Address: 636 S. Michigan Ave. Year Built: 1908-10 Architect: Marshall & Fox Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: May 29, 1998

Considered the city's best example of a turn-of-the-century luxury hotel, the Blackstone also represents--both its exterior and interior--an excellent and rare example of the Modern French style of Beaux-Arts, (Classical Revival) architecture. Built by prominent hoteliers Tracy and John Drake, the Blackstone became known as the "Hotel of Presidents," serving as host to a dozen U.S. Presidents, including Woodrow Wilson, Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. The Blackstone was the location of the famous "smoke-filled rooms" where Warren G. Harding was chosen as the compromise Republican nominee for President in June 1920. (The term, which has since become a political cliche, was coined by a reporter covering the convention.) The hotel was named for Timothy B. Blackstone, a prominent railroad executive and the founding president of the Union Stock Yards, whose mansion had stood on the site.

Boul Mich
1.	circa 1912
2.	Window Detail
3.	Hilton (Stevens) Hotel & Blackstone Hotel, photo by Bob Thall, 1983