21c Museum Hotel, Lexington

We’re still happy to see more and more interesting hotels open in New York and Los Angeles, of course. But what we really love is to see one of America’s smaller cities get its first proper boutique hotel — and the 21c Museum Hotels have been responsible for more than their fair share of those. Ten years on from the Louisville original, Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown return to Kentucky, with a renovation of the century-old First National Building, which was Lexington’s first skyscraper.

In that way, it’s an architectural attraction unto itself, a classic building turned into a thoroughly modern hotel by architect Deborah Berke, dean of the Yale School of Architecture. The guest rooms and suites are functionally the equal of any American luxury hotel, but with far, far more style — the look is accessibly attractive, rather than alienatingly haute-couture, but stylish all the same.

And that’s without even mentioning the art, which is, for many guests, the main attraction. As always, the word “museum” in 21c Museum Hotel is more than decoration — regular exhibitions and works from the hotel’s impressive collection of contemporary art are always on display. It’s all topped off with Lockbox, a communal-table restaurant that makes the most of another local strength: the agricultural product of the Bluegrass region of northern Kentucky.