Chicago Athletic Association Hotel Has A Gilded Age Past
Chicago Athletic Association on Michigan Avenue. Chicago.
Some hotels have a clubby feel, and some were once actual clubs. The Chicago Athletic Association Hotel easily fits both of those definitions. The stately Venetian Gothic tower commands a prime location on Michigan Avenue, across the street from the shiny bean sculpture known as Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, and the Pritzker Music Pavilion. Down the street is the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony. As you look straight out onto shimmering Lake Michigan, it's hard to imagine a better Chicago location or a more storied hotel in the city.
The Drawing Room at Chicago Athletic Association
When you walk through this hotel, which is now part of Hyatt, it's a bit like time travel. There are terrazzo marble floors, 19th-century stained glass windows, and vintage marble. The spectacular Drawing Room, which is a second-floor lobby and sanctuary looking out on the lake, feels like the ornate library of a gentleman's club, with wooden columns, fireplaces, work tables, and reading nooks. It may be vintage, but it's more playful than stuffy, with the homey, club-like feel you'd expect in such a building. As I discovered, the enormous room is a great place for a morning coffee or a cocktail after a day out in the Windy City. It's also the antithesis of most hotel lobbies, which are rarely laid-back places to linger.
Designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb in 1893 for the Chicago Athletic Association (CAA) as a private men's club, it was built to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition, the legendary 'White City.' From the start, the CAA was all about power and privilege. Members included the city's wealthiest and most successful businessmen, such as William Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, who appropriated the club's logo for that team. There was also Olympic gold medal swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller, who would go on to play Tarzan in the movies. Marshall Field, owner of Chicago's famed department store, was also a member, as was architect Daniel Burnham, who designed the World's Columbian Exposition.
Chicago Athletic Association
The club featured an indoor basketball court, running track, dedicated boxing ring, and swimming pool. There were bars and restaurants and, during Prohibition, speakeasys, along with a roster of entertainers as diverse as bluesman Muddy Waters and the great jazz artist Duke Ellington. Yet over time, the membership dwindled, and the club finally closed in 2007.
What saved it was the billionaire Pritzker family, owners of the Hyatt Hotels chain, who embarked on a massive restoration and reimagining under Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors.
Founders Suite at Chicago Athletic Association
It reopened as a hotel in 2015 and now has 241 guestrooms and suites that are respectful and redolent of the original club rooms. They've been playfully done with conceits like a pommel horse at the end of some beds, table legs wrapped up like vintage tennis racquets, and even wooden climbing racks on the wall. The bathrooms are updated but have vintage-looking cream and white tiles. Modern versions of brass beds and Faribault Woolen Mill Co. custom blankets set the tone. This was one of the first buildings in Chicago to have electricity, and today, they have a contemporary version of Edison lightbulbs throughout the hotel for authenticity. The rooms are comfortable and quiet and high-ceilinged. Pony up for Junior Suite with a lake view, and you'll get a 550 square foot room with spectacular views and a spacious bathroom.
The old boxing ring is now the Game Room, where you'll find billiard tables, a bocce ball court, and shuffleboard. The fourth-floor basketball court is still there, where you can shoot hoops, rent roller skates for a spin around the large court, or run on the track suspended above the court. Where there were once Turkish Baths on the ground floor is now a Shake Shack. The swimming pool, nicknamed The Tank, is gone, though the decorative tiles remain. Elevators are paneled in wood from the former fencing court.
I'm generally not inclined to get excited about ballrooms, but The White City Ballroom is an exception. Overlooking the lake, it was restored by a team of artisan plasterers who recreated the original ceiling from photographs. That ceiling has 160 ornate stalactites, which look like nothing so much as upside-down meringues. The bas-relief carvings on the fireplaces are extraordinary.
Cindy's at Chicago Athletic Association
The hotel's restaurants (except Shake Shack) have recently come under the management of the Boka Restaurant Group. They include the Cherry Circle Room, the Drawing Room, the Milk Room, and Cindy's Rooftop. The latter is a light-filled aerie with staggering views over the lake and decorated in bright colors, making it the most feminine space in a hotel that otherwise feels very masculine. It's named for Cindy Pritzker, the late matriarch of the Pritzker family, and a portrait of her by Andy Warhol hangs in the restaurant. It also serves food that is among the best in downtown Chicago. You no longer need to be a club member to get into the Chicago Athletic Association, whose slogan is now 'All Are Welcome.' Chances are that you will feel very welcome, thanks to a staff who seem to go out of their way to make you feel at home.
Details at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel.
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