The Guide: Chicago
September 1, 2005
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1930s Prohibition flasks at Douglas Rosin. (Click image to enlarge.)Service
Some interiors require more than what can be gleaned from a showroom floor. The 24 artisans at Armand Lee use museum-recognized techniques to handcraft custom fine art frames (often using exotic lacquered finishes or bronze leaf over carved wood) and restore antique furnishings, frames and accessories. They are particularly adroit in reworking the style of a frame when clients move from a traditional country home in Winnetka to a modern downtown high-rise. Also doing custom crafts, Great Lakes Art Studio specializes in metal work with bronze, steel, aluminum and iron as well as materials like wood, ceramics and plaster. In addition to new work, they also handle the restoration of furniture and architectural details. Whether you cook or order in, you will want a de Giulio kitchen—locals boast about them the same way they do their collections of fine art. The kitchen design firm does projects across the country, but is based in Chicago. One of their three showrooms in the city is located in the Merchandise Mart.
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A salvaged screen from Architectural Artifacts. (Click image to enlarge.)Service
Armand Lee, 312.455.1200, www.armandlee.com
Great Lakes Art Studio,
847.869.5850, www.greatlakesartstudio.com
De Giulio, 847.256.8833, www.degiulio.org
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The lobby of the Peninsula hotel. (Click image to enlarge.)Stay
In the late 19th century, Chicago’s hotels were so lavish and inclusive that they were often called “cities within cities.” The Auditorium, which once stood on Michigan Ave., housed offices, a 400-room hotel and an acoustically-perfect theater, the world’s largest at the time of its debut in 1889. Today, the city’s finest hotels are traditionally formal and grand, oftentimes part of larger towering buildings that envelop everything from luxury condominiums to world-class shopping. One of the city’s oldest and most iconic hotels, the Drake was built in 1920 and still stands as a testament to the city’s elegance. It may no longer have the best rooms in the city, but it is still worth stopping in for coffee or a drink. The only hotels in the city worth booking are the Four Seasons and the Peninsula. The former is continually recognized for its outstanding service and intuitive staff, which has been winning awards since the hotel opened in 1989. The decor may be in slight need of a makeover, (which it is getting, come early 2006) but the bird’s-eye views of the lake simply cannot be beat. The newest luxury hotel to charm the city, the Peninsula, which opened in 2001, has enough high-tech in-room gadgetry and remote controls to impress even the most jaded of travelers and boasts the city’s only preplanned hotel spa (other hotels added on later), which occupies its top two floors.
Stay
The Drake Hotel, 140 E. Walton Place, Chicago, 312.787.2200,
www.thedrakehotel.com
Four Seasons
Hotel, 120 E. Delaware
Place, Chicago, 312.280.8800, www.fourseasons.com
The Peninsula, 108
E. Superior Street, Chicago, 312.337.2888,
www.chicago.peninsula.com
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