Chicago Athletic Association Hotel

For more than 110 years, this building housed a private athletic club. It is a Venetian Gothic extravaganza with distinctive criss-crossing arched windows. The building—which was never accessible to the public—faced an uncertain future after the club closed in 2007. For most of the last decade, the structure sat vacant. But in the early summer of 2015, it reopened as one of the most exciting hotels in Chicago. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture executed a painstaking restoration of the building while also reinforcing structural columns to carry the weight of a sleek new rooftop bar and restaurant. Interior architects Roman & Williams coupled top-quality craftsmanship with comfortable and unique furnishings. It is now open to the public for the first time in history and contains exquisitely restored first and second floor lobbies, athletically-themed guest rooms and breathtaking ballrooms. A diverse array of cocktail bars, restaurants and even a game room make this Michigan Avenue's newest hot spot.

Henry Ives Cobb, 1893