MID CENTURY MODERN ILLUSTRATION Vintage Postcard EXECUTIVE HOUSE HOTEL Chicago

Description: This is a 1960s POSTCARD featuring a MID CENTURY MODERN BUILDING as envisioned by a MID CENTURY MODERN Artist ILLUSTRATION for the Chicago EXECUTIVE HOUSE HOTEL. Executive House. (Milton M. Schwartz ,1959). Hotels were one of the last sectors to resume construction in the Loop after the twenty year building hiatus; by the end of the 1950s, no new dedicated hotel building had been built in downtown Chicago since Holabird and Root’s 23-story Chicagoan was built as an extension to the Morrison Hotel, on West Madison, in 1932. Seeing an overdue opportunity developer George S. Lurie, along with his partner, Jerrold Wexler and two local lawyers, spent much of the decade assembling parcels on Wacker Drive at the northward bend in the River. In 1956, working with Draper and Kramer, they arranged a $3,500,000 loan from Aetna Life Insurance to cover 50% of their costs. In June of that year, they announced plans by Milton M. Schwartz, then enjoying the acclaim from the attention given to his 320 Oakdale and Constellation apartment towers, for a 37-story skyscraper containing a unique mix of units that blurred the distinction between apartment and hotel. Apartment hotels had a long and mixed history in Chicago—they formed a critical supply of short- and medium-term housing for middle class workers who were able to afford daily or monthly leases but preferred not to commit to longer contracts. Most were built to provide studio—or, in the term of the day, ‘efficiency’—units, with small kitchenettes that were typically supplemented by cafes or restaurants. Their appeal to young singles was apparent in constant controversy over their construction. Often opposed by neighborhood organizations who feared the moral implications of night clubs and large groups of unmarried residents, they saw a gradual change from single-sex to co-ed in the 1950s along with more of an appeal to the lifestyle benefits of the arrangement. Lurie and Wexler, though, claimed a different motive. In talking to investors, they found reluctance to fund pure residential development in the Loop itself. More certain of the market for business travelers, and recognizing the aging stock of hotel rooms downtown, Aetna had been willing to fund a ‘hotel’ but not an ‘apartment’ project, and the investors carefully announced the project as a ‘luxury hotel’ while instructing Schwartz to design the building with kitchenettes in every room. The investors signed a management contract with Condado, a Chicago hotel company, and gradually recognized that the central area was “vastly underbuilt in the apartment hotel field,” where efficiencies and kitchenettes were associated with flop houses on skid row more than with luxury living. The hotel’s program reflected Lurie and Aetna’s hedged bets on the future of downtown living; more than 85% of the building’s 448 units were studios—essentially hotel rooms with kitchenettes—providing for both hotel guests and for longer term renters. A restaurant and café on the ground floor replicated the usual apartment hotel amenity, while a cocktail lounge on the roof offered views of the city and, because of the project’s siting, of the River’s main branch. All interiors were provided with air conditioning, and a 200-car garage in the basement could be rented daily or long term—as at the Constellation, Schwartz specified an automobile elevator to save space. Wexler and Lurie proposed rents that reflected the additional services that the hotel arrangement provided—at $150 per month for a studio, rents were about a fifth higher than rates for high-end rentals within walking distance of the Loop and daily rates of $16 were similarly aggressive for local hotels. But tenants and guests would receive more than access to parking, bars, and a restaurant; finished in ‘gleaming metal and glass’ and with balconies providing fresh air and views, the freshly-named Executive House would also, its backers argued, appeal to the growing taste for urban living among young residents. Initial inquiries were promising; Loop corporations were particularly avid, signing long-term deals for units on what Wexler called the “New York basis,” where company personnel and guests could be put up in their dedicated units while visiting on business. But responses from prospective hotel guests were also strong, and Condado recognized another potential market in tourist and executive families, who would find the suites and kitchenettes particularly attractive. Ultimately, just eight of the building’s 37 floors were reserved for permanent residents. The resulting elevation was, like Schwartz’ 320 Oakdale, expressive of its slab construction, presenting a powerful horizontal grain to the river that was capped by the asymmetrical cocktail lounge with bright neon signage—a sleek, stylish contrast to the art-deco rocket of Lincoln Tower next door. Fully enclosed units in the center of each floor formed a light vertical counterpoint, but Executive House’s overwhelming sense was that of cool, trim horizontality, emphasizing its views out and over the River and City instead of the grasping skyward reach of the earlier generation. Executive House proved enormously popular; Schwartz’ careful planning and Lapidus’ interiors did, in fact, appeal to the broad range of business travelers, families, downtown professional singles, and corporate guests that Wexler and Lurie had imagined, and the building filled with eager residents and guests even as construction finished in February, 1959.[xv] While the building itself enjoyed continued success due to its location and its amenities, its namesake parent company—renamed to reflect Executive House as its flagship property—floundered in the late 1960s after disastrous expansions including an airport hotel in San Francisco and resorts in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1971, but Wexler and his company maintained an interest in the building. Under management by Ramada in 1986 the building underwent a renovation that enclosed the original balconies and replaced Schwartz’ original clear glass with deeply-tinted, blue-green panes that have obscured the original, more elegant proportions. The project’s success was proof that there was a strong market for both hotel and residential construction downtown; it also extended the height to which reinforced concrete seemed viable in skyscraper construction. Postcard is about 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 ITEM in VINTAGE GOOD Condition. was mailed with writing on the backside PLEASE CHECK OUT PICS FOR CONDITION. Multiple FLAT PURCHASES can combine for ONE MAILING FEE.

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End Time: 2025-02-09T08:25:22.000Z

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