America’s 10 Coolest Hotel Conversions

The Liberty Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts

Converted: 1851 Charles Street Jail

Boston's most notorious criminals once occupied rooms in this building at the foot of Beacon Hill. Today, you pay a premium to sleep in the luxurious former slammer, where reminders of life behind bars are everywhere. The building retains original iron catwalk railings that now ring the lobby atrium, jail cells in Clink restaurant, and interior exposed brick walls. Instead of a traditional "Do Not Disturb" sign, The Liberty Hotel uses a "Solitary" sign with a jailer's key. Check out the gallery just off the lobby, with a cell-block facade, historical photos, and a 16-minute video about the hotel's past. If you want to plot your escape, the hotel's running concierge will show you the way.

Rates: Starting at $349

Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn, New York

Converted: 1901 Newcastle Fabrics

With its minimalist aesthetic, this textile-factory-turned-Wythe Hotel opened last year, breathing new hipster life into the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, waterfront. The 70-room industrial-chic hotel still sports its high ceilings with wood beams and large square-paned factory windows with light flooding in. In guest rooms, the beds are custom-made with the building's reclaimed ceiling pine and the patterned wallpaper is local, handmade, and, true to form, inspired by textiles. Tapestries hang in the lobby, and the hotel shop sells stylish fabrics scooped up by the creative types who stay here.

Rates: $215 to $1,400

Cork Factory Hotel, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Converted: 1865 Armstrong Cork Company

For nearly 150 years, the landmark brick smokestack of the original Armstrong Cork Company has reached up into the blue skies of downtown Lancaster in Pennsylvania's Amish Country. Today, it marks the entrance of the Cork Factory Hotel, where the factory's exposed wood ceilings and timber beams are throwbacks to a bygone era. Historical photos and industrial artifacts on the walls tell the stories of the hardworking employees who made the cork manufacturer an industrial giant. Sit by the original stone walls in the hotel's Cork & Cap Restaurant, whose name refers to the cork-lined bottle caps that were made here in the 1920s, when the popularity of carbonated drinks spiked demand for the caps.

Rates: $109 to $159

Craddock Terry Hotel, Lynchburg, Virginia

Converted: 1905 Craddock Terry Shoe Company

Paying homage to its origins, Craddock Terry Hotel puts its best foot forward with whimsical shoe-related references throughout the historic factory building. On display in the lobby are the leather lace-up boots that were popular during the shoe factory's heyday. There are also historical photos, company checks, and the special coins used by employees for lunch in the cafeteria. The footwear theme carries over to the guest room's door signs, each one a different shoe-shaped silhouette. Free continental breakfast is served in an old-fashioned wooden shoe-shine box. And if your shoes need buffing, shoe-shine service is available. When you're ready to see the town, the hotel dog, Buster Brown, will show you around.

Rates: $149 to $199

Hotel Icon, Houston, Texas

Converted: 1911 Union National Bank

Originally built to house one of the state's most prominent banks of the day, Hotel Icon takes us ATM users back to a time when going to the bank was an experience that warranted dressing up. Guests are greeted by the massive, original pillars and an ornate recessed ceiling in the lobby. The old bank's wooden counter now serves as the front desk, and just behind it is the historic vault door, 17 feet tall and adorned with a big crank. As you check in, you'll also see an iron gate, once the doorway to the bank's safety deposit boxes. In the elevators, original stained-glass depictions of cotton fields, cattle farms, oil refineries, and other Texas industries remain intact. Need to secure a meeting venue? Gather in the basement wine vault, which was once the bank's main depository and still has its original brass doors.

