Blackstone Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Renaissance Blackstone Hotel (formerly Blackstone Hotel) is located on the corner of Michigan Avenue
and Balbo Street in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District
in the Loop
community area
of Chicago, Illinois. This 290 feet (88.4 m) 21-story hotel was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox
. On May 29, 1998, the Blackstone Hotel was designated as a Chicago Landmark. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on May 8, 1986. It is also a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.
The hotel was named for Timothy Blackstone
, a notable Chicago business executive and politician, who served as the founding president of the Union Stock Yards
, president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad
, and mayor
of La Salle, Illinois. The hotel is famous for hosting celebrity guests including numerous U.S. presidents
, for which it was known as the "Hotel of Presidents" for much of the 20th century. The hotel is known for contributing the term "smoke-filled room
" to political parlance. The hotel fell into disrepair that necessitated closure in 2000 and subsequent renovation. It reopened on March 6, 2008 after a $128-million renovation and is managed by the Renaissance Hotels
division of Marriott International
.
The hotel and the adjacent Blackstone Theatre
were built on the site of Timothy Blackstone's mansion by John
and Tracy Drake
, sons of his (Blackstone's) former business partner, the hotel magnate John Drake
. John and Tracy Drake also developed the Drake Hotel
. Their father had been a Director in Blackstone's Chicago and Alton Railroad. At the time of the opening, the hotel and theatre were located at the southern edge of the Chicago Theatre District at Michigan Avenue and Hubbard Court (which was first renamed 7th Street and later Balbo Drive).
The original construction was capitalized at $1.5 million ($ million today), including a $600,000 to $750,000 bond issue by the Drake Hotel Company. In the 1920s, the Drake Hotel Company undertook some financing arrangements which included extending their debt to construct the Drake Hotel. They used the Blackstone Hotel as collateral for one loan in 1927. The Wall Street Crash of 1929
rippled into the hotel industry, leaving the Chicago Title and Trust Company with 30 Chicago hotels in receivership and causing the Drakes to default in 1932. After going into receivership, the hotel closed and was refurbished, but it was reopened in time for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition
.
have stayed at the hotel. In addition, the Blackstone has also become part of Chicago's history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating convention
s (26) than any other two American cities, a history which goes back to the 1860 Republican National Convention
hosted at the Wigwam
. The hotel has a special room designed for use by presidents which was separated from the rest of the hotel by hollowed out walls in which the Secret Service
could operate. In 1920, Warren G. Harding
was selected as the Republican
candidate for the Presidency at the Blackstone. Although the convention was being held at the Chicago Coliseum
, a group of Republican leaders met at the Blackstone on the night of June 11 to come to a consensus. When the Associated Press
reported on the decision-making process, the reporter stated it had been made "in a smoke-filled room
". The phrase entered American
political parlance to denote a political process which is not open to scrutiny. In addition, the Blackstone is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
third-term Democratic Nomination was forged in 1940, where Harry S. Truman
stayed when he received the 1944 Vice Presidential Nomination and where Dwight D. Eisenhower
heard the news of his first ballot 1952 Republican nomination. In all, guests have included at least 12 U.S. Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt
, William Howard Taft
, Woodrow Wilson
, Warren Harding
, Calvin Coolidge
, Herbert Hoover
, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy
, Richard Nixon
, and Jimmy Carter
. During Kennedy's visit he was informed of the Cuban Missile Crisis
after sipping on clam chowder
. The hotel was purchased by Sheraton in the 1950s and spent more than twenty years under the name Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel. Despite the hospitality enjoyed by its elite guests, the hotel endured some troubles in the 1960s and 1970s as the neighborhood surrounding the hotel declined.
building inspectors found safety problems during a 1999 inspection. The building's owner, Heaven on Earth Inns Corp, run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
, looked into several options before selling the property to Rubloff, Inc., which in 2001 announced plans to convert the building into condominium
s priced as high as $8.5 million. Rubloff's plans were unsuccessful due to financing difficulties and a lackluster market for buyers of Blackstone condominiums. Even two rounds of price cuts were not enough to spur interest in the condo opportunities and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's non-profit organization
was unable to obtain financing.
