Our Civic Pride series centers on some American cities that have nothing to be ashamed of. They are global hubs of culture, cuisine, and quintessential hotels. Part one shows off Chicago.
Skip down to the hotels. Or, see our Civic Pride lists for Portland and Washington DC.
Lately it’s become de rigueur to accuse certain American cities of being hellish war zones. Our hometown, New York City, was an early and ongoing target of these fabrications. All cities have their issues, of course — it’s the nature of so many people living in such close quarters — but those issues are the price we gladly pay for easy exposure to a world’s worth of different lifestyles and traditions.
If that’s not for you, that’s fine. All New Yorkers also yearn to look up from the kitchen sink and see fields of lavender and a Bambi or three. I regularly pine for the desert, and grew up in a wooded suburb, happily exploring the forest. I took a bus to school, which was a blast, but always wished I lived close enough to take a bike. My daughter, who’s in second grade now, walks to school, only a couple blocks, and along the way we see dozens of her friends and their families. We often say it’s like living on Sesame Street, brownstones and all.
When I was on that school bus, wishing I was on my bike, I never would’ve thought my child would do me one better, in Brooklyn of all places. We don’t live in fear. We’re not surrounded by crime and riot. You can take the subway in and out of Manhattan every day and not have a single inconvenience caused by anything other than an outdated signal system. Ironically, the only thing that worries me about my daughter eventually walking the city on her own is that indelible symbol of the suburbs: the car. The streets are safe. Crossing them, on the other hand, requires vigilance.
Our Civic Pride series looks at essential hotels in great American cities, starting with Chicago, Portland, and DC. We have colleagues and close friends in these places, and like us in New York, mostly they’re just bummed by the undeserved negative attention they’re receiving. And it goes without saying that none of this is good for the tourism industries. In fact, one Portland hotel sent an email recently asking that people not be fooled by the headlines, confirming that the city is alive and well and remains “radically friendly, wildly creative, and unapologetically itself.”
That’s a lot to be proud of.
Pendry Chicago
The Loop — Chicago, IL, USA
Only in Chicago can a hotelier reasonably hope to set up shop in a masterwork like the 1929 Art Deco Carbide & Carbon Building, with its stately dark stone and immaculate gold trim. It’s a perfect fit for Pendry, the urban luxury-boutique cousin to the Montage resorts; Pendry Chicago combines contemporary boutique-hotel good looks with upscale comforts and impressive views of the distinctive Loop cityscape.
Soho House Chicago
West Loop — Chicago, IL, USA
A fixture in both central London and downtown Manhattan, the Soho House members’ clubs have been expanding, both to far-flung global locations and to major cities in the United States. And it’s in a picturesque 1908 industrial building in the neighborhood of Fulton Market that you’ll find Soho House Chicago, an establishment that is, if you’ll forgive what sounds like overstatement, much more than simply a hotel.
Chicago Athletic Association
The Loop — Chicago, IL, USA
This Venetian Gothic landmark, previously a private club for the city’s (male) movers and shakers, dates back to the final decade of the 19th century. But now, after a renovation by architects Hartshorne Plunkard and an interior redesign by hospitality wizards Roman and Williams, the Chicago Athletic Association is a thoroughly up-to-date boutique hotel, in that retro-modern, luxury-boutique sort of way.
Hotel Zachary at Gallagher Way
Wrigleyville — Chicago, IL, USA
It makes sense that a hotel in Wrigleyville would pay homage to Zachary Taylor Davis, the architect behind the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field. Sitting just across the street from the ballpark, this boutique hotel has paid particular attention to design, just like its namesake, mixing classic and mid-century styles. For baseball fans, rooms also come with Wrigley Field views.
The Robey
Wicker Park — Chicago, IL, USA
When one of your favorite hotel brands moves into one of your favorite underutilized buildings, it’s a win-win. The Robey Chicago, from Grupo Habita, occupies North Tower, a 1929 Art Deco skyscraper in Wicker Park. The Mexican mini-chain tapped a Belgian design team, Nicolas Schuybroek Architects and Marc Merckx Interiors, to overhaul the place. The look is cool and industrial with a vintage twist.
The Guesthouse Hotel
Uptown — Chicago, IL, USA
One of many hotels to have learned the lessons of the apartment-sharing boom, Guesthouse Hotel offers one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites, each one fit for as long a stay as you’d like. They’ve got high ceilings, full kitchens, and private balconies complete with gas grills overlooking the quiet neighbors at Andersonville’s St. Boniface Cemetery. A roof deck, Club Room, and Library allow for some low-key socializing.
Viceroy Chicago
The Gold Coast — Chicago, IL, USA
The Viceroy hotels exist at the intersection of luxury-hotel extravagance and boutique-hotel tastefulness, and the Viceroy Chicago is no different. The building, a gently undulating glass tower, is pure luxe modernity, but the lower floors blend effortlessly into Chicago’s Gold Coast, thanks to the meticulously preserved façade of the 1920s-vintage Cedar Hotel, which was reassembled brick by brick.
Nobu Hotel Chicago
West Loop — Chicago, IL, USA
Nobu Hotel Chicago stands over a stretch of Randolph Street known as Restaurant Row, but it doesn’t simply coasts on its kitchen’s reputation. The rooms and suites are Japanese-influenced, equal parts Zen and ultra-modern post-industrial — check out the cedar tubs in the suites — and they’re as luxurious as they are stylish, with plush beds custom-designed for Nobu and upscale conveniences.
Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile
Near North Side — Chicago, IL, USA
For Sofitel Magnificent Mile, architect Jean-Paul Viguier was allowed to start from scratch, and the result is striking — a dramatic bright white wedge-shaped building that looks like a giant ice breaking ship cutting its way across Chicago. The inverted wedge shape has a delightful effect on the interiors as well — some guest rooms protrude out over the sidewalk, allowing a unique view straight down onto the street.
The Publishing House Bed and Breakfast
West Loop — Chicago, IL, USA
True to its name, the Publishing House Bed and Breakfast was once the Free Methodist Publishing House (and a casket factory, and a holograph museum). A Chicago institution, in other words, inside and out it’s a love letter to well-crafted design and material details like the double-sided fireplace in the public great room. Each of the 11 en-suite rooms is dedicated to a local author.
Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.