What guests are saying
What guests love
- Real jazz-age atmosphere — the Crystal Ballroom’s gilded dome is a genuine 1920s showpiece.
- A prime Gold Coast location, half a block from the Mag Mile and walkable to Oak Street Beach.
- A colorful history (Playboy Towers, a Prohibition speakeasy legend) at a sensible rate.
What to keep in mind
- A grand old hotel — rooms vary, some feel their age
- A busy stretch just off Michigan Avenue
Best for Travelers who want vintage Chicago character and a Gold Coast address steps from the Magnificent Mile.
Summary of guest reviews. Sources: Date, height, construction, architects and engineer from Frank A. Randall, History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 1949), p. 279. Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel Chicago, Preservation Chicago. Photography courtesy of Millennium Hotel Knickerbocker Chicago, used with permission. Details may change over time.
Why this building matters
Opened in 1927 as the Davis Hotel and designed by Rissman & Hirschfield, the 14-story, Gothic-inspired Knickerbocker has lived many lives: a rumored Capone-era penthouse speakeasy, Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Towers in the 1970s, and today a classic independent hotel. Its showpiece is the Georgian-style Crystal Ballroom, crowned by an original gilded dome and a once-illuminated glass dance floor.
Randall’s entry is precise about the fabric: the Knickerbocker, “formerly the Davis Hotel, built in 1927, is 14 stories high, of reinforced concrete, with one basement, on wood piles.” Rissman & Hirschfield were the architects and Samuel Klein the engineer.
That pairing recurs across this guide. Rissman & Hirschfield also designed the Surfway Apartment Hotel — now the Willows — and the Cedar Hotel, now the Viceroy; Samuel Klein engineered the Eastgate and the St. Clair. A handful of firms built a large share of Chicago’s 1920s apartment hotels, and three of them are in this guide.
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