Chicago’s landmark Blackstone Hotel, located next door to Columbia’s Torco Building, was forced to close its doors on Thursday.
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Donnie Seals Jr./Chronicle
The historic Blackstone Hotel at 636 S. Michigan is located next door to Columbia’s Torco building.
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The 305-room hotel, which opened in 1910, released all of its employees and vacated all of its hotel guests after City of Chicago inspectors warned Blackstone managers of serious safety problems throughout the historical building.
The Blackstone Hotel will remain closed indefinitely until all of the violations have been addressed. The Blackstone Grille was not part of the shutdown and will remain open for business. The restaurant is housed in the Blackstone building.
City building inspectors cited the Blackstone Hotel after finding cancer-causing asbestos in a basement office that could contaminate both employees and guests.
In addition, inspectors reported an inadequate and totally out-dated electrical system throughout the hotel. Standing water was found in the basement near electrical system equipment, which posed a serious problem.
Last Sunday, all four elevators in the 22-story hotel shut down during an electrical outage. Hotel managers were unable to find contractors to repair the problem because the equipment was so antiquated.
The seriousness of the problem caused company officials to believe there was a danger to the hotel’s 85 employees and hundreds of guests. Guests of the hotel were asked to leave the Blackstone on Wednesday evening and began moving their luggage to nearby hotels.
The Blackstone Hotel was once known as the “Hotel of Presidents” because it housed every U. S. president from William Taft through Jimmy Carter, with the exceptions of Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford.
The hotel also contains the infamous “smoke-filled room,” where Sen. Warren G. Harding was urged by fellow Republicans to become their nominee for the 1920 presidential election.
The Blackstone’s billiard room was the setting for the 1986 film “The Color of Money,” starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.
More currently, Columbia students used the hotel in 1996 to take comprehensive standardized tests for freshmen and transfer students.
Since 1995, the Blackstone has been owned and operated by the Heaven on Earth Inns Corp., which is owned by the transcendental meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Maharishi achieved fame when he served as guru to the Beatles.
In 1995, the City of Chicago cited the Blackstone Hotel for 35 building code violations. The hotel was ordered to make many cosmetic changes, including removing peeling paint and discarding accumulating trash and debris.
More seriously, the hotel had to repair the foundation of the building, fix a defective plumbing system, and eliminate noxious odors coming from the basement.
Host-Marriott Corp., which owns and operates international five-star hotels, was due to take over the Blackstone Hotel earlier this year but the sale never went through because an agreement on price couldn’t be reached. |