The years of neglect following the closing of the hotel took a toll on the building's appearance with both the interior and exterior facade
crumbling. In 2005, it was announced that the hotel would undergo a $112 million renovation and acquisition with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott International/Renaissance Hotels and Sage Hospitality, a Denver, Colorado
-based company. The hotel's restoration process was quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage. $22 million of the expected $112 million was the cost associated with the acquisition. Sage sought $22 million in tax increment financing
from the Chicago Community Development Commission. They eventually were approved for $18 million in tax-increment financing. The final cost of the restoration came to $128 million, of which the city of Chicago provided $13.5 million for street-front improvement, including the restoration and recasting of over 10,000 pieces of decorative terra cotta, and federal historical tax credits because the building is a historical landmark. The Chicago Landmark status necessitated renovation oversight by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
.
Sage had been interested in the property long before the condominium conversion was attempted. The newly restored building retains its historic name; however, it operates as a Marriott brand under the "Renaissance Hotels" label. Sage uses the Renaissance brand "for hotels that are very unique in terms of location, style, design, or historic values". The other parties involved in the restoration were local architect Lucien Lagrange
and hotel interior design, development, and procurement firm Gettys, for design work. James McHugh Construction Co. was responsible for construction. The engineering firm handling the exterior renovation was Illinois-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
The restoration resulted in 332 rooms, 12 suites, and 13230 square feet (1,229.1 m²) of meeting space. The 21-story hotel is now equipped with a health club, a business center, and a street-level Starbucks
cafe with outdoor seating area. As part of the restorations, sconces
and chandelier
s were restored. Many of the details, such as brass fittings, several of the statue
s and the original chandeliers, had been sold off. However, Sage was able to repurchase many of them on eBay
and refabricate many others. The primary historic facades were fully restored, including the hotel's ornate terra cotta-clad exterior. All the guest-room floors were reconfigured and dramatically enlarged. Some have described the restoration as "garish". The hotel also features a hotel within a hotel called Hubbard Place, in honor of Balbo Drive's former name. It will be a premium service private lounge located in a rooftop area that formerly housed mechanical equipment.
Only two guest rooms were preserved during the restoration: the famous ninth-floor "smoke-filled room" and the original tenth-floor presidential suite. They both retained their original floors, fireplaces, and structural shapes. However, the Presidential Suite's famed hidden passage behind the fireplace—which allowed the president to exit through the hotel's eastern stairwell unnoticed—has been converted into closet space. Notable features that failed to survive the renovation were a barber
shop, which has been converted to a rentable meeting room named "the barbershop", and the theater, which was converted to the Blackstone's bar and restaurant.
The Blackstone Hotel was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, of Marshall and Fox
, in 1909. Sources vary as to the precise style in which Marshall designed the building. According to the Landmarks Division of the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, the hotel's exterior and interior are considered an excellent example of neoclassical
Beaux-Arts architecture; the nomination form for the building's listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places classifies the structure as distinctly Second Empire. However, the two styles are related, and the Blackstone Hotel demonstrates elements from both schools. The design was influenced by Marshall's trip to Paris, after which he completed the hotel.
The Blackstone is a 22-floor rectangular structure and its structural steel frame is cased in tile and plaster fireproofing. On the exterior south and east (front) elevations is a one-story base of pink granite
, with high arched openings; it supports the red brick
- and terra cotta
-trimmed building shaft. Above the granite base are four stories of white, glazed terra cotta. The large windows of the second and third floor, which once poured natural light into the lobby, ballroom, and restaurants, have mostly been covered for a theater. The majority of the building rises as a 12-story shaft of red brick dotted with white, terra cotta window surrounds; above this section is a belt course of terra cotta and two stories of red brick. Above this, the original design included an intermediate terra cotta cornice
topped by a cast iron
railing. This has been removed and replaced with red brick and white glazed brick, flush with the rest of the building. The mansard roof
was originally decorated with small spire
s around the perimeter, and 2 very tall flagpoles.
film The Untouchables, a party in The Hudsucker Proxy
, and Tom Cruise
's pre-pool tourney stay in The Color of Money
. Also, the 1996–2000 television series Early Edition
was set in this building, featuring a man who lives in the hotel and receives the newspaper a day in advance.
