Acme Hotel Company Chicago

The Hotel That Chose Pop Art Over a Chandelier

Most River North hotels occupy new-build towers and compete on amenities. Acme Hotel Company took the opposite route: a $3 million-plus renovation of a 1924 building that spent decades as the Berkshire Hotel and later a forgettable Comfort Inn, rebuilt from 2012 around graffiti-style art behind the front desk, pop-art zipper murals, black handprint headboards and locally commissioned sculptures in the central lightwell. Developers Gene Kornota and Anthony Klok, who also built the dana hotel and spa, gave the place a tagline instead of a mission statement — “Do Your Thing” — and the design commits to it on every floor.

Why It Works

TimeOut Chicago once described the style as “rock-n-roll meets industrial pop-art,” and that is a fair summary of a hotel that put chalkboard door fixtures and glowing lip-print bathroom nightlights next to mid-century furniture and hardwood floors. It is independently operated rather than a franchise, now part of Hilton's design-led Outset Collection, which lets it keep the personality a bigger flag brand would smooth away. For a guide built around genuine editorial character rather than predictable comfort, this is one of the few River North hotels that actually commits to a point of view.

Why This Location

Fifteen East Ohio Street sits in River North, the former warehouse district turned dense cluster of restaurants, galleries and nightlife, roughly two blocks from the Magnificent Mile's shopping. It is a location built for walking between dinner and a late bar without needing a cab, in a neighborhood that still carries the industrial bones the hotel's own design borrows from.

Fast Facts

• Price: Midrange for River North

• Vibe: Independent, design-forward boutique with a rock-and-roll, pop-art identity

• Rooms: 130, including 25 suites, in a converted 1924 building

• Best For: Design-minded travelers, River North nightlife, anyone tired of chain-hotel sameness

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The Berkshire Room's original 1924 tile floor, preserved under a serious cocktail program

• Dining: The Berkshire Room (craft cocktails, small plates); West Town Bakery for breakfast and pastries

• Amenities: Basement fitness room with sauna and hot tub, Bunny Slope lounge, fast in-room Wi-Fi, pet-friendly rooms

• Attractions: Magnificent Mile, River North galleries and restaurants, downtown nightlife

The Berkshire Room's Original Floor

The hotel's ground-floor bar, named for the building's previous life as the Berkshire Hotel, is built directly on top of the original 1924 tile floor — one of the few physical links left to the building's century-old history, running underneath a cocktail list and a small-plates menu that otherwise look entirely contemporary. It is a small detail, but it anchors a hotel that could otherwise feel purely of-the-moment to something considerably older.

Rooms Built for a Smaller Footprint

Standard rooms run around 200 square feet, noticeably tighter than River North's newer towers, and the hotel compensates with open closets and exposed clothing racks rather than pretending the space is larger than it is. What guests get in exchange is Klipsch or Bowers & Wilkins speaker systems in the suites, Serta Plush beds, and a basement that functions as both a gym and a sauna-and-hot-tub retreat, plus a ski-lodge-styled lounge called Bunny Slope for private events.

Before You Book

Rooms here run smaller than the River North average, which matters for travelers packing for a long stay or traveling with a family. Some amenities occasionally attributed to this hotel online — in-room record players, a karaoke lounge — are not confirmed by the hotel's own materials, so do not expect them. What is reliably delivered is a genuinely independent identity in a neighborhood where most of the competition is a national flag with a River North address.