PDF Download: Preservation Chicago’s 2005 Chicago 7 Most Endangered Booklet
Not only was it the city’s oldest continually-operating hotel building, Hotel Dana, 666 N. State, was also one of the oldest hotel structures still standing in Chicago. Built in 1891 as the Erie Hotel, the Queen Anne-style flat building remained remarkably intact, the only one of Chicago’s early hotel buildings not to have undergone significant alteration. Furthermore, the five-and-one-half-story Hotel Dana was one of the few grandly-scaled Queen Anne structures left in Chicago, where once there were many.
With redevelopment on all sides, the Hotel Dana occupied a prime River North location. A surface parking lot occupied the site to the north, while a small Victorian house sat to the south. That combination put incredible pressure on the Hotel Dana as a potential candidate for demolition.
Update:Preservation Chicago had advocated for the preservation of the Dana Hotel since 2001. However, despite its Orange rating, city officials expressed absolutely no opposition to the building being demolished. Today, a sleekly modern glass and concrete hotel sits on the site. Its name…The Hotel Dana.
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Preservation Chicago advocates with urgency for buildings like this at City Hall, in the press, with owners and developers, with elected officials, and in the community. This work is funded by people who care deeply about Chicago and recognize that historic preservation is the key to unlocking healthy, dynamic, vibrant communities.
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