{"nrhp_refnum":"86001005","name":"Blackstone Hotel","other_names":["Sheraton--Blackstone"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"80 E. Balbo Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87347497900004,"lon":-87.62463040099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-05-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 22-story hotel at 80 East Balbo Drive (636 South Michigan Avenue) in Chicago, designed by Benjamin H. Marshall of Marshall & Fox in 1909 and built in 1910 for the Drake brothers.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the hotel is significant for its architecture, as Chicago's premier hotel of its time and a Gold Medal winner in 1910. It also cites social importance as a gathering place for prominent Chicagoans, and political importance as host to presidents and the 1920 'smoke-filled room' deal that nominated Warren G. Harding.","narrative":"Rising 22 stories at the corner of South Michigan Avenue and East Balbo Drive in Chicago, this hotel was designed in 1909 by Benjamin H. Marshall of Marshall & Fox and opened in 1910 for Tracy and John Drake. Its steel frame is clad in pink granite at the base, white glazed terra cotta on the lower floors, red brick above, and a three-story mansard roof. Guest rooms placed bathrooms on exterior walls for direct ventilation, and the hotel had air conditioning and ice water. Most interior finishes survive, including the lobby woodwork, ballroom and guest rooms, though the roof parapet, cornice and former restaurant were altered. The nomination ties the hotel to Chicago social life, as a place where prominent residents gathered, and to national politics. Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt through Richard Nixon stayed here, and the Governor's Suite is linked to the 1920 deal that nominated Warren G. Harding. It won the 1910 Gold Medal of the Illinois Chapter, American Institute of Architects.","period_of_significance":"1910 - 1936","architect_builder":"Marshall & Fox (Benjamin H. Marshall)","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in good condition and in commercial use as a hotel, with a theater and nightclub in former public rooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.60267-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/8924/28892468/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86001005.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001005/514dcbc9b3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001005/514dcbc9b3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080409_Blackstone_Hotel_Exterior.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080409_Blackstone_Hotel_Exterior.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892468","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2905596"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/blackstone-hotel-86001005/"}