While on a tour of historic hotels in St. Louis, our first stop was the Seven Gables in Clayton, Mo. The photo above is in the courtyard and was actually a street/alley at one time.
Several of the rooms have doors to the courtyard with "house numbers" which helped give the hotel historic status.
Inside is also a Molly Darcy's Irish Pub where we enjoyed delicious cookies, tea and lemonade.
The photo below is of the "breakfast room". I really felt like I was in Europe rather than in St. Louis County.
We also learned a lot about hotels that are long gone (to read about the fire at one of the hotels click here): Southern Hotel, Planter's Hotel (home of two famous drinks Planter's Punch, Tom Collins ) and the Lindell Hotel which was the largest and grandest hotel west of the Mississippi. 
After the Lindell Hotel burned down in 1867, Henry Shaw instructed his workmen to bring the stones from its foundation to what is now Tower Grove Park. With those stones, he constructed a place very important to my childhood memories:
My favorite fish pond, the place where I learned to ice skate on double blades---this city girl's piece of nature.
It was always meant to look like ruins. I can remember carrying tadpoles home in cups and watching people sail model boats here. I never knew until now where those stones came from.
Our next stop was another place filled with memories---the Chase Hotel.
It, too, is a historic hotel although I remember it for my high school proms which were held there. (The second hotel pictured above is I believe the Custom House and Quincy Market where we stayed last month)
Although I remembered this ceiling in the Starlight Room, it was smaller than I recalled.
There are still fabulous views of St. Louis in three directions from the terrace on the Skylight Room.
I recall dances at the Khorassan Room which was the home of our famous Veiled Prophet Ball, too.
There's a museum on the Ground Floor of the Chase with menus and memorabilia of this famous hotel.
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