL DE CRILLON,
PARIS

SMALL-TOWN

WONDER
THE LOST KITCHEN,
FREEDOM, MAINE

Few hotels have a
history as rich as
Hôtel de Crillon, which
was commissioned
as a palace by
King Louis XV and
once hosted Marie
Antoinette’s piano
lessons. Last July,
the residence—now
owned by Rosewood
Hotels & Resorts—
re-opened after a
four-year renovation
that brought modern
amenities like central
air-conditioning
while preserving its
iconic 18th century
inishings, including
gold ceilings, grand
staircases and
marble walls.
—Abigail Abrams

It’s no easy task to
turn a small Maine
town into a foodie
destination, and yet
that’s exactly what chef
Erin French did with the
Lost Kitchen, a 45-seat
restaurant housed in
an old mill. Earlier this
year, demand for her
seven-course, prix ixe
“farmhouse” dinners
(starting at $110) got
so intense—almost
20,000 requests over
an 11-day span—
that French started
accepting reservations
only via postcard. (The
Lost Kitchen is now
full through 2018.) “As
things get bigger, I’m
trying to be simpler,”
she says.
—Ashley Hoffman

Anybody who laments

the decline of the public

library should look to

Tianjin, China, where a gleaming

new ziggurat has attracted more

than 1.8 million visitors since it

opened in October 2017. It helps

that the nearly 363,000-sq.-ft.

facility, designed by Dutch irm

MVRDV, looks like something out

of a sci-i movie, replete with stark

white interiors and terraced shelves

that cascade from loor to ceiling.

All told, it has the capacity to hold

more than 1.35 million books—

although some feature embossed

aluminum plates that mimic

actual tomes, prompting criticism

that the stunning space is, as one

headline put it, “more iction than

books.” Nonetheless, Binhai Library

remains one of China’s buzziest

new attractions, which could help

reduce the country’s already low

adult literacy rate. It’s a “social

space that also promotes reading

and inspiration,” says Winy Maas,

a director at MVRDV.

—Casey Quackenbush

A HAVEN FOR

BOOK LOVERS

TIANJIN BINHAI LIBRARY,TIANJIN, CHINA

THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLACES 2018