Chicago Beach Hotel
Chicago Beach Hotel Postcard (1910)
Map
General information
Completed1891
Closed1963
Demolished1970
Design and construction
Architect(s)Warren Leland

The Chicago Beach Hotel was a luxury resort hotel located at 1660 East Hyde Park Boulevard in the Indian Village neighborhood of the Kenwood community area of Chicago, Illinois.

History

The hotel was built in 1892[1] by Warren Leland[2] and was one of many speculative hotels built to accommodate the hordes of tourists drawn by the upcoming Columbian Exposition of 1893.[1] It contained 450 rooms, with 175 bathrooms.[3] The property extended to Lake Michigan.[4] The building resembled the Hyde Park Hotel and probably shared architects.[1] Many Chicagoans of high social standing became residents and members.[4][5] The building had private access to the beach until 1915 when the city created an adjacent bathhouse.[6] It lost its beach frontage entirely in 1920 when the shoreline was moved more than a block eastward with a landfill project that created South Lake Shore Drive.[3]

Chicago Beach Hotel Postcard (1911)

In 1921 a huge 12 story, 545-room addition was constructed on the eastern portion of the property.[7] The original structure, by now outdated, was then demolished in 1927.[8] The Algonquin Apartments, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, were built on the site of the original wing in 1950.[9]

Gardiner General Hospital

The hotel closed in October 1942. On October 15, the new wing of the hotel was commandeered by the military, reopening on December 21 as Gardiner General Hospital, named after Ruth M. Gardiner.[10][11] After the war the building served as the 5th Army Headquarters.[12] Fifth Army Headquarters moved to Fort Sheridan in 1963, leaving the building vacant until its demolition in 1970. The Regents Park apartments were constructed on the property in the 1970s.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Chicago Beach Hotel". Archived from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
  2. ^ Press Club of Chicago (1922). Official Reference Book. p. 202. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Hudson, L. (2003). Hyde Park. Arcadia. p. 101. ISBN 9780738531984. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Chicago Beach Hotel, c.1903". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
  5. ^ Michael Huey Dearie—The Louis Betts Portrait of Harriet King Huey, Schlebrügge, Vienna 2011 provides specific and in-depth historical information about the hotel, including interior and exterior images from around 1912, based on archival materials of the Arthur S. Huey family, which lived there full-time from 1908-1916.
  6. ^ "Bathers at the Chicago Beach Hotel, 1913". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
  7. ^ "The Milwaukee Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  8. ^ Davis, S.O.C.; Vinci, J. (2013). Chicago's Historic Hyde Park. University of Chicago Press. p. 121. ISBN 9780226925196. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  9. ^ Davis, S.O.C.; Vinci, J. (2013). Chicago's Historic Hyde Park. University of Chicago Press. p. 443. ISBN 9780226925196. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  10. ^ "21 Dec 1942, 17 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  11. ^ "6 Sep 1970, 72 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  12. ^ "Regents Park". Emporis.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2004. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
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