Few American university towns carry their architectural self-consciousness as thoroughly as Princeton, where even a new-build hotel is expected to earn its place on the streetscape. Graduate by Hilton Princeton does exactly that — its red brick facade, dark steel mullioned windows, and zinc-capped dormers on the upper story settle comfortably into the Georgian and Collegiate Gothic register that defines Nassau Street, without tipping into pastiche. Inside, Roman and Williams Guild — the New York studio behind some of the most theatrically assured hotel interiors of the past decade — has constructed an elaborate fantasy of the Ivy League gentleman-scholar. The lobby library rises two stories, its dark-painted millwork shelved floor to ceiling and labeled with the names of Princeton's eating clubs: Cap and Gown, Cottage, Tiger, Colonial. Chesterfield sofas in brown leather anchor the room alongside a geometric terracotta, black, and white tile floor that carries the same pattern through to the bar, where floral-damask wallpaper, a carved Moorish backbar, and globe pendant lights give the space the warmth of a private club circa 1910. Guest rooms maintain the conceit with deep blue grasscloth walls, custom headboards assembled from vintage golf club shafts, navy tartan bed runners, and globe chandeliers in aged brass — a palette that lands somewhere between a Scottish sporting lodge and a Princeton senior common room, which is precisely the point.

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