Michigan Avenue (Chicago)
Michigan Avenue is a major north-south street in Chicago which runs at 100 east south of the Chicago River and at 132 East north of the river from 12628 south to 950 north in the Chicago street address system...
and Balbo Street in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District
Historic Michigan Boulevard District
The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue between 11th or Roosevelt Road , depending on the source, and Randolph Streets and named after the nearby Great Lake...
in the Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown 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. This 290 feet (88.4 m) 21-story hotel was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox
Marshall and Fox
Marshall and Fox was an United States architectural firm based in Chicago from 1905 to 1926. The principals, Benjamin H. Marshall and Charles E. Fox, designed a number of significant buildings of many types, in Chicago and other cities, but they were best known for luxury hotels and apartment...
. On May 29, 1998, the Blackstone Hotel was designated as a Chicago Landmark. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on May 8, 1986. It is also a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.
The hotel was named for Timothy Blackstone
Timothy Blackstone
Timothy Beach Blackstone was a 19th century railroad executive, businessman, philanthropist, and politician. He is descended from one of the earliest British settlers of New England, William Blaxton. Blackstone worked in the railroad industry for most of his life after dropping out of school...
, a notable Chicago business executive and politician, who served as the founding president of the Union Stock Yards
Union Stock Yards
The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meat packing district in Chicago for over a century starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland, and turned it to a centralized processing area...
, president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad
Alton Railroad
The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 and was controlled until 1942 when the Alton was...
, and mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of La Salle, Illinois. The hotel is famous for hosting celebrity guests including numerous U.S. presidents
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, for which it was known as the "Hotel of Presidents" for much of the 20th century. The hotel is known for contributing the term "smoke-filled room
Smoke-filled room
In U.S. political slang, a smoke-filled room is a term for a secret political gathering or round table style decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest a cabal of powerful or well-connected, cigar-smoking men such as the Bilderberg group meeting privately to nominate a dark...
" to political parlance. The hotel fell into disrepair that necessitated closure in 2000 and subsequent renovation. It reopened on March 6, 2008 after a $128-million renovation and is managed by the Renaissance Hotels
Renaissance Hotels
Renaissance Hotels is a worldwide brand of hotels and resorts. The brand is owned by Marriott International and many Renaissance Hotels are managed by Marriott; however, some are operated under a franchise license. Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites cater to an upmarket segment of the traveling...
division of Marriott International
Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...
.
History
Merle Reskin Theatre
The Merle Reskin Theatre is a performing arts venue located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Originally named the Blackstone Theatre, it was founded in 1910. The Merle Reskin Theatre is now part of DePaul University, although it is still used for events not affiliated with the...
were built on the site of Timothy Blackstone's mansion by John
John Drake (1872-1964)
John Burroughs Drake and his brother Tracy Drake were the developers and proprietors of the Blackstone Hotel and Drake Hotel, which are both located along Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL. The former is located in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District and the latter along the...
and Tracy Drake
Tracy Drake
Tracy C Drake and his brother John Drake were the developers and proprietors of the Blackstone Hotel and Drake Hotel, which are both located along Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL. The former is located in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District and the latter along the...
, sons of his (Blackstone's) former business partner, the hotel magnate John Drake
John Drake (1826-1895)
John Burroughs Drake was a hotelier who was part owner of the Tremont House hotel in Chicago, Illinois. He managed the Grand Pacific Hotel from 1874–1895. His sons, John B. Drake and Tracy C. Drake were the developers and proprietors of the Blackstone Hotel and Drake Hotel, which are both located...
. John and Tracy Drake also developed the Drake Hotel
Drake Hotel (Chicago)
The Drake Hotel, 140 East Walton Place, Chicago, Illinois, is a luxury full-service hotel, located downtown on the lake side of Michigan Avenue two blocks north of the John Hancock Center and a block south of Oak Street Beach at the top of the Magnificent Mile.Overlooking Lake Michigan, it was...
. Their father had been a Director in Blackstone's Chicago and Alton Railroad. At the time of the opening, the hotel and theatre were located at the southern edge of the Chicago Theatre District at Michigan Avenue and Hubbard Court (which was first renamed 7th Street and later Balbo Drive).
The original construction was capitalized at $1.5 million ($ million today), including a $600,000 to $750,000 bond issue by the Drake Hotel Company. In the 1920s, the Drake Hotel Company undertook some financing arrangements which included extending their debt to construct the Drake Hotel. They used the Blackstone Hotel as collateral for one loan in 1927. The Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
rippled into the hotel industry, leaving the Chicago Title and Trust Company with 30 Chicago hotels in receivership and causing the Drakes to default in 1932. After going into receivership, the hotel closed and was refurbished, but it was reopened in time for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
.
