Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Chicago circa 1910. "Grant Park and Blackstone Hotel on Michigan Avenue." Note the STUDEBAKER CARRIAGES sign. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Below is the same view from June of 2017.
About halfway up the near side of the Blackstone Hotel is the legendary "smoke-filled room" where in 1920 powerful Republican party chiefs will arrange the presidential nomination of Warren G. Harding.
The full block to the left of the Blackstone Hotel - between Balbo Drive (formerly 7th Street) and 8th Street - will be the future site of the Hilton Chicago (originally known as the Stevens Hotel, later as the Conrad Hilton Hotel, and still later as the Chicago Hilton and Towers). This hotel was the largest in the world when it opened in 1927. The buildings on the block shown here include several old private houses of the Chicago Fire era (c. 1871) and a long two-story commercial block all decked out in white terra cotta cladding that looks brand new. Much of the rest of the "wall" of Michigan Avenue buildings is already in place, and most of that "wall" is still standing.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5