From World’s Fair Annex to Chicago Landmark: The Congress Plaza Hotel Since 1893
Built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and renamed in 1908, the hotel has hosted presidents, big bands, and the Army.
The world came to Chicago in 1893. This is where it stayed. For more than 130 years, the Congress has welcomed fairgoers, presidents, bandleaders, soldiers, and families.
1893: The Auditorium Annex
The hotel opened as the Auditorium Annex for visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1907, Holabird & Roche finished the south tower and its grand banquet hall.
1908: The Congress Hotel
In 1908 the Annex was renamed the Congress Hotel, for Congress Street and the Congress Plaza section of Grant Park. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt stayed here during the Republican National Convention, one of so many presidents that the hotel became known as the Home of Presidents.
Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge all stayed at the Congress.
Murals, Music, and Service
- 1918: E. Martin Hennings paints the murals on the Florentine Room’s vaulted ceiling.
- 1935: Benny Goodman’s band broadcasts on NBC from the hotel’s nightclub room.
- 1940s: The government takes over the hotel for the Army during World War II.
Today
More than 800 rooms, the same address on Michigan Avenue, and the same view across the street to Grant Park.
