The Palmer House Hilton

The Palmer House – A Hilton Hotel is a historic hotel in Chicago's Loop area. It is a member of the Historic Hotels of America program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The first Palmer House opened in 1870, and the present building (the third) in 1925. In the 19th century, the Palmer House was the city's first hotel with elevators, and the first hotel with electric light bulbs and telephones in the guest rooms. The hotel has been dubbed the longest continuously operating hotel in North America, although it temporarily closed from March 2020 to June 17, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré. Located at State and Quincy, it opened on September 26, 1870. It burned one year later on October 9, 1871, during the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer had already begun construction of a new hotel at State and Monroe prior to the Great Chicago Fire.
Designed by architect John M. Van Osdel, the second Palmer House Hotel was seven stories. Its amenities included oversized rooms, luxurious decor, and sumptuous meals served in grand style. The floor of its barber shop was tiled and silver dollars were embedded in a diamond pattern. Constructed mainly of iron and brick, the hotel was widely advertised as, "The World's Only Fire Proof Hotel." Famous visitors included presidential hopefuls James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, William Jennings Bryan, and William McKinley; writers Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, and Oscar Wilde; actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse, and French cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert in 1897. It was completed in 1875. An 1895 meeting at the hotel of faculty representatives from various Midwestern universities resulted in the founding of the Big Ten Conference.
By the 1920s, the business in downtown Chicago could support a much larger facility, and the Palmer Estate decided to erect a new 25-story hotel. It hired Holabird & Roche to design the building, and their team included architect Richard Neutra in a junior role. Between 1923 and 1925, the hotel was rebuilt on the same site.
In December 1945, Conrad Hilton bought the Palmer House for $20 million (equivalent to $349 million in 2024), and it was thereafter known as The Palmer House Hilton. In 2005, Hilton sold the property to Thor Equities, but retained management through the Hilton chain.
The architecture firms of Loebl Schlossman & Hackl and David Fleener Architects completely renovated and restored the hotel between 2007 and 2009. The total cost was over $170 million (equivalent to $249 million in 2024). The hotel has a total of 1,639 guest rooms, making it the second-largest hotel in the city after the Hyatt Regency Chicago. It has recently had its name adjusted to Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel.
In 1970, the hotel was the site of the murder of Evelyn Okubo, a young Japanese-American racial justice activist attending a Japanese American Citizens League convention held there.
Entertainers who have appeared at the Palmer House's Empire Room have included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Maurice Chevalier, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, Carol Channing, Bobby Darin, Jimmy Durante, Sonny & Cher, Liza Minnelli, Dionne Warwick, Sophie Tucker, Tommy Dorsey, Phyllis Diller, Lou Rawls, Shep Fields (1930s) Dick Gregory (1963), Frankie Laine (1963), Josh White (1966), Tony Bennett (1968), Florence Henderson (1968), Donald O'Connor (1971), Jerry Lewis (1971), The Supremes (1971 & 1972),Jane Powell (1972), Lorna Luft (1972), Trini Lopez (1973), The Lettermen (1973) and many others.
In August 2020, Wells Fargo filed suit against hotel owner Thor Equities for defaulting on a $333 million commercial mortgage (equivalent to $405 million in 2024). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel closed in March 2020.
The hotel reopened to the public on June 17, 2021, following a series of upgrades to its interior, including a renovation to its indoor pool.