Hotel and politics
The Blackstone Hotel has been dubbed "The Hotel of Presidents". It was once considered one of Chicago's finest luxury hotels, and a dozen 20th-century U.S. PresidentsPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
have stayed at the hotel. In addition, the Blackstone has also become part of Chicago's history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating convention
United States presidential nominating convention
A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election...
s (26) than any other two American cities, a history which goes back to the 1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
The 1860 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States, held in Chicago, Illinois at the Wigwam, nominated former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for President and U.S. Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice President...
hosted at the Wigwam
Wigwam (Chicago)
The Wigwam was a convention center and meeting hall that served as the site of the 1860 Republican National Convention. It was located in Chicago, Illinois at Lake Street and Market near the Chicago River. This site had previously been the site of the Sauganash Hotel, Chicago's first hotel...
. The hotel has a special room designed for use by presidents which was separated from the rest of the hotel by hollowed out walls in which the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
could operate. In 1920, Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
was selected as the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for the Presidency at the Blackstone. Although the convention was being held at the Chicago Coliseum
Chicago Coliseum
The Chicago Coliseum was the name of a succession of three large indoor arenas in Chicago, Illinois from the 1860s to 1982 that each served as a sports venue, convention center, and exhibition hall over the course of their respective histories. The first Coliseum briefly made an appearance in the...
, a group of Republican leaders met at the Blackstone on the night of June 11 to come to a consensus. When the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported on the decision-making process, the reporter stated it had been made "in a smoke-filled room
Smoke-filled room
In U.S. political slang, a smoke-filled room is a term for a secret political gathering or round table style decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest a cabal of powerful or well-connected, cigar-smoking men such as the Bilderberg group meeting privately to nominate a dark...
". The phrase entered American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political parlance to denote a political process which is not open to scrutiny. In addition, the Blackstone is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
third-term Democratic Nomination was forged in 1940, where Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
stayed when he received the 1944 Vice Presidential Nomination and where Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
heard the news of his first ballot 1952 Republican nomination. In all, guests have included at least 12 U.S. Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, Warren Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, and Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. During Kennedy's visit he was informed of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
after sipping on clam chowder
Clam chowder
Clam chowder is any of several chowders containing clams and broth. Along with the clams, diced potato is common, as are onions, which are occasionally sauteed in the drippings from salt pork or bacon. Celery is frequently used. Other vegetables are uncommon, but small carrot strips might...
. The hotel was purchased by Sheraton in the 1950s and spent more than twenty years under the name Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel. Despite the hospitality enjoyed by its elite guests, the hotel endured some troubles in the 1960s and 1970s as the neighborhood surrounding the hotel declined.
21st-century redevelopment
The hotel closed in 2000 after Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationOccupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
building inspectors found safety problems during a 1999 inspection. The building's owner, Heaven on Earth Inns Corp, run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
, looked into several options before selling the property to Rubloff, Inc., which in 2001 announced plans to convert the building into condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s priced as high as $8.5 million. Rubloff's plans were unsuccessful due to financing difficulties and a lackluster market for buyers of Blackstone condominiums. Even two rounds of price cuts were not enough to spur interest in the condo opportunities and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
was unable to obtain financing.
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
crumbling. In 2005, it was announced that the hotel would undergo a $112 million renovation and acquisition with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott International/Renaissance Hotels and Sage Hospitality, a Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
-based company. The hotel's restoration process was quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage. $22 million of the expected $112 million was the cost associated with the acquisition. Sage sought $22 million in tax increment financing
Tax increment financing
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is a public financing method which has been used as a subsidy for redevelopment and community improvement projects in many countries including the United States for more than 50 years...
from the Chicago Community Development Commission. They eventually were approved for $18 million in tax-increment financing. The final cost of the restoration came to $128 million, of which the city of Chicago provided $13.5 million for street-front improvement, including the restoration and recasting of over 10,000 pieces of decorative terra cotta, and federal historical tax credits because the building is a historical landmark. The Chicago Landmark status necessitated renovation oversight by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, established in 1968 by a Chicago City Ordinance, is composed of nine members appointed by the Mayor and the Chicago City Council. It is responsible for presenting recommendations of individual buildings, sites, objects, or entire districts to be designated as...
.
