The four top floors of office space in the D.H. Burnham & Company designed Continental and Commercial National Bank Building, located at 208 S. LaSalle Street will converted into high-end hotel as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. Built in 1914, the building became a Designated Chicago landmark on December 12, 2007.

The 234-room, $93 million, adaptive reuse hotel project will be called “The Reserve” with a reference to the adjacent Federal Reserve Bank Building. A white-tablecloth restaurant will be built on 21st floor to be called the “Reserve Club” and a 3,500-square-foot ballroom will be built on the 22nd floor penthouse.

“There’s no small, five-star hotel in the Loop and we think there’s a huge market for it,” said Reschke, CEO of Chicago-based Prime Group. “So we shifted gears and changed the design to more the way we wanted to go.” (Ecker, Crain’s, 6/27/18)

Prime Group is the developer led by Mike Reschke, the experienced Chicago developer responsible for the 610-room JW Marriott Chicago in the lower 12-floors of the building in 2010, which preserved the beautiful 8,500 square-foot Grand Ballroom, and the awe-inspiring 6,000-square-foot foot Burnham Ballroom with its original domed ceiling.

208 S. LaSalle Street was designed by D. H. Burnham & Co and Graham, Anderson, Probst & White in the Classical Revival style. The building is orange-rated in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey. Additionally, 208 S. LaSalle Street is a contributing building to the West Loop – LaSalle Street Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This 20-story building occupies a full half-block, bounded by LaSalle, Adams, and Wells Streets and with the Quincy Street alley to the south. The building is rectangular in plan, with no setbacks and is clad in gray terra cotta, with a gray granite base. All facades are treated as primary facades, with high quality finish materials and detailing; however, the LaSalle Street facade is the most prominent. The facades are arranged in a tripartite composition. At LaSalle Street, the building base consists of a multi-story, engaged Doric colonnade supporting a continuous entablature. This colonnade is expressed at all facades, although to a lesser scale at the side streets, with pilasters rather than columns. The Doric colonnade is also repeated at the top of the building. The facades are ornamented with classical detailing and projecting belt courses provide transitions between the base, shaft and top of the building. The shaft is composed of solid corners with individual window openings, while the center bays consist of paired windows separated by slim, continuous piers and framed by wider, continuous piers. The windows and ornamented spandrels are slightly recessed.

Designed by D. H. Burnham & Company, the building was one of the last designs supervised by Daniel Burnham and was completed after his death by successor firm Graham, Anderson, Probst and White. It was built for the Commercial National Bank, which become one of the country’s largest banks.
The first through sixth floors of the building were devoted to bank spaces, with related office and work spaces. The seventh floor and above were set aside for speculative office space. Exterior alterations include remodeled storefronts and entrances, within original openings, and removal of the cornice. Despite alterations the building clearly conveys its historic appearance and has a high degree of integrity.” (National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, West Loop – LaSalle Street Historic District)

Preservation Chicago applauds the developer Prime Group and Mike Reschke for continuing to recognize value and invest in an important Chicago building. The growing recognition within the Chicago real estate community of the inherent ability of historic buildings to drive greater profits has been confirmed by the highly successful JW Marriott Chicago in the lower 12-floor of the building, the London House Hotel in the London Guarantee Building, the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel in the Chicago Athletic Association Building and the Kimpton Hotel Gray in the New York Life Building.

Additional Reading

Reschke putting more luxury hotel rooms on LaSalle, Danny Ecker, Crain’s Chicago Business, 6/27/18

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, West Loop – LaSalle Street Historic District