“On Nov. 1, 1881, the Hotel Florence opened in Pullman, at the time a railcar manufacturer’s company town south of the city of Chicago. A substantial Queen Anne-style composition of roof peaks, chimneys and arch-topped windows fronted by a broad front porch, the Hotel Florence served as a showpiece between George Pullman’s factory north of 111th Street and the rows of homes he built for his employees.

“Architect Solon S. Beman designed the Hotel Florence — 16 miles south of Downtown Chicago — with 50 guest rooms, a private suite for owner George Pullman’s use, separate parlors for men and women and a bar. The bar was off-limits to employees living in the 531 homes and the only venue in the privately owned town where visitors could purchase alcohol.

“Railcars filled with prominent men would come down from the city for parties in the hotel. Once a year, a bicycle club would hold a race from Jackson Boulevard and Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago to the Hotel Florence, often dragging their bikes through mud on miles of unpaved road.

“The Hotel Florence was a hub of hospitality, but it has been closed — except for occasional tours — since the beginning of the 21st century. Efforts to revitalize it stretch back 50 years.

“This month, a few days shy of the hotel’s 144th birthday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced a plan to restore and reopen the red brick colossus. The $89 million project, which will also include a live music venue in a portion of the old Pullman factory across the street, was awarded to a team led by real estate firm Celadon and architecture firm Farr Associates.

“‘This is going to be a significant, high-level restoration,’ Scott Henry told WBEZ’s In the Loop. Some of those buildings were essentially shells, long empty and left to decay, but the Hotel Florence ‘has so much of its historical fabric still there.’

“Celadon plans to have all financing lined up by early 2026, start construction soon after and, in early 2027, reopen the building as a hotel, restaurant and bar, with a latter-day annex on the east side turned into affordable workforce housing.

“Mike Shymanski, who has lived in Pullman since 1967, may have been the most relieved of anyone to hear about the definite steps forward for the hotel because he has been part of the effort to put the building right for 50 years. In September 1975, Shymanski told the Chicago Tribune the Hotel Florence is the ‘most critically important building’ in Pullman.

“At the time, Shymanski was president of the historic Pullman Foundation, which had just bought the hotel for $165,000 — $993,000 in today’s dollars — for a building the Tribune described as ‘crumbling’ and “dingy.” The sitting room in George Pullman’s old suite, the Tribune reported, was ‘a mess of flaking plaster, old mattresses and accumulated debris.’

“Shymanski’s group was way ahead of its time. In the mid-1970s, decline and disinvestment proliferated on the Far South Side (Pullman was annexed by the city in 1899). Just 15 years earlier, in 1960, the chamber of commerce in Roseland had proposed knocking down the entire Pullman district to make way for industrial development. Across the street from the Hotel Florence, the vast Pullman factory had been closed for two decades, and nobody was yet talking about turning the place into a national monument. That wouldn’t happen until 2015, with the status elevated to national historical park in 2022.” (Rodkin and Simons, WBEZ Chicago, 12/2/25)

Read or listen to the full story at WBEZ Chicago

• What’s That Building? Hotel Florence, After decades of proposals floating around to get the Pullman structure back on its feet, Gov. JB Pritzker has announced a plan to restore and reopen the red brick colossus, Dennis Rodkin and Sasha-Ann Simons, WBEZ Chicago, 12/2/25
• Celadon wins $85M bid to restore Pullman’s historic Hotel Florence; Scott Henry’s firm wins state contest to revive South Side property, with a plan that will also bring performance venue next door, The Real Deal, 12/2/25
• Details Revealed For Potential Hotel Florence Redevelopment In Pullman, Ian Achong, Chicago YIMBY, 11/24/25