Viceroy Chicago

Where a 1920s Facade Meets an 18-Story Glass Tower

Viceroy Chicago sits on a Gold Coast corner where the old and new refuse to pretend to agree. The hotel keeps the four-story brick and terra-cotta facade of the 1920s Cedar Hotel at street level, then rises eighteen stories in folded glass whose geometry nods to the brick's own argyle-like pattern below. Architect Goettsch Partners and interior firm TAL Studio, led by Todd-Avery Lenahan, built the project on what they call harmony through contrast rather than a seamless match, and the result reads less like a renovation than two buildings agreeing to share an address.

Why It Works

We chose this hotel because its design commits to an idea instead of chasing a trend. The preserved Cedar Hotel facade is not a token gesture tacked onto a new tower; it is the organizing logic for everything above it, down to the glass folds that echo the old brickwork. A 30-foot art wall inscribed with Marcel Proust quotes, lit nightly in the lobby, signals a hotel built around the idea of the flaneur, the wanderer who notices things, rather than around a generic brand playbook. Few 180-room hotels commit this hard to a single literary and architectural idea.

Why This Location

The address sits at Cedar and State in the Gold Coast, one of Chicago's most established residential neighborhoods and a short walk from the Magnificent Mile's shopping and from Lincoln Park to the north. It is a quieter base than a Loop hotel, closer to tree-lined side streets than to convention traffic, while still close enough to downtown for an easy walk or short ride to the Loop's museums and theaters. For travelers who want proximity to the Mile without its crowds at the front door, the Gold Coast setting does real work.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxe

• Vibe: literary, art-forward, Gold Coast polish

• Rooms: 180 guestrooms and suites

• Best For: design-minded travelers, couples, anyone who wants a rooftop pool with skyline views

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the 30-foot lobby art wall inscribed with Marcel Proust quotes, lit nightly

• Dining: Somerset and rooftop lounge Devereaux, both from Boka Restaurant Group

• Amenities: rooftop pool, landscaped terrace, fourth-floor ballroom opening onto an outdoor terrace over State Street

• Attractions: Gold Coast streets, Magnificent Mile, Lake Michigan lakefront, Lincoln Park

A Lobby Built Around Proust and the Flaneur

TAL Studio's lobby design leans on white marble, brass fixtures, and large bronze reception desks set against a painting of a Venetian carnival by the artist Badi. The centerpiece is the 30-foot art wall of inscribed Proust quotes, lit after dark, a nod to the flaneur, the French literary wanderer who observes rather than rushes. It is a lobby designed to be read as much as sat in, closer to a gallery with a check-in desk than a hotel lobby with art on the walls as an afterthought.

Guestrooms with a Cubist Eye

Upstairs, the guestrooms carry the same art-first instinct: Cubist-inspired artwork, a digital reproduction of a Tim Modus piece built into the headboard wall, and midcentury-inspired furnishings that keep the rooms feeling considered rather than standard-issue. It is a calmer register than the lobby's theatrics, but the same point of view runs through both, a hotel that treats its art program as part of the architecture rather than decoration added after the fact.

Devereaux and the View from the Roof

Devereaux, the rooftop lounge run by Boka Restaurant Group, pairs an outdoor pool with a landscaped terrace and views that stretch to Lake Michigan and the Loop skyline. Restaurant Somerset, also from Boka, anchors the ground floor next to the lobby, while a fourth-floor ballroom opens onto its own terrace over State Street for events that want an outdoor component. Between the roof and the ground floor, Viceroy Chicago gives guests two distinct reasons to linger beyond their own room.