The Drake Hotel, designed by renowned architect Benjamin Howard Marshall, came to fruition when the project was financed by John B. Drake and Tracy Corey Drake in 1919. The hotel opened the following year on New Years Day, welcoming 2,000 of Chicago’s distinguished citizens. Serving as an opulent hotel, luxuriously decorated and designed for high class citizens to enjoy historic architecture and an easy-going and lavish ambiance, The Drake rose high into Chicago’s skyline and culture. The Drake is regarded to have housed world famous visitors who travelled to Chicago to explore the city and stay in luxurious fashion, including Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, who carved their names into the Cape Cod Room’s wooden bar within the restaurant at the hotel. The Cape Cod Room embraced Chicago’s unique food scene and became the nation’s first themed restaurant. The Drake also featured their Palm Court, better known as their grand ballroom, that was used daily for tea.

In 1980 Hilton Hotels purchased the Drake and helped restore it to its lavish past as its popularity diminished over the years. Architect Benjamin Marshall had partnered in the early 1900s with a man by the name Charles Fox, a veteran who learned under Conrad Hilton Hotel Chicago’s architects Holabird and Roche. While Marshall had less formal training compared to Holabird and Roche, he and Fox were able to design the Drake Hotel to create a deluxe hotel experience, and Holabird and Roche focused on the Drake’s luxury and high class experience in the Conrad Hilton Hotel Chicago’s architectural designs. The Drake also ties in many neoclassical elements with ionic columns, frescoes, trophies, bronze statues, and overall the hotel is grandly adorned. Visually luxurious, the Hilton Hotel Chicago was designed for the same intentions and purpose to create a world-renowned hotel that offers guests a unique stay with countless amenities within Chicago.  

Drake Hotel Chicago Postcard. 6 Apr. 2005 (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Drake_Hotel_Chicago_postcard_1920.jpg.)

“Modern Day Image of the Drake Hotel Entrance.” Drake Hotel Entrance, 13 May 2007 (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20070513_Drake_Hotel_Entrance.JPG.)