If you’re going to visit the birthplace of the skyscraper, you may as well stay in one. And where better than one of Chicago’s true originals, the 1923 Alfred S. Alschuler-designed London Guarantee Building, now home to LondonHouse, a luxury hotel.
With 452-rooms spread across Alschuler’s landmark structure and a new accompanying 22-story Modernist glass tower designed by local firm Goettsch Partners, LondonHouse has already established itself as a city beacon, wrapping around both North Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, and overlooking the city’s river.
Topped by a refurbished historic beaux-arts cupola, now an event space and the crowning glory in a tri-level rooftop, the property is remarkable for its recreational areas. They include a full service spa and a restaurant led by Executive Chef Riley Huddleston, as well as a slick second-level lobby bar fronted by floor-to-ceiling windows that is bound to pull in guests and Chicago’s movers and shakers alike.
The interiors have been designed by Simeone Deary Design Group, who were guided by the building’s original historic detailing and 1920s opulence. As such, guest rooms pay homage to luxury automobiles of the time, an influence which manifests itself via sleek, elegant furniture upholstered in plush materials, and fumed eucalyptus woods which mingle with a palette of warm greys and crisp whites for a result that successfully brings the city’s golden age to the present.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
85 East Wacker Drive At North Michigan Avenue
-
Paul Rudolph's home served as a gigantic 'loom' for an exhibition of Anni Albers textilesItalian textile brand Dedar presented its Weaving Anni Albers collection at the legendary architect’s experimental Modulightor building in New York last week
-
From Bauhaus to outhouse: Walter Gropius’ Massachusetts home seeks a design for a new public toiletFor years, visitors to the Gropius House had to contend with an outdoor porta loo. A new architecture competition is betting the design community is flush with solutions
-
This Portuguese winery looks like it grew from the landscape itselfArchitect Sérgio Rebelo distils the essence of Portugal’s Douro Valley into a new timber-framed winery for Quinta de Adorigo
-
This new Los Angeles restaurant is a mischievous blend of dive bar and 'psychedelic honky tonk'At Marvito, small-batch tequila and a classic rock soundtrack create a delightfully nostalgic night out
-
Fantasy – and incredible seafood – await at Carbone Riviera, now open at the Bellagio in Las VegasInterior design powerhouse Martin Brudnizki drew on the Côte d'Azur and Picasso’s ceramics for Major Food Group’s latest Sin City outpost
-
Welcome to Polymath Park, where you can spend the night in a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpieceA pair of determined Wright devotees have turned four endangered modernist houses into an overnight design retreat
-
Faena New York just landed in the Big Apple – and it's an excuse for a good timeArgentine hotelier Alan Faena’s first New York address serves up high-octane hospitality with a dash of leopard print
-
These vintage American motels will have you longing for the open road‘Vintage Motels’ documents how the humble roadside stopover has evolved into a design-led destination for a new generation of travellers
-
At Duryea’s Sunset Cottages in The Hamptons, it’s all about stillness and open horizonsA beloved Hampton restaurant becomes a tucked-away retreat set on a windswept bluff above Fort Pond Bay in Montauk
-
The return of Genghis Cohen: LA’s cult Chinese diner lives onThe 1980s Chinese-American landmark returns with red booths, neon nostalgia, and a fresh dose of Hollywood eccentricity
-
A24 just opened a restaurant in New York, and it’s as cinematic as you’d expectHidden in the West Village, Wild Cherry pairs a moody, arthouse sensibility with a supper-style menu devised by the team behind Frenchette
