Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop in the historic Oriental Theatre building

Cambria Hotel (Oriental Theatre Building)

Bed down in the historic Oriental/Nederlander Theatre
building, with Broadway shows quite literally downstairs.

Oriental Theatre Building1926 32 W. Randolph Street, in the Theatre District

Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop - Theatre District. Oriental Theatre Building, 1926, Rapp & Rapp, 32 W. Randolph Street. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop - Theatre District.

Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior view. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior, full view. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop exterior. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop lobby. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop lobby. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop lobby. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Lobby at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop lobby. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Dining and cocktails at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
The restaurant and bar at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Amenities at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop amenities and facilities. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Amenities at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop facilities. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Amenities at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop facilities. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
A guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.
Guest room at Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop
Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop guest accommodations. Photo courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop.

What guests are saying

What guests love

  • Location, location: in the thick of the Theatre District, with the Nederlander, Cadillac Palace, Chicago Theatre, and Goodman all within a short walk, plus State Street shopping and the L at the corner.
  • Heritage details carried through the design — high ceilings, oversized windows — paired with a clean, modern aesthetic.
  • On-site dining and a lively lobby bar make a natural pre-theater gathering spot, with Teatro ZinZanni’s dinner-cabaret in the building.

What to keep in mind

  • A busy downtown theater block — energetic, not quiet
  • Service and housekeeping reviews can be mixed

Best for Theater-goers and first-time visitors who want to walk to a show, State Street, and Millennium Park — and stay in a building that’s part of the Loop’s entertainment history.

Summary of guest reviews. Sources: Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop — Theatre District, Preservation Chicago. Photography courtesy of Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop - Theatre District, used with permission. Details may change over time.

Why this building matters

The hotel rises 22 stories within a 1926 building directly above the historic Oriental Theatre — today the James M. Nederlander Theatre — one of the dazzling movie palaces that defined Chicago’s Randolph Street “Rialto.” Its conversion was the Cambria brand’s first adaptive-reuse design, keeping the building’s theatrical past alive while giving a grand old structure a contemporary second act in the center of the Loop.

What stood here before

Randall’s 1949 survey of Chicago building construction records what occupied this ground first: “COLONIAL THEATER, 1903–1925, formerly known as the Iroquois Theater, was at 24–28 W. Randolph street, on the site of the present 32 W. Randolph Street building.” Four stories, one basement, spread foundations, and Benjamin H. Marshall as its architect.

The Iroquois opened in 1903 and burned that December. The city wrote new rules for theaters afterward, and the Majestic four blocks south was the first theater built under them — its own designation report says so. The theater here was renamed the Colonial and stood until 1925; the building the hotel occupies went up the year after.

Benjamin Marshall went on to design two more buildings in this guide, both of them hotels you can still book: the Blackstone of 1908–10 and the Drake of 1920.

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