The Drake Hotel

Lake Shore Drive curves around the north side of the building, and beyond the traffic lie Oak Street Beach and the open water of Lake Michigan. The Drake Hotel opened on this corner of Chicago, at 140 East Walton Place, on New Year's Eve 1920. More than a century later it still marks the point where the shops of North Michigan Avenue end and the lakefront begins.

History

The hotel was the second venture of the brothers John B. and Tracy C. Drake, sons of the hotelier who had run the Grand Pacific in the Loop. In 1910 they had opened the Blackstone on South Michigan Avenue. For the Drake they chose a plot at what was then the quiet northern edge of downtown and wagered that the city would follow them. The Michigan Avenue Bridge opened over the Chicago River in 1920, the same year as the hotel, and within a decade the avenue north of the river had filled with shops, offices and apartment towers. The street later took the name the Magnificent Mile, and the Drake stood at its head.

Royal visits carried the hotel's name abroad. Queen Elizabeth II stayed in 1959, on the North American tour that marked the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway, and Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1996, on a visit to raise money for cancer research. Hilton bought the Drake in 1980 and has operated it since, keeping the house name above the door.

Architecture and design

Benjamin Marshall, of the firm Marshall & Fox, which had also designed the Blackstone, drew the Drake in an Italian Renaissance manner, with a pale stone facade and a long frontage turned towards the lake. Marshall was the society architect of his generation in Chicago, responsible for several of the grand apartment buildings along Lake Shore Drive. The illuminated sign on the roof is a landmark for drivers heading south along the lake. Inside, stairs lead up from the street-level arcade to the Palm Court, the lounge at the centre of the main floor, set around a fountain and still the first room most visitors see.

Dining

Afternoon tea in the Palm Court has long been a Chicago ritual, served to the sound of a harp. The Coq d'Or, a dark, wood-panelled bar off the arcade, opened in 1933 as Prohibition ended, and its menu of classic cocktails has changed little in spirit since. The same year the hotel opened the Cape Cod Room, a seafood restaurant fitted out as a New England tavern. By a story told for decades, its wooden bar carries initials carved by Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.

Weddings and events

The Gold Coast Room and the Grand Ballroom take the hotel's largest functions, and the Drake has staged Chicago weddings, charity galas and society dinners for most of its history. Smaller salons on the same floors are used for board meetings, rehearsal dinners and private lunches.

Location

Few luxury hotels in Chicago sit so close to the water. Oak Street Beach lies across the road, reached by a pedestrian underpass, and the lakefront trail runs north to Lincoln Park and south towards Navy Pier. Oak Street, lined with designer boutiques, runs west from the hotel's corner. Walk south down Michigan Avenue and the department stores begin at once. The Water Tower of 1869, one of the few buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1871, is a few blocks away, with the Museum of Contemporary Art just east of it. The Victorian mansions of Astor Street and the Gold Coast lie to the north-west. O'Hare International Airport is about 30 kilometres away by road, and the nearest rapid transit stop is Chicago/State on the CTA Red Line.