10 Hotels with Amazing Libraries

No one would blame you if you decided to take up residence in The Jennings' Kitchen Library. Armed with a team of creative powerhouses, a history of making things happen, and a Kickstarter campaign, Greg Hennes redid a 1910 boarding house in the Northeast Oregon town of Joseph. All the rooms in the resulting Jennings Hotel are special—each one imagined by different artists—but the light-filled library is where you’ll want to spend most of your time. Local-fir shelves, designed by Phloem Studio, are stocked with books and records from artists who have participated in the residency program, as well as works about and from Oregon; any design, art, or poetry books that strike the team’s fancy; and cookbooks, which guests are encouraged to use in the fully-stocked kitchen. As to why Hennes decided to add a library to his boutique hideaway? "Because TVs suck," he says.

Great hotels are revealed in the details—and the LEED-certified Hotel Jackson exceeds in this department. Take for example, the property’s Sacajawea Library. While most official sources note the Native American heroine’s name with a “g,” instead of a “j,” the owners eschew popular notions to adopt the spelling preferred by her Shoshoni descendants. It’s a seemingly small tweak that means a lot to the people it honors. The owners, all locals, were inspired by Jackson Hole storyteller Kenneth Thomasma--who helped get Sacajawea’s image minted on the dollar coin--to stock the handsome library with nearly 2,500 books about the region. “It would have been easier to turn the space into a private dining room for the restaurant, but we felt passionate about creating a meaningful area that connects guests with local artists, authors, and photographers,” says owner Jim Darwiche. Dig into gorgeous coffee table books while sipping the Thomasma, a spin on an old fashioned, from the adjacent FIGS bar.

Matching the Hotel Born’s focus on high-end design and one-of-a-kind art, the library holds nearly 100 books meant to inspire (like an Andy Warhol Polaroid photo book and monographs on niche arts). Print media buffs will fall for the beautifully bound magazines—a collaboration between the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver’s curator, one of the hotel’s designers, and local artist Stephen Batura. The trio collected hundreds of art and pop-culture publications (including 1950s issues of Life, Artforum from the ‘90s, and back issues of MAD) and arranged them into anthologies that loosely trace the last half-century in America. It’s all up for grabs in the pine-paneled library that feels more like an uber-stylish friend’s living room.

In the 1980s, Heathman Hotel started to collect signed copies of books from the troves of writers who stay at the property—a splendid roster that includes presidents, poet laureates, and Pulitzer winners. Today, Heathman stocks more than 3,000 signed books from visiting authors. Titles span two double-height walls in the renovated library, where bibliophiles climb sliding ladders to peruse top shelves. An in-house librarian coordinates a steady rotation of storytelling events and works with famed Powell’s Books to provide a curated assortment in guest rooms. too.

Adding to the charm of the iconic Shutters on the Beach, each of the 198 rooms and suites welcomes guests with a copy of The Old Man and the Sea. And while there’s no library per se, the entire place looks like a beach house with rooms that double as personal reading oases. In addition to the Hemingway editions, Shutters partners with Bedside Reading, which matches properties with books that fit the setting and clientele, so you’ll arrive to a stack of other beach reads you can take home for free.

Picture this: It’s a snowy night and you’re burrowed away in a cabin, 98 miles from Anchorage, on a lakefront spot, in a no-name town, where no roads lead. That morning, a small plane dropped you off (it’s the only way to get to Winterlake), and after a day of snowshoeing and mushing on the Iditarod Trail, you’re bundled up on a rocking chair in front of a wood stove with a Jack London novel in hand, as you wait for the northern lights to appear. It sounds almost too pleasant to be real, but this is the kind of experience owner Craig Dixon has in mind as he personally picks up Frontier State field guides, poetry books, and adventure memoirs to stock the six birch bookshelves in the resort’s wellness room. Bring it on, winter.

The design genius behind the sleek SLS hotel brand is also a bookworm. For the Beverly Hills SLS stunner, Philippe Starck engineered five dramatic fireplaces outfitted with mirrored mantels, glassy stag heads, leather couches, and a total of 10 bookcases filled with artsy books the team picks up at flea markets. Playing off the hotel’s whimsical vibe, SLS regularly hosts bookish soirees, like a Beauty and the Beast-themed afternoon tea.

Alexis Hotel’s bar is the perfect place for dining solo. Walk into the brick-lined Bookstore Bar & Café, and you’ll see a varied mix of imbibers with well-worn hardbacks in one hand and a whiskey tipple in the other. No, this isn’t a standoffish crowd, nor are they putting up airs to mask loneliness. With booths surrounded by tomes organized by color, low-lit desk lamps, and literature-inspired cocktails, it’s a lovely setting to hide away with your current reading list. Then again, don’t be surprised if you walk out with a new crop of friends. A little booze and a similar taste in books creates a winning recipe for conversation.

Opened in 2014, The Broadmoor’s Resort Library speaks to old souls. Readers gather on velvet sofas and wingback chairs around the century-old fireplace of what used to be the ladies’ sitting room. Long-time guests continue to donate books to the growing catalogue, so shelves may store anything from a recent best-seller to coffee table books on Western art to an 1800s homesteader diary. Everything is loaned out on the honor system.

The lobby library was a key addition during a lofty renovation of Nob Hill’s Stanford Court. While the catalogue rings in at a modest 250 books, the selection is tightly focused around San Francisco and California with titles like an architecture anthology on the de Young Museum and a book on the extinct California grizzly, meant to root guests in the locale. Back in the rooms, you can spend hours browsing thousands of newspapers and magazines—both national and international titles—through a complimentary app.