"Suddenly, there is a palace in Prague!" declared a Czech magazine in 1932 on the opening of the Alcron Hotel. "Huge and handsome, it is a representative masterpiece thanks to which Prague has reached a worldwide level."

That's exactly what architect and original owner Alois Krofta had in mind when he started construction on the building in 1929. Boasting white-glove service, modern facilities and amenities such as rooms for drivers, the Alcron quickly became the most luxurious hotel of its time. It lured tourists and travelers who had, up to that point, skipped Prague for Vienna, Berlin and Karlovy Vary.

Known today as the Radisson SAS Alcron Hotel Prague, the establishment has endured some difficult times through the years. "Ups and downs," says Executive Assistant Manager Michal Chour. "Actually, more like cascading downs from the '80s until 1990. We have pictures of the ceiling falling down and the carpets being torn away." Things got worse when the building was closed and plundered of its objets d'art.

When the hotel changed ownership in the mid-'90s, its new owner was determined to replicate the original style as closely as possible, restoring the building to its former Art Deco glory both inside and out. Greek architect Maria Katsarou-Vafiadis, at the time director of G.A. Design International Ltd., an English Hotel Design company, was hired to breathe life back into the interior.

Katsarou-Vafiadis had a few key original pieces on which to pin her design. The seven-floor Italian marble staircase that begins in the lobby, complete with copper railings, is the largest and most impressive, and served as a starting point for the rest of the public space. Closely matched marble was imported from Italy to surface the lobby floors in the exact pattern used in 1932, and green "Verde Guatemala" marble was used to reconstruct the columns in the entryway.

La Rotonde restaurant, tucked at the back of the hotel's ground floor, boasts two distinctive period pieces: a magnificent crystal chandelier and a replica nude sculpture of jubilant prima ballerina Yelizaveta Nikolska. The original life-size sculpture of the dancer, Alois Krofta's lover, has been lost along with many of the hotel's other treasures, but it was so central to the restaurant's charm that management commissioned a copy.

To replace the details that were pillaged from the hotel, Katsarou-Vafiadis spent much of her time in Prague antique shops seeking out the period art and everyday objects that appear throughout the public spaces of the hotel as well as in guest rooms and suites. Dramatic paintings mix with rich fabrics, hardback novels from the '20s and '30s, dark wood and warm-light features to create a dramatic but pleasantly balanced atmosphere.

What couldn't be located in its original form was custom-made to fill the gaps; Katsarou-Vafiadis drew and painted pieces of furniture to suit the atmosphere, and these were constructed to her exacting specifications. Austrian company Wolte, for example, provided furniture based on designs from 1910.