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Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Kchi
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 07, 2013 12:58PM
I was always curious about some of the hotels that seem to be out of place found in neighborhoods. One of the hotels I pass quite often is the Hotel Elinore on Cicero and Belmont. My assumption has been that these hotels were for transients and some of them evolved into nothing more than flop houses.
Did any of these hotels ever operate as regular hotels, or were they built as residential hotels that people intended to live in semi-permenentally?
Are most of these hotels single or multiple rooms? Do these hotels have their own bathrooms? Are there still hotels that operate with shared bathrooms like a boarding house?
Did any of these hotels ever operate as regular hotels, or were they built as residential hotels that people intended to live in semi-permenentally?
Are most of these hotels single or multiple rooms? Do these hotels have their own bathrooms? Are there still hotels that operate with shared bathrooms like a boarding house?
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Bill_Baar
(---.tic.va.gov)
Date: February 07, 2013 01:37PM
I'm guessing many were residential hotels. Closely related are the many large homes that were divided up into boarding houses. We looked at a home in Oak Park once close to the Blue Cab garage on South Blvd. The third floor of this Victorian had five or six small bedrooms with sinks and transoms over the doors. The realtor told me at one time many cab drivers had boarded there.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
PKDickman
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 07, 2013 01:49PM
Kchi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was always curious about some of the hotels that
> seem to be out of place found in neighborhoods.
> One of the hotels I pass quite often is the Hotel
> Elinore on Cicero and Belmont. My assumption has
> been that these hotels were for transients and
> some of them evolved into nothing more than flop
> houses.
>
> Did any of these hotels ever operate as regular
> hotels, or were they built as residential hotels
> that people intended to live in
> semi-permenentally?
>
> Are most of these hotels single or multiple rooms?
> Do these hotels have their own bathrooms? Are
> there still hotels that operate with shared
> bathrooms like a boarding house?
All of the above. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some are nice, some, like the Elenor, are dumps.
A brief history,
[url=http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/613.html]Ency of Chicago, SRO[/url]
A list of some subsidized SROs which will give you an idea of the prices and ammenities.
[url=http://chicagosubhousing.wetpaint.com/page/SRO+Hotels+in+Chicago]Some SROs[/url]
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was always curious about some of the hotels that
> seem to be out of place found in neighborhoods.
> One of the hotels I pass quite often is the Hotel
> Elinore on Cicero and Belmont. My assumption has
> been that these hotels were for transients and
> some of them evolved into nothing more than flop
> houses.
>
> Did any of these hotels ever operate as regular
> hotels, or were they built as residential hotels
> that people intended to live in
> semi-permenentally?
>
> Are most of these hotels single or multiple rooms?
> Do these hotels have their own bathrooms? Are
> there still hotels that operate with shared
> bathrooms like a boarding house?
All of the above. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some are nice, some, like the Elenor, are dumps.
A brief history,
[url=http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/613.html]Ency of Chicago, SRO[/url]
A list of some subsidized SROs which will give you an idea of the prices and ammenities.
[url=http://chicagosubhousing.wetpaint.com/page/SRO+Hotels+in+Chicago]Some SROs[/url]
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Dunning1
(216.81.94.---)
Date: February 08, 2013 02:39PM
A lot of the buildings on the north side, on the Sheridan Road corridor, were built as SRO type buildings, and I believe that even the Allerton Hotel was originally built to be housing for single people coming to Chicago for their first job, and was kind of a residential hotel for singles.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 08, 2013 08:40PM
[b]Allerton Hotel? Anybody ever go to the bar on top?[/b]
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
jak378
(---.hsd1.fl.comcast.net)
Date: February 09, 2013 03:42PM
Richard Stachowski Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Allerton Hotel? Anybody ever go to the bar on
> top?
The Tip, Top Tap? Many times.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Allerton Hotel? Anybody ever go to the bar on
> top?
The Tip, Top Tap? Many times.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Scottsdale Guy
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 09, 2013 05:22PM
When I was very young, and my family was really broke at the time, we all lived in the Troy Lane hotel for about 10 months back in the late 50's(near 63rd and Kedzie) Anyone from the southside remember this place?(I think it is still there) Or have any information about what it is being used for today?
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
nordsider
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 10, 2013 10:53AM
"Mary Gates Dawes Hotel for needy women, located on the east side of South Throop Street just south of West Jackson Boulevard (1917) --- The hotel was erected by Charles G. Dawes (Vice-President of the United States from 1925-1929) in honor of his mother."
Search: Mary Gates Dawes Hotel and Rufus F. Dawes hotel
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/ichihtml/
"In memory of their son, they founded the Rufus Fearing Dawes Hotel for Destitute Men in Chicago and Boston, and later established the Mary Dawes Hotel for Women in honor of Dawes' mother."
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Dawes.htm
THE RUFUS F. DAWES HOTEL The Rufus F. Dawes hotel at 18 South Peoria street.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BuBaAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA14-PA12&lpg=RA14-PA12&dq=Rufus+Fearing+Dawes+Hotel+chicago&source=bl&ots=-uTTOtOrSA&sig=eg1FTFBLQ_7oww6k0aOJQuu6YQw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t-IYUYnDN6S3ygGJ0YD4Cw&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Rufus%20Fearing%20Dawes%20Hotel%20chicago&f=false
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2013 10:22AM by nordsider.
Search: Mary Gates Dawes Hotel and Rufus F. Dawes hotel
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/ichihtml/
"In memory of their son, they founded the Rufus Fearing Dawes Hotel for Destitute Men in Chicago and Boston, and later established the Mary Dawes Hotel for Women in honor of Dawes' mother."
