In Chicago for a couple of days, I’m at the Burnham Hotel, a hotel inserted into a restored, historic building right downtown, caddy-cornered from Marshall-Fields’s. Wow.
“Set in Chicago’s Reliance Building, Hotel Burnham offers exceptional Chicago accommodations that balance modern comforts with a historic setting. Vivid mosaic floors, red marble walls and filigreed elevator grills replicate the original building and the classic club aesthetic continues in our inviting lobby living room, providing a luxurious and elegant setting from which to begin your Chicago adventure.”
Daniel Burnham was a daring architect. The hotel is in a particularly daring building: the first skyscraper in Chicago. Assembled in record time, against all odds. The lease-holders in the previous building wouldn’t move, so the builder jacked their three floors up a couple of stories and built the tall building around them.
Daniel Burnham won my heart decades ago, before I knew who he was, by saying, “Make no little plans; they fail to stir the blood of men.” It’s one of my core beliefs.
The Reliance Building, as the hotel site is officially known, was originally an office building. I’m on the eighth floor, one of the historic floors, and it looks like an office building in the corridor. Here’s the hallway to my room:
The staircase at this level is the real deal, dating back to 1895.
The high-ceilinged elevator lobby replicates the original. The iron-work was recast from molds of the grates discovered during the restoration of the building:
The Atwood Cafe (named after the architect of the squat original building) serves great food. I’m enjoying myself here. This will be my home base in Chicago whenever I’m back here.
Add in the most friendly, welcoming greeting I have had when checking in to any hotel in years. I’m sold. The phone by my elevator:
