ROSE DOYLEstays at The Allerton Hotel, Chicago
THE CHANCE to visit Chicago came during what were the coldest, darkest days of the year. Not good: winter, according to Chicagoans, is a tough time in what is a tough city. But, in the clutches of carpe diem, I booked the Allerton Hotel and hopped on one of last winter’s regular Aer Lingus flights.
O’Hare Airport was not welcoming and the temperature was beyond cold. Not as cold as it might have been, however: Chicago can do -30 degrees. But if the capital of Illinois knows how to do cold then the Allerton, downtown long enough to be both a historic landmark and fondly regarded institution, does cold very well.
It was dark afternoon when a taciturn taxi driver dropped me off but Louis at the concierge desk raised the temperature with a welcome that was warmly attentive. They’re good at the feel-good factor in the Allerton. They gave me a bedroom on the ninth floor with sumptuous bedding and a decadent, smoky, grey and white decor. Most of all they gave me a mug of hot chocolate: sweet and strong, sinfully dark, seductively warming. It became my ballast, ready and waiting every time I came in from the cold. Free too, like all the best things in life.
My other constant was a book. Erik Larson's wonderful The Devil in the White Citytells the true story of the serial killer who used the building of Chicago's 1893 World's Fair to lure his victims to their deaths. As history lesson and mood setter it was incomparable.
A recent $60 million spent on major renovations has given the Allerton an opulent look: jewel colours, cloudy mirrors, muted lighting and inviting furniture – as it should be given that it began life in 1924, when the town was Al Capone’s, Prohibition a way of life and the Allerton a residential “club hotel”. By the 1940s it had become the place to be seen and in 1998 was designated a historic landmark by the city.
It’s the sort of hotel that invites lazing. My room was small but I nevertheless luxuriated in the feathery bed until an unhealthy hour and missed breakfast. The Allerton caters to this kind of guest too, with gratis coffee and carb-laden munchies for the tardy in the reception lobby. I hit the streets long after they’d (relatively) warmed up and took a bus tour to get a feel of the place.
The driver-guide – young, beautiful and a graduate of the hard-sell school of guiding – gave a feel of the place, all right. "Chicago," he told the five of us on the bus, "has the most landmark buildings ever. Anywhere."
He drove us past skylines most US cities merely dream about: the Sears Tower – “second tallest building in the world”; the John Hancock building – “tallest residential building in the world”; along La Salle Street, where “more money exchanges hands than anywhere in the world, including Wall Street”; and into the Italian Village, which has “the oldest Italian restaurant in the US”.
We passed the site where “the Corkscrew, the tallest building in the world, will stand. It’ll be 2,000ft tall and called the Chicago Spire”. He said nothing about its developer, Garrett Kelleher, being Irish, and in debt to Anglo Irish Bank. When we came to Lake Michigan he told us it was “a killer”. Not a month goes past, he said, “when you don’t see a body swept ashore. Lake Michigan kills. Seriously kills.”
I longed for the Allerton. He told us that Chicago’s nickname, Windy City, doesn’t refer to the gales blowing in from Lake Michigan but to the city’s politicians, past, present and to come. All except Barack Obama, helping his adopted town through the recession via sales of souvenir hats, dolls, T-shirts and unmentionables.
Afterwards, and after a mug of hot chocolate, I ate in the quiet languor of the Allerton bar. Next day I happened upon a free concert: four trumpeters, three saxophonists, a drummer and trombone player across the road in the architectural marvel that is the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The Allerton really is well located.
And Chicago really is the tough place they say it is. It’s also invigorating, alive in every steel structure, skyscraper, theatre, venue and eatery of its being. It ups the ante with a Gothic spine that has you looking over your shoulder as you slope along State Street.
You need a cossetting hotel in Chicago, one like the Allerton, where they’re welcoming and glad to see you return safe and sound of an evening.
WhereThe Allerton Hotel, 701 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 00-1-312-4401500, www.theallertonhotel.com
WhatRecently renovated, four-star historic hotel in centre of downtown Chicago.
Rooms443, including 84 suites.
Best ratesStandard doubles from €115.23, King doubles from €121.29.
Restaurant and barM Avenue Restaurant offers progressive American cuisine. Here and in the lounge they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very good bar food and room service menu.
Child-friendlinessA family of four can overnight for $194 (€139) and be given gourmet popcorn (a Chicago classic), in-room movie, complimentary breakfast and 20 per cent off in the restaurant. No pets allowed.
AmenitiesFitness centre, free wireless in lounge, massage treatments, concierge, business centre