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{{short description|Historic hotel in Chicago, United States}}{{about|the hotel in Chicago|other uses|Palmer House (disambiguation)|Potter Palmer's mansion|Palmer Mansion}}

factoids

| location = 17 E Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois| area = Chicago Loop| built = 1871| rebuilt = 1923–1925| architect = John M. Van Osdel (2nd)Holabird & Roche (current)| architecture =| governing_body =| designation1 = Chicago| designation1_offname =| designation1_date = December 13, 2006| designation1_number =}}The Palmer House – A Hilton Hotel is a historic hotel in Chicago's Loop area. It is a member of the Historic Hotels of AmericaWEB, Palmer House®, A Hilton Hotel, Chicago, IL,weblink 2021-09-24, Historic Hotels Worldwide, en, program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The first Palmer House opened in 1870, and the present building (the third) in 1925. In the 19th century, the Palmer House was the city's first hotel with elevators, and the first hotel with electric light bulbs and telephones in the guest rooms. The hotel has been dubbed the longest continuously operating hotel in North America, although it temporarily closed from March 2020 to June 17, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.NEWS, David, Roeder, Emmanuel, Camarillo, September 1, 2020, Palmer House foreclosure points to industry's trouble,weblink 2021-10-08, Chicago Sun-Times, en, PRESS RELEASE, Two Historic Hilton Hotels Reopen in Chicago: Hilton Chicago and Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel,weblink Hilton Hotels, 2021-10-08,

History

(File:Palmer House Hotel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Palmer House Hotel Ladies Entrance (19 September 1903))

First Palmer House

(File:Palmer House, by Zimmerman, Charles A., 1844-1909.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Stereoscopic view of the first Palmer House)The first was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré. Located at State and Quincy,NEWS, Palmer's 'State Street House',weblink Chicago Tribune, 23, 345, June 12, 1870, 3, subscription, 2021-10-08, it opened on September 26, 1870.NEWS, Opening of the Palmer House,weblink Chicago Tribune, 24, 85, September 27, 1870, 4, subscription, It burned one year later on October 9, 1871, during the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer had already begun construction of a new hotel at State and Monroe prior to the Great Chicago Fire.NEWS, Building Projects,weblink Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1871, 4, NEWS, New Chicago: Progress of the Last Year,weblink Chicago Tribune, October 9, 1873, 2, subscription, File:Palmer House, by Lovejoy & Foster 4.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Stereoscopic view of the ruins of the first Palmer House after the Great Chicago FireGreat Chicago Fire

Second Palmer House

(File:Palmer House, State Street, by Lovejoy & Foster.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Stereoscopic view of the second Palmer House)Designed by architect John M. Van Osdel, the second Palmer House Hotel was seven stories. Its amenities included oversized rooms, luxurious decor, and sumptuous meals served in grand style. The floor of its barber shop was tiled and silver dollars were embedded in a diamond pattern. Constructed mainly of iron and brick, the hotel was widely advertised as, "The World's Only Fire Proof Hotel."WEB,weblink The Palmer House, 2007-06-21, Susan Bard, Hall, Away.com Historic Traveller, Primedia Publications,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070202102052weblink">weblink 2007-02-02, It opened as The Palmer, at the northwest corner of State and Quincy streets, with 225 rooms on September 26, 1871. Thirteen days later, it burned in the Great Chicago Fire., Famous visitors included presidential hopefuls James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, William Jennings Bryan, and William McKinley; writers Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, and Oscar Wilde; actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse, and French cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert in 1897.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} It was completed in 1875. An 1895 meeting at the hotel of faculty representatives from various Midwestern universities resulted in the founding of the Big Ten Conference.

