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| Essential
Architecture- Chicago
Loop South Blackstone Hotel |
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architect |
Marshall & Fox |
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location |
636 S. Michigan Ave. |
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date |
1908-10 |
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style |
Beaux-Arts with Second Empire details |
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construction |
steel frame, masonry cladding |
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type |
Hotel |
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Considered the city's best example of a turn-of-the-century luxury hotel,
the Blackstone also represents--both its exterior and interior--an
excellent and rare example of the Modern French style of Beaux-Arts,
(Classical Revival) architecture. Built by prominent hoteliers Tracy and
John Drake, the Blackstone became known as the "Hotel of Presidents,"
serving as host to a dozen U.S. Presidents, including Woodrow Wilson,
Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. The Blackstone
was the location of the famous "smoke-filled rooms" where Warren G.
Harding was chosen as the compromise Republican nominee for President in
June 1920. (The term, which has since become a political cliche, was
coined by a reporter covering the convention.) The hotel was named for
Timothy B. Blackstone, a prominent railroad executive and the founding
president of the Union Stock Yards, whose mansion had stood on the site. |
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links |
With special thanks to the City of
Chicago website,
www.egov.cityofchicago.org , for much of the info on this page.
Photos copyright City of Chicago. |
| www.essential-architecture.com | |