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(1) The Chicago Tribune, May 3 1927

“Hundreds were on hand to eat an elaborate dinner in one of the four dining rooms, to dance in the mammoth ballroom, to view the flowers sent from all parts of the country, and to walk and walk and walk over miles of floor space. Most of all, however, they were on hand to congratulate James W. Stevens and Ernest J. Stevens, the father and son who, back in 1922, determined to build on Michigan avenue the world’s largest hotel. A vast and efficient tavern it is, with 3,000 guest rooms and a staff of 2,500 employees; with a ballroom adorned like the palace of Versailles, and a barber shop equipped for the envy of any king who ever lived at Versailles; with St. Genevieve marble panels and Travertine columns above ground, competing with huge refrigerating plants and boiler rooms below ground. At the Stevens, as the guides pointed out last night, a guest is more than a guest. He can read a book to his liking among the 25,000 volumes. He can have his appendix removed, for there is a completely equipped two-ward hospital. He can run a convention in the large assembly hall or he can display a complete exhibit in the exposition rooms.”

The article excerpt highlights the grandiosity and luxurious nature to the Hilton Hotel Chicago (formerly Stevens Hotel). The Tribune showcased how the city and the hotel’s first guests and visitors embraced the hotel when it opened, enjoying the Stevens’ family achievement of creating the world’s largest hotel. From the grand ballroom, to elaborate dining halls, to beautifully adorned bedrooms, to a splendid library filled with cases and cases of books, and to a fully functioning hospital, the Hilton Hotel Chicago embraced its mission to have its “guest be more than a guest.” Offering thousands of jobs to new employees and new guest experiences, the hotel was praised in high regard for its amenities, guest opportunities, classical architecture, and ability to help transform Michigan Avenue. The Tribune also drew attention to an important architectural and design aspect to the hotel, as architects Holabird and Roche and founders J.W. Stevens and his sons desired for a classically constructed hotel. With French antiquity artistry, marble columns, lavishly adorned walls and other sculptures, this Versailles-esque hotel’s architectural ambition has been welcomed and adored by guests.

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(2)  Florence Levinsohn, The Chicago Reader, March 30th 1989

“The Drake, the Palmer House, the Blackstone, the Ambassador, and the Stevens were all built by rich families--society people who could attract all the society events and people into their hotels. They were the center of life in the city.”

Levinsohn contextualized the Stevens Hotel with other grand hotels within Chicago during the early 1900s when many of these hotels opened. The Stevens Hotel was not the only luxurious hotel that transformed Chicago, as it broke ground after the Drake, Palmer House, Blackstone, and Ambassador, however all the hotels had one key foundation that links them to Chicago and the city’s culture: “they were the center of life in the city.” The Stevens Hotel helped enhance Chicago’s prosperous, free-spirited, lavish, and bootlegging nature during the Roaring 20s lifestyle boom. The hotels served to represent Chicago and allow the city to become an internationally ranked and highly regarded city, as the hotels were owned by individuals companies that knew how to draw in business. The Stevens Family gained popularity in the city by running a successful LaSalle Hotel, and the other hotels were also established by well known people who symbolized Chicago’s wealth. An important takeaway is that the roaring hotel boom, with each hotel trying to outsize the previous one, served as luxury locations for guests and visitors, and despite the tremendous amenities, came with expensive room rentals and meals. From rich families to servicing rich guests, these hotels, and specifically the Stevens Hotel, transformed Chicago and offered guests once in a lifetime experiences at the time.

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(3) Charles Lane, Chicago Magazine, June 19, 2007

“When the Stevens Hotel opened in 1927, the newspapers wrote of a new Versailles rising on South Michigan Avenue. The colossal building soared 28 stories and occupied an entire city block between Seventh and Eighth streets. With 3,000 guest rooms, it was the biggest hotel in the world-and possibly the most opulent. Its brick-and-limestone walls, decorated inside with hand-painted frescoes, contained fine restaurants, exclusive shops, and vast ballrooms. There was a bowling alley, a hospital, and a special private room for pets. The Stevens could produce 120 gallons of ice cream per hour. On its roof, you could play miniature golf at the High-Ho Club. ‘What a grand realization of an ambition and an ideal . . . is this great caravansary,’ gushed Hotel World magazine, ‘this magnificent palace of hospitality dedicated to Chicago and the world!’”

Lane emphasizes the specific resources and offerings that guests would be able to utilize if they were able to spend some time at the hotel. With another Versaille-like observation similar to The Chicago Tribune, the hotel is regarded in an extremely positive spirit for recognizing the hotel for its details. The Hilton Hotel Chicago redefined the expectations that people had for hotels. The Hilton demonstrated that height and lavishness can be constructed and that it can contain amenities that are recognized across the world. No hotel constructed before 1927 could match the 28 story, 3,000 room hotel, which uniquely boasted a rooftop mini golf course and a major ice cream parlour. The Hilton Hotel Chicago turned an ambitious dream to reality and contributed to Chicago’s goal to be America’s city, rather than New York. The magnificent size and luxurious amenities through shops, artistry, restaurants, housing, and partying and socializing in the ballrooms allowed the hotel to be the worlds largest in size and opulence.

