It would be difficult to overstate how much Dallas needed a hotel like this one. Not just a stylish, modern hotel, but one with its own unique design personality, and some bona fide Dallas history thrown in for good measure. The Joule Hotel makes its home in a 1927-vintage Gothic bank building, but it’s no retro exercise — that much is clear at a distance, from the moment you see the cantilevered rooftop infinity pool, hanging precariously out from the front of the building about six or seven floors up. The interior architect is Adam D. Tihany, a man who’s no stranger to hotel and restaurant design. So this is no half-hearted attempt at jazzy interiors, but a stylish and contemporary boutique hotel, absolutely the equal of anything you’d see on either coast. By now some of us who have been around the block a few times are wondering about the nuts and bolts, as it’s maddeningly difficult for a hotel to look good and run well too. Fortunately it’s nothing to worry about here — this is no fly-by-night boutique operation but a Starwood Luxury Collection hotel. Thus the rooms are state-of-the-art, not just eye-catching but plush as well, and when it comes to service there are no surprises — which is exactly as it should be.