McHugh Construction Completes Renovation of Chicago's Blackstone Hotel
-- Hotels, 3/20/2008 9:02:00 AM
CHICAGO-James McHugh Construction Co. has completed a sweeping renovation of Chicago's Blackstone Hotel, a national historic landmark
Denver-based owner Sage Hospitality Resources has reopened the 98-year-old hotel as part of the Marriott Renaissance chain. McHugh worked with architect Lucien Lagrange & Associates, Chicago, and interior designer The Gettys Group, Chicago along with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Chicago, as engineers for the exterior renovation.
The massive renovation of the 23-story structure began in May 2006, with most of the hotel gutted to its skeleton save for the historic areas to be carefully restored.
An official Chicago landmark, the Blackstone was completed in 1910. Designed by Marshall & Fox, the Modern French Beaux Arts-style building has hosted 12 U.S. presidents-more than any other Chicago hotel.
Among the historic areas restored to their original grandeur were the main lobby, with its fireplace, mahogany trim, plaster detailing and original wall sconces; the Crystal Ballroom overlooking Grant Park; and the Art Hall, English Room and lower level barber shop, all converted into meeting and group event space.
The extensive nature of the renovation shows in many of the details, including the richly detailed brass wall sconces that McHugh refinished in many public areas. When originals could not be salvaged, the team worked with specialty contractors to cast molds to create duplicates. In other historic portions of the hotel, McHugh removed decades-old carpeting to find that the marble floors underneath had been damaged by carpet tacks. Fortunately, the team was able to repair the floors by salvaging the hard-to-match marble from other areas of the hotel where it would not be visible.
While large-scale reconstruction of a century-old building is bound to turn up unexpected issues, the most significant one was positive, said Brian Hardy, McHugh's project manager for the Blackstone work. "The biggest surprise of the building was that it is unbelievably well built," Hardy said. "It's extremely sound, structurally."
While the Blackstone's unusual structural system of clay tile arches-a typical structural system a century ago-could have presented a problem, McHugh encountered the same system at a previous project and had already mastered its quirks. "We knew how to work with it already, which made matters easier," Hardy said.
This old hotel now includes some new spaces as well. The top floor, underneath its distinctive mansard roof, lay unfinished since its opening-until now. The east side, facing Lake Michigan, now features three penthouse atrium suites punctuated by the original porthole windows and new skylights to illuminate the spaces with 20-foot ceiling heights. On the west side of the top floor, a concierge-level, the Hubbard Place lounge, features a mini-kitchen, library, fireplace, and lavishly upholstered window seats.
The Blackstone now features 332 guest rooms, along with meeting rooms, board rooms, and the renovated public spaces. The second-floor restaurant, Mercat a la Planxa, offers modern Catalan cuisine and incorporates extensive glass tile mosaics, leather-clad walls, an open kitchen, raised VIP booth and private dining on an upper level. A street-level bar off Michigan Avenue repeats the Spanish motif and includes a mosaic tiled reflecting pool.
McHugh reconfigured every guest room floor to create entirely new hotel rooms, complete with modern amenities such as televisions embedded into bathroom mirrors. The building received all-new plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and fire protection systems, including sprinklers. All the basement levels were reconfigured, with new mechanical spaces, offices and other back-of-house functions such as the kitchens.
Every window and storefront was replaced with new ones that match the Blackstone's historic profile. McHugh also preserved and repaired the hotel's terra cotta cladding, and its mansard roof, making extensive repairs to the substrate layers underneath.
The Blackstone represents the latest in a string of dramatic Chicago hotel property renovations for McHugh. Other recent renovations include the Four Seasons Chicago, the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro, Hotel 71, and the metamorphosis of the Bismarck and Oxford House hotels into the Hotel Monaco and Hotel Allegro for Kimpton Hotels. Last year, McHugh's construction work totaled more than 1.1 million square feet for some of the hospitality industry's leading names, including the Four Seasons, Renaissance, The Kimpton Group, and two new luxury brands, Elysian and Cappella.
Founded in 1897, McHugh is one of Chicago's oldest and largest general contracting, construction management and consulting firms. Current projects include the concrete structure for Trump International Hotel and Tower, the high-profile Aqua mixed-use high-rise with distinctive rippled exterior; and reconstruction of portions of Chicago's Red Line and Brown Line CTA elevated train stations. More information is available at www.mchughconstruction.com.
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