Book excerpt: The Roaring Twenties was a period of lavish living in St. Louis. In 1917, when Ellsworth Statler decided to build a hotel in St. Louis, he ignited a hotel-building boom that was only quenched by the Great Depression of 1929. Architectural masterpieces arose, and local citizens and out-of-towners marveled at their grandeur. These hotels were hubs of activity and gathering places for high society. They survived the Great Depression and two world wars, but urban demise forced elegant hotels to crumble in disrepair. This book tells the intriguing stories of the Statler, the Chase, the Mayfair, the Lennox and the Coronado Hotels. Today, these hotels are restored and renewed--as glamorous now as they were in their earliest days. They welcome visitors to admire their beauty and savor the history they hold.