CLIENT: Simeone Deary Design Group via Brassell Design Consultants
SCOPE: Custom Architectural Artwork
Paying homage to Chicago sculptress Gwen Lux, interior design wizards Simeone Deary sprinkled their magical fairy dust on what was the old Conrad Hilton Hotel to transform it into a glittering Art Deco Luxury Collection Hotel now known as "The Gwen."
The building's recent past had been fraught, however, and their sparkling new design sought to celebrate the beauty and majesty of what had been miraculously preserved.
A bit of history:
When plans for an indoor mall connecting to a new Nordstrom located on Chicago's storied Michigan Avenue called for the razing of the historic McGraw-Hill Building, the building acted quickly to acquire emergency landmark protection status, forcing the developer to modify his project.
Instead of being torn down, the 16-story, 190-foot tall landmark McGraw-Hill Building would undergo a “façade-ectomy,” a process in which a historical façade is maintained while a new structure is built behind it. The proposed mall would still run from Michigan Avenue over the top of Rush Street to the rear of the new Nordstrom; it would now just run through the McGraw-Hill Building rather than over its demolished memory.
The McGraw-Hill Building's elegant limestone façade was saved. Dating from the same decade as the Wrigley Building a block to the south, it is the only remaining Art Deco building on Michigan Avenue besides the Palmolive Building, and it displays the strong vertical lines and setbacks characteristic of that style.
The demolition took place in 1998 and the new building with the rescued facade opened in 2000 as the Le Méridien Chicago Hotel. It was renamed the Conrad Hilton in 2005 and in 2015 it was renamed yet again when it became The Gwen, a property of The Luxury Collection.
The facade's most noteworthy feature is a series of stylish sculptural panels around the fourth floor depicting the Zodiac, as well as three panels of Greek deities – Diana, Atlas, and Helios – above the main entrance. These decorative limestone panels survive as examples of the ornamentation found on the prestige buildings that were first constructed along North Michigan Avenue from 1918-1930.
Chicago-born artist Gwen Creighton Lux (1908-1987) designed these bas-relief sculptures. She was an important sculptress, designer, teacher and lecturer. A female pioneer in her medium, her large sculptures were abstract in style and were typically constructed from polyester resin, concrete and metals. In addition to her significant contributions to the Chicago vernacular, she also created the large metal figures on the exterior of Rockefeller Center in New York.
The inspiration for the redesigned hotel
Capricorn Headboard Wall Art
Capricorn Room Mockup
Virgo Headboard Wall Art
Virgo Room Mockup
Custom wallcovering behind the minibars.
