“Mayor Johnson recently announced $1.3 million in Adopt-A-Landmark funding for the adaptive reuse of the former Mid-City Trust & Savings Bank Building. Located at 801 W. Madison, the building occupies the southwest corner of W. Madison St and N. Halsted St. Purchased in 2022, Experiential Capital Group is leading the redevelopment of the building.

“With Pappageorge Haymes Partners serving as the architect, the project will rehabilitate the exterior and convert the interior into a hotel operated by The Neighborhood Hotel with commercial space on the ground floor. The landmark building’s significant features are designated as all exterior elevations including rooflines, as well as the interior entrance lobby of the main banking hall, including skylights, original check desks and counters, and historic lighting.

“On the exterior, the rehabilitation will clean, repair, and repaint the historic bronze windows on the first and second floors. Non-historic windows on the third through sixth floors will be repaired and replaced if they are beyond repair. A new entrance canopy along W. Madison St will be added for the hotel entrance and exterior uplighting will be installed on the building’s facade.

“On the interior, the rehab will retain historic features of the banking hall. The hotel’s main entrance will be at the northwest end of the building’s W. Madison St frontage, with the main entry to ground floor space at the northeast corner. A new passenger and service elevator will be added. A glass partition between interior columns will enclose the monumental stair for the hotel space to separate it from the rest of the ground floor banking hall space.

“The elevator lobby and main corridors of the upper floors will be retained, and the existing door locations will be used for the hotel rooms wherever possible. The historic skylight will be modified and renovated to add a new daylighting system over the exterior skylight structure and a new translucent acoustical panel system will be added on the interior that will have the appearance of glazing.

“Set to cost $53 million, the developers are seeking a Class L tax incentive already approved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and awaiting approval from City Hall. The $1.3 million grant will contribute to the costs of the conversion.” (Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 2/14/24)

The Former Mid-City National Bank Building was designed by architect, Horatio R. Wilson in 1911-1912, and later remodeled and expanded in 1928, by the architectural firm of Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton. The 1928 remodeling included a reconstructed first-and second-story façade, with a Classical revival-style arcade of large arched openings, clad in limestone. The revisioning and expansion of the building also included a much enlarged banking room on the first floor interior, which replaced a former theater, originally located directly behind the bank building.

The Mid-City National Bank was given a Chicago Landmark Designation in 2012. With this designation the Mid-City National Bank Building was the beneficiary of the expanded and revised Adopt-a-Landmarks program, though a grant offer by the City of Chicago. This resulted with funding for the recreation of the original cornice design which was restored after being lost for decades. The building’s cornice was recreated with glass reinforced concrete-GRFC with this City grant and extends 133’ along Halsted and 126’ along Madison Street, giving the structure a highly finished appearance and restoring the 1928 design.

Preservation Chicago has been in communication with the developers, Experiential Capital Group, and fully support the adaptive reuse into a hospitality use. We testified in support of the Mid-City National Bank at multiple hearings. We have been a longtime advocate for many of the Chicago Landmark bank buildings. We applaud The Neighborhood Hotel group and are thrilled to see the Mid-City Bank Building adaptively reused after so many years of vacancy.

Read the full story at Urbanize Chicago

• 801 W. Madison receives Adopt-A-Landmark grant for conversion; The former bank building will be converted into a hotel, Lukas Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 2/14/24
• Commission on Chicago Landmarks approves Class L for 801 W. Madison, The former bank building will be converted into a hotel, Lukas Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 1/18/24