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Dawes.htm
THE RUFUS F. DAWES HOTEL The Rufus F. Dawes hotel at 18 South Peoria street.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BuBaAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA14-PA12&lpg=RA14-PA12&dq=Rufus+Fearing+Dawes+Hotel+chicago&source=bl&ots=-uTTOtOrSA&sig=eg1FTFBLQ_7oww6k0aOJQuu6YQw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t-IYUYnDN6S3ygGJ0YD4Cw&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Rufus%20Fearing%20Dawes%20Hotel%20chicago&f=false
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2013 10:22AM by nordsider.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
nordsider
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 24, 2013 09:32AM
SRO hotels closing:
http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-muckrakers/2012/11/lakeview-bob-zuley/
http://www.chicagohomeless.org/chicago-sun-times-mark-brown-interesting-people-live-in-citys-cubicle-hotels/
http://www.chicagohomeless.org/cubicle-hotels-would-improve-conditions-or-shut-down-under-proposal/
http://lakeview.patch.com/topics/SRO
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2013 07:29PM by nordsider.
http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-muckrakers/2012/11/lakeview-bob-zuley/
http://www.chicagohomeless.org/chicago-sun-times-mark-brown-interesting-people-live-in-citys-cubicle-hotels/
http://www.chicagohomeless.org/cubicle-hotels-would-improve-conditions-or-shut-down-under-proposal/
http://lakeview.patch.com/topics/SRO
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2013 07:29PM by nordsider.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
murphman
(---.evdo.leapwireless.net)
Date: April 01, 2013 09:40AM
Another facet of city life that seems to be fading away. Most became run down flophouses and were either razed or converted to condos. The Bel-Ray at Belmont and Racine is an example of condo conversion. Also I think many were closed due to increased regulations stemming from the tragic fire at the Paxton.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
nordsider
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 02, 2013 02:05PM
I have read, that in Chicago around the year 1900, areas near the confluence of railway lines brought more than 30,000 homeless transient men to the streets each year, and still more with seasonal unemployment in farm and maritime work.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/contentdm/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=Municipal+Lodging+House++Chicago%2C+Ill.+&CISOFIELD1=relatij&CISOROOT=%2Fchicago
See the Municipal Lodging House @ http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/ichihtml/
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2013 11:57AM by nordsider.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/contentdm/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=Municipal+Lodging+House++Chicago%2C+Ill.+&CISOFIELD1=relatij&CISOROOT=%2Fchicago
See the Municipal Lodging House @ http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/ichihtml/
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2013 11:57AM by nordsider.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Tom B
(---.pools.spcsdns.net)
Date: August 04, 2013 01:19PM
What led me to this site was my curiosity about an old hotel that I lived in when I was in college. It’s called the Broadmoor up on Howard and Bosworth. It was a dive but I could tell that based upon some of the buildings architecture that it must have been amazing in its day.
“The Broadmoor Hotel, 7600 North Bosworth was built in 1922-23 by developers Louis Rubin and Abraham Marks, this six-story building was one of the most luxurious buildings of its day. It had 90 apartments and 7 stores, which were accessible from the lobby and the street. From 1924 to 1927, WBBM radio station (there are many explanations for these call letters, including ‘‘We Broadcast From the Broadmoor”) broadcast live jazz and big band programs from its ballroom as well as such popular shows as Amos and Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly. The ballroom included an elegant restaurant and a dancing area. The lobby floor was laid with terrazzo tiles and the ceiling was decorated with Roman and French style ornamentation.”
I would love to see photos of the interior! I hope I posted this correctly
“The Broadmoor Hotel, 7600 North Bosworth was built in 1922-23 by developers Louis Rubin and Abraham Marks, this six-story building was one of the most luxurious buildings of its day. It had 90 apartments and 7 stores, which were accessible from the lobby and the street. From 1924 to 1927, WBBM radio station (there are many explanations for these call letters, including ‘‘We Broadcast From the Broadmoor”) broadcast live jazz and big band programs from its ballroom as well as such popular shows as Amos and Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly. The ballroom included an elegant restaurant and a dancing area. The lobby floor was laid with terrazzo tiles and the ceiling was decorated with Roman and French style ornamentation.”
I would love to see photos of the interior! I hope I posted this correctly
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
Sit and Stew
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 08, 2013 09:49PM
A bunch of SROs have closed in the last 10 years, like the Chateau up north, the Viceroy by Union Park, and there have been a gaggle of them closed in the west loop/Printer's Row. However, I was told that the New Jackson Hotel is still open near Greektown, much to the local resident's ire.
I also found one a little while back in Hyde Park called the Hyde Park Arms...wonder if it is still kicking, or if the U of C bought the land up?
I also found one a little while back in Hyde Park called the Hyde Park Arms...wonder if it is still kicking, or if the U of C bought the land up?
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 08, 2013 10:52PM
The Hyde Park Arms is still alive and thriving. They still have the front desk cage grillwork intact too.
For a while in the mid '90s one of my uncles lived at either the Ohio East or Hotel Tokyo, I can't remember which. It was a harrowing ride up the elevator to his studio room, single bare lightbulb fixture, futon, etc. As soon as you entered the front doors of the building, you got hit with an incredibly potent odor which I will not describe here, except that if if was raining, it smelled even worse.
For a while in the mid '90s one of my uncles lived at either the Ohio East or Hotel Tokyo, I can't remember which. It was a harrowing ride up the elevator to his studio room, single bare lightbulb fixture, futon, etc. As soon as you entered the front doors of the building, you got hit with an incredibly potent odor which I will not describe here, except that if if was raining, it smelled even worse.
Re: Residential Hotels - SROs
Posted by:
davey7
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: September 13, 2013 07:42PM
There is a similar style hotel in Oak Park still in use as a hotel - rather charming, with a very nice French bistro off the lobby. Still has the original 20's decor, well maintained.
