Elegance on Belden
A degree of service and appointment, rare even among the world's finest hotels, will be
inaugurated in Chicago tonight with the formal opening of the Belden Hotel and Apartments,
proclaimed the Lott Hotel Company on the November 15, 1923.
Designed by Meyer Fridstein and built for $4,000,000. the Belden was all about opulent,
luxury living in a residential apartment hotel.
The 19th century French-inspired details were planted on to this 1920s modern high-rise
to reinforce the notion of elegance. Although the apartments weren't incredibly large, the building offered all kinds of services from in-apartment dining via the Belden Restaurant located on the ground floor, to the Tea Room, the Food Shop grocery store located in the basement, and if you so desired - maid service. Leases were offered for long and short term rental, just as they are today.
By November of 1924, the society columns were calling the hotel the Belden-Stratford,
and many social events were held in the ballroom. One service the current management does not offer comes from the original opening announcement:
Cooking may be done in the kitchenette by the housewife - or a chef will do it for her - if she's not an expert.
Posted by designslinger at 2/4/2010 1:30 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Preservation, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Chicago Belden/Stratford Hotel residential hotels
Categories: Architecture, Preservation, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Chicago Belden/Stratford Hotel residential hotels
Kinda perfect for Gloria Swanson, who stayed there, as did Louis Armstrong.
Thanks for the tips. Now have a great image in the mind's eye of Ms. Swanson walking up the stairs wrapped in fur.