A battered but proud survivor of the Gilded Age, the former Hotel Vendome (now comdominiums), which originally catered to transients, spreads its luminous white marble bulk over more than a third of the block between Dartmouth and Exeter streets. Its original section at the corner, designed by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts-trained William Gibbons Preston, exemplifies the Second Empire style in its fusion of sobriety and Néo-Grec ornament. Expanding the building westward in 1881 to more than double its former size, architects Ober and Rand added a surfeit of bays and balustrades, further enriching its monumentality. Although the mansard's pavilions were altered following a devastating 1972 fire during the building's conversion to condominiums, they remain a dominant presence on the streetscape.