Allerton Hotel
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Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, that runs along a portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side community area. The district is located adjacent to downtown; it is also one block...
in the Near North Side
Near North Side, Chicago
The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
of Chicago, Illinois. It was the first building to feature pronounced setbacks and towers resulting from the 1923 zoning law. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...
on May 29, 1998.
When the Allerton first opened, it had fourteen floors of small apartment-style rooms for men and six similar floors for women, with a total of 1,000 rooms. The hotel also boasted social events, gold, sports leagues, a library, solarium, and an in-house magazine. An early resident was Louis Skidmore
Louis Skidmore
Louis Skidmore was an American architect, co-founder of the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill and recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.-Biography:...
, founder of the architectural firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill. Senator Dick Durbin stayed at the hotel in 1969 when he traveled to Chicago to take the bar exam.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the hotel housed a swanky lounge on its upper story, called the "Tip Top Tap." Although the lounge closed in 1961, the sign proclaiming its existence is still displayed on the Allerton Hotel. By 1963, the room was home to a new restaurant, the Cloud Room, when Don McNeill
Don McNeill (performer)
Don McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.-Early career:...
moved his broadcast of "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club" to the location. While the show was broadcast from the Allerton, McNeill's guests included regular Fran Allison
Fran Allison
Fran Allison was an American television and radio comedian, personality and singer. She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, which ran from 1947 to 1957, occasionally returning to the air until the mid 1980s...
.
After the Allerton Hotel was declared a Chicago landmark, it was closed from August 1998 through May 1999 for a $60,000,000 renovation. The restoration work reversed the hotel's trend toward seediness. When the hotel reopened as the Allerton Crowne Plaza Hotel, the twenty-third floor, which had housed the Tip Top Tap and the Cloud Room, opened as the Renaissance Ballroom. At the same time, a lounge opened on the second floor called Taps on Two, and featured one of the Tip Top Tap's signature drinks, a Moscow mule
Moscow Mule
A Moscow Mule is a buck or mule cocktail made with vodka, ginger beer, and lime which was popular during the vodka craze in the United States during the 1950s. The name refers to the popular perception of vodka as a Russian product.-History:...
.
In November 2006, the Allerton Hotel was purchased from Crowne Plaza and sold to the Chartres Lodging Group for $70,000,000. It reopened on February 2, 2007 as the independently owned Allerton Hotel, under the Chartres Lodging umbrella of hotels.