Mr. Neal Prince,
R.A., A.S.I.D
(Curriculum Vitae) |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1940's |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1950's |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1960's |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1970's |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1980's |
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Index Holdings Relating to the 1990's |
Professional
Biography
2000's |
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Mr.
Neal Prince Resource Image Data Base |
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InterContinental
Hotels
Historical
Background
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John B. Gates,
Chairman of the Board |
Robert Huyot,
Chairman of the Board |
Hans Sternick,
Chairman of the Board |
John P. Sutherland,
President
Latin American
Division |
Mario Di Genova,
President
Europe/Africa Divsions |
R. Kane Rufe,
Sr.
Vice President
Far East/Pacific Division |
John C. Carrodus
Sr.
Vice President
of Services |
Neal A. Prince
Vice
President
Graphics and Interior Designs |
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Departmental Staff and Contractual
Designers: |
Kenneth Smith,
ASID |
Charles R Alvey,
Graphic
Designer |
Richard Simpson,
Graphic
Designer |
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Bill Embery |
Dale & Pat Keller,
ASID |
Joe Grusczak,
ASID |
Trisha Wilson,
ASID |
James Ray Baker,
ASID |
Irene D'Alessio,
Interior Designer |
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Arie deZanger,
IHC Photographer
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CONTACT
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InterContinental Hotel was a subsidiary of
Pan Am Airlines
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Who
is Mr. Neal Prince? Mr. Prince is a trained
Architect from Rice University, an Art Historian,
Art Collector and a person with a vast passion for
Motion Pictures and Theatre History, especially
Set Designs. These elements came together to build
a foundation to Mr. Prince's skills, which later
became recognized as his ability for designing
Hotel and Restaurant Interiors. Mr. Prince
incorporated his own passions of above, into an
International branding philosophy that remains as
strong today as it was when he developed his
philosophy of Hotel and Restaurant Designs, which
is visible today, in Hotels worldwide. But what
makes Mr. Prince different? He was a pioneer
within this Industry, along with Dale and Pat
Keller, of Hong Kong, in designing Hotels in
countries that never had an International Hotel
presence. Mr. Prince, along with Kenneth Smith
(Interior Designer), Charles Alvey (Graphic
Designer), Richard Simpson (Graphic Designer),
William Embury (Interior Designer), Joe Grusczak
(Interior Designer), James Ray Baker (Interior
Designer) and Irene D'Alessio (Interior Designer)
and many others were the first, to sent the
standards for International Hotel Interiors. And
what is incredible is that he did not have the
grand budgets that most designers have today. Mr.
Prince used local talents and products, when
available and appropriate, to augment his designs,
which, in return, allowed local Artist, Gallery
Owners, Merchants and vendors to view
InterContinental not as an invader, but as a
partner in creating new sources of commence within
the local economy. What is even more unique in Mr.
Prince being different, was that Mr. Prince has
always credited his success, not in the terms of
"I", but "WE". Mr. Prince, being from Corsicana,
Texas, has always remained modest and respectful
and always have contributed his success due to the
fact that designing hotels is a "TEAM" effort,
from his Departmental Staff to his Professional
Associate Designers that he had brought on to do a
certain project for the vast inventory of
InterContinental Hotel holdings. This website is
to bring together the collections, resources,
stories and images documenting a period of time,
before computers, mobile phones, fax's or video
conferencing. This website is to recapture the
time when International Hotel Design Industry
remained in its infancy before the growth and
development into what we have today as multi
billion dollar companies. Each Hotel on this
website will encompass how Mr. Prince and his
Staff and Professional Associates overcame the
troubles of designing Hotels, from a historic
point of view, to what was necessary to open the
Hotels, maintain the Hotels, and what lessons were
learned to be applied for the next project.
-webmaster
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Hotel:
Embajador InterContinental Hotel
Location:
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
The El Embajador Hotel, in Santo Domingo was a
self contained hotel. Within the Hotel, guest
had at their finger tips the pleasures of
swimming, tennis, excellent cuisine, relaxing
afternoons and vibrating evenings. Should the
guest desired the serenity and invigorating
atmosphere of the beach, the Hotel offered the
paradise at Punta Garza, just 30 minutes away,
they offered terraced cabanas with
kitchenettes. With further pleasures of being
able to lie on their palm-lined beach, or, if
the guest preferred, take a dip in their
freshwater swimming pool at the Hotel.
Architect:
Lead Interior Designer:
Neal A. Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D, Lead Designer
V.P. of Graphic and Interior Design Department,
InterContinental Hotel Group 1960-1985
Rooms:
310 air-conditioned rooms, during a time when
air-conditioned rooms were a luxury amenities
to Hotels.
- No Photograph is available at this
time-
Restaurants/Lounges:
Rembrandt Restaurant:
The Rembrandt was painstakingly refurbished at
the El Embajador with much of its craftsman
restoring this Restaurant to its original
ambience and refined Dinning.
