Set on 400 sprawling, landscaped acres in the northern suburb of Irving, the Four Seasons Las Colinas feels like a country club with top-notch facilities.

When the concierge at the Crescent (previously a Rosewood hotel) located in the complex that also houses the high-end shopping emporium Stanley Korshak, told me that Dallas natives feel a deep emotional connection to the property, I took it for a marketing line. But later that evening over dinner, two friends who were born and raised in the city nearly teared up when describing tea with their grandmothers at this uptown hotel.

As with the Carlyle in New York, the attachment is rooted in nostalgia: high tea at the Crescent Court gave way to dinner at its flashy branch of Nobu, and the tired-looking lobby evokes more memories than ahs. This wasn’t always the case. When the hotel opened, in 1985, as part of a multiuse complex occupying an entire triangular city block, it was touted as one of the most original structures the city had ever seen. Conceived by Rosewood matriarch Caroline Rose Hunt and designed by Philip Johnson (who would go on to create the famous Glass House, in Connecticut), the limestone building has a slight crescent curve—hence its name—its façade adorned with fanciful ornaments, like spun-sugar decorations on a huge cake. Although flanked by two of downtown’s busiest streets, it exudes serenity, thanks to two interior courtyards whose splashing fountains, planted gardens and seating areas make them popular wedding venues.

The 220 rooms, including 29 suites, with their beige palette and honey-wood furniture, are not the world’s most inspired, but they are comfortable, offering such amenities as iHome clock radios, flat-screen televisions and sitting areas in front of the bathrooms equipped with vanity mirrors and lots of counter space. All come with French doors that open onto the leaning balconies with which Johnson enlivened the building face. Standard accommodations are on the small side (especially the bathrooms). The best are the suites, which feature whimsical details like spiral staircases, hardwood floors and original artwork.

When I visited, my fellow guests were mostly businesspeople and groups in town for meetings, who appreciated the convenient location and amenities suited to a work-loaded schedule: Starbucks is a few doors down, the gym in the basement has no views but does sport state-of-the-art equipment and the hotel offers a complimentary car service to destinations within five miles. Everyone agrees that travelers looking for a more intimate, personal hotel experience should check into the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, which is just up the street but feels worlds away.

The Italian Renaissance–inspired estate, built in the 1920s by a cotton mogul, was among the first fanciful constructions in the now mansion-stuffed neighborhood. Rosewood’s Caroline Rose Hunt bought the property in 1979 and over the course of the next decade transformed it into one of the U.S.’s best-known and most beloved hotels.

Designed to feel like a private home—albeit a showy one; you are in Dallas, after all—the Mansion has retained such original details as smooth marble floors, carved-plaster ceilings, stained-glass windows and the lobby’s 32-foot-high marble rotunda. The 143 spacious rooms, including several luxe (some might say over-the-top) suites, contain lots of antiques, original art and plush fabrics, as well as hefty four-posters with curtains, large flower arrangements, sofas; airy Italian-marble bathrooms are stocked with Lady Primrose bath products. Subtle it is not, but many high-profile travelers consider the Mansion the quintessential Dallas property.

The somewhat removed location should not deter visitors who plan to do a lot of sightseeing in the Arts District: the hotel provides guests with complimentary car service to anywhere within a five-mile radius.

The Joule has become the centerpiece of downtown Dallas’s rebirth with its vibrant design scheme and convivial Italian restaurant. Read Indagare's review.

The Ritz-Carlton Dallas is an elegant, polished retreat in the heart of Uptown with an excellent restaurant and spacious spa. Read Indagare's review.