Hilton's Hotel on the Moon - "A Future Among the Stars"

Curated Mid-Century Modern Home Listings From Across the U.S.A. 📍

Mar 18, 2024

Today’s post was written by guest author Trevor Dalton. Trevor is a freelance photographer and filmmaker who splits his time between New England and Los Angeles.

The year is 1967 and the Space Race between the U.S. and USSR is well underway. Barron Hilton has recently been named President of Hilton Hotels and has ambitious plans for the future of his hospitality empire: a hotel in space. As it turns out, the idea for extraterrestrial accommodations has been kicked around for a while at the company, but Barron has ambitions of opening a ‘Lunar Hilton’ is his lifetime. He unveils an idea for a three-level subsurface Hilton hotel built directly into the surface of the Moon - a destination for a soon-to-be spacefaring society and space tourists alike.

Designs were made, keys were mocked up, and even reservation forms for an "After 1980 Arrival" were sent out. The hotel would feature all the amenities of a typical earth-based Hilton and more. A glass domed public level greeted guests on check-in from their spaceship. Dining, entertainment, shopping, and the bar would be available to visitors as they gazed upon the stars. Descending a level brought visitors to long corridors with the guest rooms, 400 to be exact. These were also very typical Hilton accommodations (including the indoor plants) with the added bonus of a CCTV wall screen with the ability to show guests both the lunar surface or Earth based programming. The bottom floor of the hotel would host a maintenance level including nuclear power and all the systems to make a lunar hotel as automated as could be.

Hilton hadn't even expanded the entire globe yet and was planning for other worlds. Ambitious, sure, but it was only 66 years between the Wright Brother's first flight to the moon landing. In an era marked by boundless optimism, it's no surprise the hotel giant would follow man's newest frontier and expect commercial opportunities to follow.

Reservation Cards for the “Lunar Hilton”

Barron's dream for the Lunar Hilton of course never materialized but the legacy lived on with the concept being referenced in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and AMC's Mad Men. When man eventually does inhabit the moon, don't be surprised to find Hilton there, ready for guests.

For more space-themed design inspiration check out our previous post Jetsons Modernism.