Architecture Tue Apr 29 2008

Palmer House Hilton To Join Looptopia

Even though the $170 million dollar renovation will not be completed until later this year, Looptopians will get a chance to catch a sneek preview of the Palmer House Hilton this Friday, Crain's reports. The hotel, located between Wabash and State on Monroe, will be hosting events from 10pm until 5am.

The Palmer House Hilton will be the second major hotel renovation to complete this year, and like the Blackstone Hotel, the designers have intended to give the building a "contemporary" update. At the Blackstone this meant stupendously restoring all the historic design elements of the walls and ceilings and then adding, less stupendously, modern carpet designs. Hopefully, the designers exercise some restraint with the common areas to retain their fidelity to the original and use the individual rooms as their opportunity to show some design flair. Either way, those rooms will be difficult to come by as hotel operators are expecting bookings to be exceptional for the pseudo "white night" celebration.

- Carl Giometti