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The Blackstone Hotel

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Blackstone Hotel
Blackstone Hotel in 2004
LocationChicago, IL
Built1909
ArchitectBenjamin Marshall
Architectural styleSecond Empire, Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.86001005 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 08, 1986
For other uses, see Blackstone Hotel (disambiguation).

The Blackstone Hotel is located in Chicago on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Street in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. This Template:Ft to m 21-story hotel was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox.[2] On May 29, 1998, the Blackstone Hotel was designated as a Chicago Landmark.[3] The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8 1986. In addition, it is 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 celebrity guest including numerous U.S. Presidents. More specifically, the hotel known for contributing the term "smoke-filled room" to political parlance.[4] It has recently fallen into disrepair that necessitated closure and renovation. It is expected to open in 2007 under the Marriott International Renaissance Hotels brand, but using the Blackstone name.

History

Blackstone Hotel under repair (January 31 2007)).

The hotel and the adjacent Blackstone Theatre were built on the former site of Timothy Blackstone's mansion, after his death, by the sons of his former business partner and hotel magnate John Drake (1826-1895). Tracy C. Drake and John Drake (1872-1964) were also the developers for the Drake Hotel. Their father had been a Director in Blackstone's Chicago and Alton Railroad.[5] At the time of the opening of 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).[6]

The original construction was capitalized at $1.5 million including a $600,000 to $750,000 bond issue by the Drake Hotel Company.[7] 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.[8] 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.[8] After going into receivership the hotel closed and was refurbished, but it was reopened in time for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.[8]

The hotel closed in 2000, after building inspectors found safety problems during a 1999 inspection.[9]

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 condominiums priced as high as $8.5 million.[9] Rubloff's plans were unsuccessful due to financing difficulties and a lackluster market for buyers of Blackstone condominiums.[10] Even two rounds of price cuts were not enough to spur interest in the condo opportunities and a non-profit organization was unable to obtain financing.[10]

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 Marriot International/Rennaissance Hotels and Sage Hospitality, a Denver, CO based company.[11] The hotel's restoration process is quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage.[9] $22 million of the $112 million was the cost associated with the acquisition.[11] Sage sought $22 million in tax-increment financing from the Chicago Community Development Commission.[12] They eventually were approved for $18 million in tax-increment financing.[11]

Sage had been interested in the property long before the condominium conversion was attempted.[9] The new building will retain its historic name, however. It will operate as a Marriot brand under the "Renaissance Hotels" label.[9] After restoration the hotel will have 327 rooms and create 160 full and part-time jobs.[11] The other parties involved in the restoration are local architect, Lucien Lagrange and hotel interior design firm, Gettys Group Inc. for design work.[11] James McHugh Construction Co. is responsible for construction.[11]

Hotel and politics

The Blackstone has been dubbed "The Hotel of Presidents".[3] The hotel was once considered one of Chicago's finest luxury hotels, and a dozen 20th century U.S. Presidents have stayed at the hotel.[3][13] In addition the Blackstone has also become part of Chicago's history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating conventions (26) than any other two American cities,[14] a history which goes back to the 1860 Republican National Convention hosted at the Wigwam.[3] The hotel has a special room designed for use by presidents which was separated by 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.[13] 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."[15][4] The phrase entered American political parlance to denote a political process which is not open to scrutiny.[13] In addition, the Blackstone is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 3rd-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.

Architecture

The Blackstone Hotel was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, of Marshall and Fox in 1909.[16] Sources vary as to the precise style in which Marshall designed the building.[3][16][17][18] 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 the neoclassical Beaux-Arts architecture.[3] The nomination form for the building's listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places classifies the structure as distinctly Second Empire.[16] Though the two styles are related, there are differences and the Blackstone Hotel demonstrates elements from both schools of style.[citation needed]

The base of pink granite and high arched openings supports the red brick and terra cotta trimmed building shaft.[19] The mansard roof was originally decorated with small spires around the perimeter, and 2 very tall flagpoles.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ^ a b "The Blackstone". Emporis. 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Blackstone Hotel". City of Chicago Dept. of Pl. and Devpmt., Landmarks Div. 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-25. Cite error: The named reference "CL" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "Smoke-Filled Room". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  5. ^ Berger, Miles L., They Built Chicago: The Entrepreneurs Who Shaped A Great City's Architecture, 1992, Bonus Books
  6. ^ "A History of the Merle Reskin Theatre". The Theatre School at DePaul University. 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  7. ^ Berger, Miles L., "They Built Chicago: Entrepreneurs Who Shaped a Great City's Architecture," Bonus Books, Inc., Chicago, 1992, p. 155., ISBN.
  8. ^ a b c Berger, Miles L., "They Built Chicago: Entrepreneurs Who Shaped a Great City's Architecture," Bonus Books, Inc., Chicago, 1992, p. 159., ISBN.
  9. ^ a b c d e Gallun, Alby (2004-09-23). "Rehab ahead for Blackstone Hotel". Chicago Business. Crain's. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  10. ^ a b "Blackstone conversion stalls". Chicago Business. Crain's. 2002-10-27. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Gallun, Alby (2005-06-14). "CDC backs $18 million for Blackstone". Chicago Business. Crain's. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  12. ^ Gallun, Alby (2005-03-11). "Sage wants TIF for Blackstone rehab". Chicago Business. Crain's. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  13. ^ a b c Allegrini, Robert V., Chicago's Grand Hotels, 2005, Arcadia Publishing, p.92.
  14. ^ Sautter, R. Craig (2005). "Political Conventions". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  15. ^ Wolfe, Gerard R., Chicago In and Around the Loop: Walking Tours of Architecture and History, 1996, McGraw-Hill, p.176.
  16. ^ a b c "Blackstone Hotel," (PDF), HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  17. ^ Mougey, Paul. "Chicago's cinematic allure," USA Today, 3 November 2003. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  18. ^ McBrien, Judith Paine. Pocket Guide to Chicago Architecture, (Google Books), 2004, W. W. Norton & Company, p. 11, (ISBN 0393731553). Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  19. ^ Steiner, Frances H., "The Architecture of Chicago's Loop," pg. 124, The Sigma Press, 1998, ISBN
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