-IMAGE PENDING-
Jade Garden:
This Restaurant was designed to transport you
to the Orient the moment you enter the Jade
Garden Restaurant. El Embajador's Chinese
restaurant was the first choice of
discriminating guests. Their excellent cuisine,
along with personal service, had the guest
leave with them planning to return to another
visit to their magnificent restaurant.
-IMAGE PENDING-
Patio Lounge:
Pool Facilities:
Photograph courtesy of Arie de Zanger, IHC
Photographer
Photograph courtesy of Arie de Zanger, IHC
Photographer
Meeting Facilities:
- No
Photograph is available at this time-
Comments:
In 1966, Neal Prince hired the G.B. Designs,
Inc., located out of New York City, whereby the
G.B. Designs, Inc. was a partnership between
Joseph Grusczak, A.I.D., President and James
Ray Baker, A.I.D. to provided complete
renderings for the designs and detailing of all
fixed decor, provide the selection of all
furniture, fixtures and soft goods, provide
documentation for bids and purchasing for the
Main Dining room, the La Fortana Cocktail
Lounge, the Coffee Shop and the Guestroom
Suites, with the final approval by Mr. Neal
Prince, for the Hotel.
The G.B. Designs, Inc. Agreement was disbanded
in 1972 and Joseph Grusczak and James Ray Baker
continued to be hired by Neal Prince, on the
behalf of the InterContinental Hotels during
Mr. Prince's tenure.
Images held by the Collection:
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Interiors
came under Mr. Prince' s supervision in 1960.
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This earlier image is another example of the
detail graphics and designs that were created by
the talents of Charles R. Alvey and Richard
Simpson, of the InterContinental Hotel
Corporation's Department of Interior & Graphics
Design. This image is another example of
InterContinental Hotel's competitors copied for
their own Graphic's applications. In some hotels,
this image is used to this day. |
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Attached is an 1971 MEMO from Mr. Prince on
the Process of Designing a Guest Room for an
Hotel
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STATEMENT
OF
InterContinental HOTEL
INTERIOR
AND
GRAPHIC DESIGN
POLICY
BY
NEAL PRINCE ,
ca. 1961
The approach to hotel design differs greatly
from interior design for an individual. The
latter is dictated by the aesthetic
environmental pleasures of one particular
person or family, whereas hotel design is a
coordinated effort between the functional
requirements if IHC Hotel Management and
Operations, the architectural concept and space
allocation, the desires of the local hotel
company, the limitations of restrictive
budgets, and the harmony and market of the
country in which a hotel is located – all
combined to produce a profit marking plant
reflecting the current international tastes of
a widely diversified market.
Although standardization would appear to be
desirable in a rapidly growing industry,
experience indicates the most successful
efforts are based on individuality related to
the country of origin rather than
standardization of design, but with an
overlying emphasis of international
standardization of quality and service.
Each hotel in each location produces its own
surveyed, conceptual, and operational
requirements of IHC, its own local interior
designers, and its own problems of local
availability and manufacturing; however, the
following outline of goals is generally
applicable:
A. To produce good design based primarily on
the functional needs and requirements of IHC
Operations in order that Management can
merchandise fully the facilities provided and
develop a high quality of service; this design
to be approached simultaneously along the
following avenues:
1. Concept (objectivity) – initiated by IHC
Operations and local Hotel Company (where
applicable).
2. Function (utility) – based on past
experience and current consumption of practical
innovation.
3. Construction (fabrication) – utilization of
local market facilities and methods wherever
possible.
4. Budget (feasibility) – dictated by market
surveys indicating the initial expenditure
warranted by projected profits.
5. Beauty (design) – a conglomerate result of
the thinking and ideas of all parties involved
coordinated into a smooth, compatible result.
B. To insure that the original design concept
and subsequent development of each project is
based not on the likes and dislikes of any one
faction but expresses the taste and insures the
comfort of the international guest; and also
utilizes, wherever possible, the trades,
manufactures and craftsmen as well as the arts
and crafts, ornamentation, styles, and
traditions indigenous to the country in which a
project is located.
DISCLAIMER: A considerable effort has
been made in good faith to ensure that
all information accessible from this
site of Archives and memoirs are
accurate. Despite this effort, it is
clear that errors are inevitable.
Consequently no guarantees are expressed
or implied as to the accuracy,
timeliness, currency or completeness of
any information authored by persons at
or agents of the Neal Adair Prince Trust
or its Estate Trust Holding affiliates,
or accessible using links from this
site. Nor is any warranty made that the
information obtained from this
Educational Archival site or that of an
affiliate is valuable or useful for any
purpose. A reader assumes full
responsibility for any actions taken
based on information obtained from this
Educational Archival Interior Designer's
web site. In particular, we emphasize
that the information available through
this site should not be interpreted as
professional International Interior
Designer advice. All information from
these archives, from this or any other
source, needs carefully to be reviewed
with your own trusted License Interior
Designer provider before being
acted upon in any way.
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