The Chicago Beach Hotel was located in the Indian Village neighborhood of the Kenwood community area of Chicago, Illinois, on the property that currently houses Regents Park. The Hotel was built at East Hyde Park Boulevard (51st Street) and Cornell Avenue in 1890. It was one of many speculative hotels built to accommodate the Columbian Exposition of 1893. In 1912 a huge 12 story addition was constructed.
The building extended to Lake Michigan. The building resembled the Hyde Park Hotel and probably shared architects. The building was rebuilt as a 12 story resort. Many Chicagoans of high social standing became residents and members. The building had private access to the beach until 1915 when the city created an adjacent bathhouse. During World War II it was commandeered by the military and served as Gardiner General Hospital. After the war the building served as the 5th Army Headquarters. It was demolished following the war. Now, the Regents Park apartments are located on the property.
A second, unrelated Chicago Beach Hotel, built in 1929, still stands a block away at 5100-5110 South Cornell Avenue. Currently used as an apartment building, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1986.
Famous quotes containing the words chicago, beach and/or hotel:
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Across the lonely beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I;
And fast I gather, bit by bit,
The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
The wild waves reach their hands for it,
The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,
As up and down the beach we flit—
One little sandpiper and I.”
—Celia Thaxter (”Laighton”)
“Clean the spittoons.
The steam in hotel kitchens,
And the smoke in hotel lobbies,
And the slime in hotel spittoons:
Part of my life.”
—Langston Hughes (1902–1967)