Palmer House
17 East Monroe St.,
Chicago, IL 60603
Tel: 312-726-7500
Chicago’s Grand Palace Hotel – The Palmer House
By Ann Hattes
Photos by Neil Hattes
Chicago’s Palmer House, one of the world’s last remaining grand hotels, welcomed its first guest in 1873. The Great Chicago Fire destroyed the original building in 1871 only 13 days after it was completed. Today the Palmer House is a modern, luxurious destination preserving the grandeur of its past. Bertha Palmer, who received the hotel as a wedding gift from her husband, accumulated the greatest collection of impressionist art outside of France which she later bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by her French heritage, she filled the Palmer House with artistic treasures.
The Red Lacquer Room in Chicago's Palmer House.
Fresh and accessible to guests today after a $170 million renovation, examples include the Red Lacquer Room with garnet-draped chandeliers and a Beaux Arts lobby topped with a ceiling of Grecian frescoes by French muralist Louis Pierre Rigal. Other jewels in the lobby include 24-karat gold Tiffany chandeliers and “Winged Angels,” two bronze statues, 1.25 tons each, which are the largest Tiffany ever made.
Tiffany bronze "Winged Angels" in the Palmer House lobby.
Ever a lively social center, the Palmer House has hosted a long list of politicians, entertainers and social figures including U.S Presidents, Charles Dickens, Buffalo Bill and Prince Charles.
Windy City stage for some of the biggest names in show business for 40 years
In 1933 the Palmer House converted the Empire Dining Room into one of the nation’s leading “supper clubs,” a showcase for the world’s biggest names in show business for four decades. The Empire Room was the Windy City’s stage for entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and where a young Liberace took his first bow.
The Palmer House has had a significant influence on Chicago and the world through its founders and pioneering visionaries Potter and Bertha Palmer. It was the world’s first fire proof hotel, and also the first building in Chicago to install lighting and telephone systems. It also had the city’s first elevators, described in an advertisement this way: “a perpendicular railroad connects floor to floor, rending passage by the stairs unnecessary.”
The hotels most delicious “first” though is the brownie! Invented by Palmer House chefs at Bertha’s request, the brownie debuted at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1892 after organizers asked her to create a dessert especially for the Women’s Pavilion that could be eaten and enjoyed as one moved about, and taken on a picnic.
The Empire Room at the Palmer House.
Located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop, the Palmer House with its 1,639 hotel rooms, 44 deluxe suites, 3,700 square-foot penthouse, health club and Spa Chakra, is within walking distance to many of the city’s most popular destinations including the Art Institute, Theatre District, Millennium Park and Grant Park. A member of Historic Hotels of America and one of twenty-six surviving grand hotels in the United States, the Palmer House is the nation’s oldest hotel in continual operation. Pay homage to the great iconic figures that influenced Chicago and the Palmer House with tea in the afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the lobby or a legendary cocktail in Potter’s Lounge, modeled after a 1920’s era club-style bar.
Chef Phillip Foss of Lockwood restaurant at Chicago's Palmer House
Lockwood Restaurant, adjacent to the lobby, features fresh, globally influenced contemporary American cuisine by Chef Phillip Foss. He sees cooking as a mixture of art and science, his perpetual innovation inspired by memories of his travels abroad. He also likes to recreate American classics so there is, for example, a Chicago style lobster dog served with saffron-ginger sauce, cucumber, leeks and teardrop tomatoes. Foss has also created Not Bertha’s Brownie, a slice of rich fudgy brownie served with a small glass of Valrhona chocolate mousse, plus chocolate ice cream swirled with chocolate sauce, definitely not a “walking around” dessert.
Not Bertha's Brownie - Dessert at Lockwood restaurant in Chicago's Palmer House
Recently he experimented with the invasive fish species Asian carp, which he renamed Shanghai bass, serving appetizers like carp chowder, ceviche with lime and fiddlehead fern, and carp-accio, thinly sliced fish served with watermelon.
Foss says of his time working with French super chef Jacques Maximin, “Most everything came straight from the farmer to the plate.” Following this tradition, Foss sources as many local seasonal foods as possible, changing the Lockwood menu frequently. Chef Foss accepts the challenge of making great dishes that let the flavor and freshness of the ingredients shine through.
Lockwood Restaurant
Chef Phillip Foss (his uninhibited culinary blog)
Chicago: www.explorechicago.org;
Tel: 877-244-2246 (toll free)
www.choosechicago.com; Tel: 312-567-8500