Third Palmer House

By the 1920s, the business in downtown Chicago could support a much larger facility, and the Palmer Estate decided to erect a new 25-story hotel. It hired Holabird & Roche to design the building, and their team included architect Richard Neutra in a junior role. Between 1923 and 1925, the hotel was rebuilt on the same site.BOOK, Berger, Molly W., Hotels,weblink Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2021-10-08, In December 1945, Conrad Hilton bought the Palmer House for $20 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|20,000,000|1945}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}),{{inflation/fn|US}} and it was thereafter known as The Palmer House Hilton. In 2005, Hilton sold the property to Thor Equities, but retained management through the Hilton chain.NEWS,weblink Thor Buys Hilton's Palmer House, 2017-10-06, August 17, 2005, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, Thor Equities ...said it had bought the Palmer House Hilton..., The architecture firms of Loebl Schlossman & Hackl and David Fleener Architects completely renovated and restored the hotel between 2007 and 2009.JOURNAL, Weiner, Michael A., Palmer House Hilton in process of restoring aging infrastructure, Hospitality Construction, Nov–Dec 2007, 2, 6, 38,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140808211459weblink">weblink dead, 2014-08-08, 25 July 2014, The total cost was over $170 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|170,000,000|2009}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).{{inflation/fn|US}}NEWS,weblink A Hotel Looks Back to Its 1920s Glamour, The New York Times, Bernstein, Fred A., October 25, 2008, October 7, 2017, The hotel has a total of 1,639 guest rooms, making it the second-largest hotel in the city after the Hyatt Regency Chicago.NEWS,weblink Chicago's Largest Hotels, December 31, 2006, Crain's Chicago Business, It has recently had its name adjusted to Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel.In 1970, the hotel was the site of the murder of Evelyn Okubo, a young Japanese-American racial justice activist attending a Japanese American Citizens League convention held there.BOOK, Harden, Jacelyn, Double Cross: Japanese Americans in Black and White Chicago, 2003, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 978-1-4529-0596-9, 128,weblink 2017-09-13, Entertainers who have appeared at the Palmer House's Empire Room have included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Maurice Chevalier, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, Carol Channing, Bobby Darin, Jimmy Durante, Sonny & Cher, Liza Minnelli, Dionne Warwick, Sophie Tucker, Tommy Dorsey, Phyllis Diller, Lou Rawls, Shep Fields (1930s) "Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound", Hoffman, Fred, 2004 Palmer House & Shep Fields on Google Books"America's Music Makers", Behrens, John, 2011, pg. 27 Palmer House and Shep Fields on Google Books Dick Gregory (1963), Frankie Laine (1963), Josh White (1966), Tony Bennett (1968), Florence Henderson (1968), Donald O'Connor (1971), Jerry Lewis (1971), The Supremes (1971 & 1972),Jane Powell (1972), Lorna Luft (1972), Trini Lopez (1973), The Lettermen (1973) and many others.In August 2020 Wells Fargo filed suit against hotel owner Thor Equities for defaulting on a $333 million commercial mortgage (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|333,000,000|2020}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).{{inflation/fn|US}} Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel closed in March 2020.NEWS, Grant, Peter, 2020-09-22, Grand Chicago Hotel in Foreclosure, a Symbol of Covid-19's Toll on Hospitality Industry, en-US, The Wall Street Journal,weblink 2021-01-14, 0099-9660, subscription, WEB, What's That Building? The Palmer House Hilton,weblink 2021-01-25, Dennis, Rodkin, WBEZ, September 20, 2020, en, The hotel reopened to the public on June 17, 2021, following a series of upgrades to its interior, including a renovation to its indoor pool.

Gallery

File:Palmer House lobby (3428900164).jpg|left|Palmer House Lobby; Three Palmer House hotels have been located on State Street in ChicagoFile:Palmer House Hilton Chicago.jpg|upright|Peacock door in the lobbyFile:Palmer House Business Card front c1800.jpg|1875 Palmer House Business Card frontFile:Palmer House Business Card back c1800.jpg|1875 Palmer House Business Card reverse

See also

• Chocolate brownie - invented at the hotel for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

References

{{Reflist|2}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Robert V., Allegrini, Chicago's Grand Hotels: The Palmer House Hilton, The Drake, and The Hilton Chicago,weblink Arcadia Publishing, 2005, 978-1-4396-1659-8,
• BOOK, McHale, Conor, America's Greatest Hotel Lobbies -- Palmer House Hilton,

External links

{{commons category}}

• Palmer House - official website
• {{facebook|PalmerHouseHilton|Palmer House}}
• Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel - official Hilton website with virtual tour
• Palmer House Chicagology Palmer House history by Chicagology
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20051217132639weblink">Chicago Historical Society - 1873 description by Rudyard Kipling following the Great Chicago Fire
• Fred A. Bernstein, "A Hotel Looks Back to Its 1920s Glamour", The New York Times, October 25, 2008
• Palmer House Hilton Reviews - Reviews of guests who have visited the hotel

{{Chicago}}{{Hotels in Chicago}}{{Chicago Skyscrapers}}{{Chicago Landmark skyscrapers}}