Neighborhood News: Palmer House-Chicago’s Most Resilient Hotel
The Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel 17 E. Monroe, is the nation’s longest continually operating hotel.
BUT…did you know that the hotel began its life as a gift of love? 💕
When Potter met Bertha…
When Chicago businessman Potter Palmer met wealthy socialite Bertha Honoré, he wanted his wedding gift to express the enormity of his feelings for her. As the hotel’s website narrates, that led to one of the most extravagant wedding gifts of all time: Mr. Palmer built The Palmer House, first on the corner of State and Quincy, the second on the corner of State and Monroe. Both opened in 1870.
A Gift of Love…Four Times Over…
While accounts vary by historians, this much we can deduce: there have been four incarnations of this historic hotel. Just a year later, the Great Chicago Fire burned both original locations to the ground on October 9, 1871, just 13 days after the second hotel’s grand opening.
Before Mrs. Palmer could weep over her loss, Mr. Palmer had secured a $1.7 million loan for a new hotel.
Palmer House #3 “The World’s Only Fire Proof Hotel”
On November 8, 1873, the third new Palmer House welcomed its first guests, and constructed mainly of iron and brick, according to Wikipedia sources, its amenities included oversized rooms, luxurious decor, and sumptuous meals. The floor of its barber shop was tiled and silver dollars were embedded in a diamond pattern. Soon after, the practice of burying coins was oulawed, and the floors were replaced with tile.
Fun fact: According to Wikipedia sources, an 1895 meeting at the hotel of faculty representatives from various Midwestern universities resulted in the founding of the Big Ten Conference. It was also THE location for traveling celebrities of the day, from U.S. presidents to Charles Dickens to Oscar Wilde. One of those reasons likely was that the third Palmer House was the first hotel with elevators, electric light bulbs, and telephones in the guest rooms.
Mrs. Palmer was an art collector, who amassed a number of paintings by impressionist Claude Monet. They once hung in the Palmer House, but now are part of the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Did you know…the Brownie was invented here?
Mrs. Bertha Palmer was having as much fun as Mr. Palmer with the hotel. According to their website, in 1893, Mrs. Palmer tasked the Palmer House pastry chef Joseph Sehl with a dessert suitable for ladies attending the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. Her request was for a cake-like confection that could easily be transported to the fair within a boxed lunch. The result was the Palmer House Brownie, made of chocolate to comprise a fudge-like density and topped with a decadent walnut and apricot glaze. The original recipe is on the Palmer House website.
May the Fourth be with you…
According to the City of Chicago’s website, the fourth and current Palmer House Hotel was built by Potter and Bertha’s sons, Honore and Potter Jr., as a “grandly-scaled continuation of the Palmer House tradition.”
While the third structure was still popular and profitable, the brothers elected to construct a new, grander, more opulent 25-story building. The hotel retained its second-floor reception lobby and the entertainment venue Empire Room and two fourth-floor ballrooms, the Red Lacquer Room and Grand Ballroom.”
Between 1924 and 1927, the Palmer House was rebuilt on the same site but in stages, so not to lose a single day of operations.
According to HistoricHotels.org, the adorned with garnet-draped chandeliers, Louis Comfort Tiffany masterpieces, and a breathtaking ceiling fresco by French painter Louis Pierre Rigal. (NOTE: if you haven’t seen it, you need to!) Other elegant touches included a two-story, gilded lobby with a formal staircase, marble-topped tables, velvet seating, and a ceiling mural depicting Greek mythology.
The ceiling fresco was described by columnist George Will as “a wonderful protest of romance against the everydayness of life.”
The hotel was purchased in 1945 by legendary hotelier Conrad Hilton and it remains one of the company’s flagship properties, though In 2005, Hilton sold the property to Thor Equities, but retained management through the Hilton chain.
For the first time ever, the iconic hotel closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, but reopened to the public on June 17, 2021, following a series of upgrades to its interior, including a renovation to its indoor pool.
Today, the Palmer House remains an iconic fixture of Chicago. For more information about events and bookings, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
