LondonHouse Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton

LondonHouse Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton, opened on 26 May 2016 in the London Guarantee & Accident Building, a 23-floor tower finished in 1923 on the south bank of the Chicago River. A new 22-storey glass tower by Goettsch Partners stands beside it, and together they hold 452 rooms and suites. Oxford Capital Group owns, developed and manages the hotel.

The place

Oxford Capital gives the address as 360 North Michigan Avenue; the main entrance is on East Wacker Drive, where the street meets Michigan Avenue and the river. The tower stands on the site of Fort Dearborn. It belongs to a row of 1920s landmarks at the southern end of the Magnificent Mile, with the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and 333 North Michigan.

Guests arrive at street level and are taken up to a second-floor check-in lobby with a bar. The Loop's offices, the Riverwalk and Millennium Park are all within walking distance.

The concept

Alfred S. Alschuler designed the original building for the London Guarantee & Accident Company, an insurer. It is both a Chicago and a National landmark, and it had never been a hotel. Work on the preservation began in the summer of 2013, and construction of the new glass tower on Wacker Drive started in December 2014. Oxford announced the hotel on 12 February 2015. Press reports at the time put the whole project above 80 million dollars.

The name recalls the London House, a jazz club that occupied the building in the 1960s and 1970s and hosted Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Bill Evans and Marian McPartland. Simeone Deary Design Group did the interiors with light jazz references and a palette of warm greys, crisp whites, jewel tones and fumed eucalyptus wood. Guestrooms take their cues from 1920s luxury automobiles. Indiewalls supplied the custom art.

Rooms have 55-inch televisions, minibars, Frette robes and marble bathrooms stocked with Malin + Goetz products. The Presidential Suite adds a butler's kitchen, a private dining area, a double-sided fireplace and views of the river and the skyline.

Meeting space totals about 25,000 square feet, with two ballrooms, Juliette and Whistler, ten breakout rooms and a boardroom. Four private dining rooms on the 22nd floor include Etoile, which has a patio for up to 80 guests. The Shops at LondonHouse occupy two floors of retail, and the hotel has a destination spa and a 24-hour fitness centre.

Dining & wellness

LH is the tri-level rooftop on floors 21 to 23. LH on 21 is the indoor dining room, and the open-air bar above it runs in good weather only. Executive chef and beverage director Riley Huddleston led the programme at opening, with retro cocktails on tap. The room won the 2024 North America's Best Rooftop Restaurant award from the World Culinary Awards.

Bridges Lobby Bar, on the second floor, serves light breakfast, lunch and dinner, with pastries, sandwiches and coffee. The LH Cupola, the restored cupola on the 23rd floor, is an open-air space rented for private events by reservation.