The Beverly Hills Hotel has always stretched the limits to accommodate guests’ unusual wishes, and in 1990, it remade Bungalow 5 to suit business magnate Walter Annenberg’s wishes, adding a private swimming pool and Jacuzzi.

The Hotel closed on December 30, 1992 for a two and one-half year restoration, reopening on June 3, 1995. The $100 million restoration added The Sunset Lounge tearoom, a larger ballroom, a grand staircase, and a private dining venue, the Polo Lounge Private Dining Room. All rooms and suites are bigger and brighter. A cavalcade of 14 gardeners now tends to the lush, new landscaping. New carpets, furnishings and fixtures were all custom-designed for the Hotel. Furnishings for the bungalows were upgraded so each is like a distinguished, private home. Public areas have kept their familiar look. Decorator Don Loper’s striking banana-leaf design wallpaper is in hallways and The Fountain Coffee Shop, looking fresher than ever.

The object was not to change the Hotel, but to restore it, recreating the look of the Hotel in all its timeless glamour. “The goal,” as told to Architectural Digest, “is that guests come back and say, I didn’t know it was so beautiful.”