Rates: $149 to $400

Fitger's Inn, Duluth, Minnesota

Converted: 1885 Fitger's Brewing Company

From the outside, Fitger's Inn looks nothing like a hotel. The water tower and 100-foot smokestack are enough to convince any passerby that this city-block-long industrial building on the banks of Lake Superior is still a brewing company. Inside, though, the warmth of the lobby, with its original wood paneling and staircase, wows guests immediately. This part of the hotel, beneath 20-foot ceilings, was the brewery's shipping and receiving area, and the elaborate iron-barred cashier's cage is still in use. Other historical pieces—including bottle-racking arms, beer signs, and one of the original two-story copper vats—are scattered throughout the hotel and in the Fitger's Brewery Museum. A brewmaster is once again crafting beer on-site, giving you an excuse to hit the microbrewery and toast to historic preservation during your stay.

Rates: $139 to $369

Zoar School Inn Bed & Breakfast, Zoar, Ohio

Converted: 1863 cider mill and 1836 schoolhouse

One of Ohio's best examples of repurposed architecture is in the tiny village of Zoar, 75 miles south of Cleveland. Founded in the early 1800s by German separatists, the commune of Zoar survived for more than 80 years and the historic village remains. Today, you can stay overnight at the site's Cider Mill of Zoar Bed & Breakfast, whose ceilings still have the wood beams from the original working mill, or at Zoar School Inn Bed & Breakfast, the village's 1836 schoolhouse with four guest suites and breakfast menus written on chalkboards. Or, sleep in the place where all the shoes and boots were made for villagers: in the Cobbler Shop Bed & Breakfast, with the original washhouse and horse stall out back. While you're in Zoar, follow a costumed interpreter on a guided tour of the village's rarely seen spots—you'll get to tromp through attics and cellars and handle artifacts. No guarantees that the experience won't make you want to run away and join a commune.

Rates: Starting at $99

The Crawford Hotel, Denver, Colorado

Converted: 1894 Union Station

Starting in July 2014, you'll be able to sleep in Pullman-car style in Denver's Union Station—without getting motion sickness or having to worry about missing your train. The train-station conversion now underway in the LoDo neighborhood preserves the building, more than 100 years old, and reinvents the original Great Hall as the hotel's main entrance and lobby while incorporating the original ticket windows. The Crawford Hotel's standard rooms will be modern takes on the glamorous private Pullman sleeping cars of train travel's heyday. Vintage Pullman ads and historical signs will become artwork. One display will feature the items that fell out of passengers' pockets and were discovered when the station's benches were taken apart: 1940's Hollywood celebrity cigarette cards, luggage tags, and sales-tax tokens are among the treasures.

Rates: Starting at $250

McMenamins Kennedy School, Portland, Oregon

Converted: 1915 Kennedy Elementary School

On October 22, 1997, when the original principal's bell rang on the Kennedy School's front steps at 7 a.m. sharp, it ushered in a new era of falling asleep in school—this time with beds and private bathrooms. Today, the classrooms, with their chalkboards and cloak rooms, have been reinvented as guest rooms at the McMenamins Kennedy School hotel. In the English Wing rooms, you can indulge in literature-inspired themes and skip the essay assignment. The former auditorium now plays second-run movies nightly, and the old cafeteria is now a restaurant. Behind an unassuming school hallway door is a multilevel bar in the old boiler room. With a pale ale from the on-site brewery in hand, you won't want to run in the hallways. Send yourself to the principal's office/hotel front desk to hear how the school's history is depicted in the hallway artwork.

Rates: $125 to $165

Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

Converted: 1927 United Artists Theatre

In the Roaring '20s, the Broadway Theater District in Los Angeles, with its lavish movie houses, was the place to see and be seen. Early next year, the district's United Artists Theatre and its office space, built as a preview house for silent-film stars Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford's premieres, will welcome moviegoers once again. Catering to the young and trendy, boutique chain Ace Hotel is restoring the 1,600-seat theater and converting the office space into 180 hip hotel rooms. The transformation will bring back the original, ornate Spanish Gothic details and the iconic theater marquee above the main doors. Part of an ongoing renaissance on Broadway, the Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles signals the glimmering return of a time when entering a theater felt more like entering an awe-inspiring cathedral.

Rates: $179 to $539

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