Sage had been interested in the property long before the condominium conversion was attempted. The newly restored building retains its historic name; however, it operates as a Marriott brand under the "Renaissance Hotels" label. Sage uses the Renaissance brand "for hotels that are very unique in terms of location, style, design, or historic values". The other parties involved in the restoration were local architect Lucien Lagrange
Lucien Lagrange
Lucien Lagrange is an architect and a former partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, who founded his own firm, named Lucien Lagrange Architects in 1985...
and hotel interior design, development, and procurement firm Gettys, for design work. James McHugh Construction Co. was responsible for construction. The engineering firm handling the exterior renovation was Illinois-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. is an American corporation of architects, engineers, and materials scientists specializing in the investigation, analysis, testing, and design of repairs for historic and contemporary buildings and structures...
The restoration resulted in 332 rooms, 12 suites, and 13230 square feet (1,229.1 m²) of meeting space. The 21-story hotel is now equipped with a health club, a business center, and a street-level Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
cafe with outdoor seating area. As part of the restorations, sconces
Sconce (light fixture)
A sconce is a type of light fixture affixed to a wall in such a way that it uses only the wall for support, and the light is usually directed upwards. It does not have a base on the ground...
and chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
s were restored. Many of the details, such as brass fittings, several of the statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
s and the original chandeliers, had been sold off. However, Sage was able to repurchase many of them on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
and refabricate many others. The primary historic facades were fully restored, including the hotel's ornate terra cotta-clad exterior. All the guest-room floors were reconfigured and dramatically enlarged. Some have described the restoration as "garish". The hotel also features a hotel within a hotel called Hubbard Place, in honor of Balbo Drive's former name. It will be a premium service private lounge located in a rooftop area that formerly housed mechanical equipment.
Only two guest rooms were preserved during the restoration: the famous ninth-floor "smoke-filled room" and the original tenth-floor presidential suite. They both retained their original floors, fireplaces, and structural shapes. However, the Presidential Suite's famed hidden passage behind the fireplace—which allowed the president to exit through the hotel's eastern stairwell unnoticed—has been converted into closet space. Notable features that failed to survive the renovation were a barber
Barber
A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
shop, which has been converted to a rentable meeting room named "the barbershop", and the theater, which was converted to the Blackstone's bar and restaurant.
Architecture
Marshall and Fox
Marshall and Fox was an United States architectural firm based in Chicago from 1905 to 1926. The principals, Benjamin H. Marshall and Charles E. Fox, designed a number of significant buildings of many types, in Chicago and other cities, but they were best known for luxury hotels and apartment...
, in 1909. Sources vary as to the precise style in which Marshall designed the building. According to the Landmarks Division of the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, the hotel's exterior and interior are considered an excellent example of neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
Beaux-Arts architecture; the nomination form for the building's listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places classifies the structure as distinctly Second Empire. However, the two styles are related, and the Blackstone Hotel demonstrates elements from both schools. The design was influenced by Marshall's trip to Paris, after which he completed the hotel.
The Blackstone is a 22-floor rectangular structure and its structural steel frame is cased in tile and plaster fireproofing. On the exterior south and east (front) elevations is a one-story base of pink granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, with high arched openings; it supports the red brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
- and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
-trimmed building shaft. Above the granite base are four stories of white, glazed terra cotta. The large windows of the second and third floor, which once poured natural light into the lobby, ballroom, and restaurants, have mostly been covered for a theater. The majority of the building rises as a 12-story shaft of red brick dotted with white, terra cotta window surrounds; above this section is a belt course of terra cotta and two stories of red brick. Above this, the original design included an intermediate terra cotta cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
topped by a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
railing. This has been removed and replaced with red brick and white glazed brick, flush with the rest of the building. The mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
was originally decorated with small spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
s around the perimeter, and 2 very tall flagpoles.
Popular culture
In addition to its celebrity guests and its contributions to political parlance, the Blackstone has a place in popular culture. Among its uses in cinema, it hosted the banquet where Al Capone smashes a guest's head with a baseball bat in the Brian De PalmaBrian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
film The Untouchables, a party in The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy is a 1994 screwball comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Sam Raimi co-wrote the script and served as second unit director....
, and Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
's pre-pool tourney stay in The Color of Money
The Color of Money
The Color of Money is a 1986 film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Richard Price, based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis....
. Also, the 1996–2000 television series Early Edition
Early Edition
Early Edition is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996 to May 27, 2000. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this...
was set in this building, featuring a man who lives in the hotel and receives the newspaper a day in advance.