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Mark Twain Hotel (Chicago)

Art Deco architecture in IllinoisCook County, Illinois Registered Historic Place stubsHotel buildings completed in 1930Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago
Mark Twain Hotel
Mark Twain Hotel

The Mark Twain Hotel is a historic residential hotel located at 111 W. Division Street in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1930 by developer Fred Becklenberg, the hotel was one of several residential hotels built to house the influx of labor to Chicago in the late 1920s. Most of the hotel's residents were permanent; according to 1940 census records, the majority had been at the hotel for over five years. Architect Harry Glube designed the hotel in the Art Deco style, a departure from the revival styles normally used for residential hotels. The brick building features extensive terra cotta detailing, including an elaborate cornice and stringcourse above and below the fourth floor.The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 2017.The building was renovated starting in 2018 and celebrated a grand re-opening in 2020. During the renovation it was converted to 148 typical but affordable rental studio apartments by NHP Foundation.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Mark Twain Hotel (Chicago) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Mark Twain Hotel (Chicago)
West Division Street, Chicago Near North Side

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.903888888889 ° E -87.631944444444 °
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Address

Division & Clark (Red Line)

West Division Street
60610 Chicago, Near North Side
Illinois, United States
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Mark Twain Hotel
Mark Twain Hotel
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LaSalle Towers Apartments

LaSalle Towers Apartments is a high-rise apartment complex in the Near North Side neighborhood of Chicago. The building is located at 1211 North LaSalle Street, which is the corner of LaSalle and Division Street. In the 1960s (possibly prior & afterwards) it was named the Tuscony Apartment Hotel. Mostly small apartments with two rooms of approx 8 ft wide (1-window each) by 10 ft long and a small bath room approx 6 x 7 ft and a small window between the two rooms. A short connecting corridor of approx 3 x 6 ft. One room had a kitchenette and the other was a setting/sleeping room. This is from my observation whilst looking for an apartment in 1965. The high-rise was built in 1929 and was originally used as a hotel. It was renovated in the early 1980s by Weese, Seegers, Hickey, Weese and converted into an apartment complex. During the renovation, the exterior of the building was covered on three sides with trompe-l'œil murals by Richard Haas. On the east face, the mural creates the illusion that the structure contains Chicago School bay windows and a cornice with a circular window. On the south face, Haas evokes two Louis Sullivan creations: the Golden Arch from the World's Columbian Exposition Transportation Building, and the circular window of the Merchants' National Bank in Grinnell, Iowa. Beneath the arch, Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, John Wellborn Root, and Frank Lloyd Wright stand together. A "reflection" of the Chicago Board of Trade Building also appears in the painted windows between these two features. On the north face, another set of painted windows contain a fake reflection of Adolf Loos' unused design for the Tribune Tower, which Loos had envisioned as a large column-like structure. Collectively, the murals are called Homage to the Chicago School of Architecture.