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(4) Florence Levinsohn, The Chicago Reader, March 30th 1989

“In his book Be My Guest Hilton describes how he purchased the Stevens for $7.5 million: ‘The buying . . . was probably the single most tantalizing affair in my entire career. Not the most complicated, not the most costly, but certainly the most nerve-wracking, frustrating, ulcer-making.’”

Levinsohn quotes Conrad Hilton’s thoughts when he had his eyes set on purchasing the Stevens Hotel at the time, which reflected both the positive and negative views of the hotel. Conrad Hilton ran a very successful hotel business and when he gained market interest in many Chicago hotels in the mid 1900s, he was particularly interested in the Stevens Hotel, which he saw as a great opportunity to invest in due to its size, lavishness, and culture. Despite the Stevens Hotel grandeur, the hotel lost millions of dollars in its first couple years in business, and when the Great Depression struck in 1929, the hotel went under bankruptcy. At a whopping price of $7.5 million, Hilton purchased the hotel in 1945, following over 15 years of being out of business. The quick decline of the Stevens Hotel and the diminished name and views led Hilton to rebuild the hotel, first renaming it the Hilton Hotel Chicago. Conrad Hilton tackled the opportunity of rebuilding a broken hotel, which led to his juxtaposing “tantalizing” and “frustrating” emotions. The reader is able to understand the thoughts of a successful business owner, and see that nervous-excitement and fear take over when choosing demanding investment opportunities. The “ulcer-making” feelings also give an insight to what the Stevens/Hilton Hotel evoked in people when they thought about and saw the hotel at the time. Conrad Hilton wanted no part in continuing this heartbreak hotel story, and wanted to elevate the hotel to the global stage that it had over a decade ago. The Hilton Hotel’s grandeur and architectural feats brought out various emotions in its visitors, from awe-inspired guests to nervous investors, but overall it’s noticeable that people yearn to enjoy everything that the hotel offers. 

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(5) Florence Levinsohn, The Chicago Reader, March 30 1989

“By the early 80s, the South Loop was pretty much a sorry wasteland (except for a few healthy landmarks like Roosevelt University and Columbia College). The Congress and Blackstone hotels were just limping along. The Hilton was doing a good convention business but otherwise was also just getting by. The weekends, when the conventioneers went home, were reminiscent of the depression years for the hotel. Although it was making a profit on the conventions, that's still not a healthy condition.

And so in 1984 the hotel was closed for ten months for a massive [$185 million] renovation. The number of rooms was reduced but the rooms themselves were made larger, the exhibition space was increased to 140,000 square feet, and the public spaces were expanded to make the hotel even more attractive to conventioneers. The object was also to create a hotel so beautiful that it would attract ordinary travelers, vacationing families, and honeymooners, as well as conventioneers.”

Levinsohn gives the reader insight into how the reception of the Conrad Hilton Hotel Chicago has changed several decades after it was developed. While at the time when  the hotel was constructed in the Roaring 20s, Chicago’s South Loop was a bustling and popular place to vacation and visit. However, by the early 80s, the South Loop was considered a “wasteland” due to the lack of hotel popularity and downfall of many prior successful hotels and other businesses in the area. The Loop and many of the hotels had seemed to peak decades ago, and business was “limping along.” Through this negative reception, the Hilton Hotel Chicago realized something needed to be changed, and that was the hotel itself. The hotel underwent a tremendous $185 million dollar renovation, where the hotel increased room sizes and created a more vacation-like atmosphere to attract more visitors. This renovation helped rebuild the lacking interest in the hotel from decades before, and the reception in the city following the renovation took off to new heights. Following the renovation, the “depression years” became a thing of the past and thousands of people reserved rooms for the new opening day. While maintaining its ties to the classical past, in addition to modern and sleek renovations, the hotel was received with eagerness and awe, similar to May of 1929 when the hotel first opened. The hotel remains a classically modernized hotel, holding true to its French antiquity artistry and neoclassical designs, allowing the Hilton Hotel to remain a symbol of Chicago and American culture.

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(6) Historic Hotels of America, 2015

“The Hilton Chicago, designed in Beaux-Arts architecture, opened its doors in 1927 as the Stevens Hotel and continues to fulfill the vision of its original founder and first namesake – to create an entirely self-sufficient city within a city, a place capable of offering the most extensive convention and conference facilities in a primary destination. Today, Hilton Chicago keeps the dream alive by maintaining the hotel’s classic integrity with all the luxury conveniences the modern traveler has come to expect.”

The Hilton Hotel Chicago has fulfilled its mission to be a grand hotel within Chicago, truly serving as a “city within a city.” Through the hotel’s design and offerings, the hotel is a present day symbol of a classical pastime. Modern day reception is similar to the original reception of the hotel when it opened in May 1927, embraced with open arms and excitement. Walking along the front entrance of the hotel, guests were welcomed with a classically adorned trophy facade, and guests experience the same design today. Walking through the front doors of the hotel leads to an escape from the bustling city, a place where guests and visitors are transformed into a mix of modern and classical antiquity. Following the 1980s renovation, the hotel gained a modern twist that brought the hotel away from some of its interior classical heavy design. However, the hotel exterior, entrance, lobby, ballrooms, and ornamentation still is what guests remember the hotel for. While the hotel is sleek, it is equally classical. While the hotel is is a city within itself due to its design and amenities, the hotel symbolizes Chicago, a city of American culture, excitement, grandeur, and more importantly, neoclassicism.

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