Hotel Brunswick

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Hotel Brunswick,
Life Span: 1877-1887
Location: 318-320 Wabash, NE Corner of Wabash avenue and Congress street
Architect: TBD

Chicago Tribune, November 11, 1877

Few structures ever erected in this, the city of beautiful buildings, have attracted more attention and favorable comment during their construction than the handsome pressed brick and stone edifice just completed at the northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Congress street. Chaste and elegant, without being too pretentious, this building has commanded the admiration of the thousands who have daily whirled up and down the avenue in question. Of course there has been considerable comment and inquiry as to what the attractive structure was destined to be. But, as it neared completion, persons of sound judgment guessed that it was intended for an elegant family hotel, and wondered why somebody had not utilized the admirable location tor such a purpose before.

We are glad this morning to be able to confirm these shrewd guesses, and to announce to Chicago that the establishment was yesterday duly opened. Our reporter visited the place in the evening and found himself in what is evidently destined to prove the cosiest and most popular family hotel in this city. It has been furnished and will be conducted by Mr. J. H. Nason, long and favorably known its our business community, and is to become pleasantly familiar to us and to the world at large as “The Hotel Brunswick.”

The interior of this fine building is at once charming, home-like, and inviting. Its location gives sunlight on all the prominent sides, and the rooms are consequently bright and healthful. The furnishing and fitting has been completed with liberality of outlay and excellent taste. Better than all is the fact that everything is paid for, so that the proprietor can run his own hotel, and his guests will know that they are not overcharged to help square up old debts.

The superb carpets, lambrequins, and hangings have been furnished by A. T. Stewart Co. The china and tableware has been made expressly for the house by French & Co., of Boston, and the silver is from Matson st Co.’s. of this city. Clark, Swan & Co. made to order the rich and comfortable furniture, much of it being from new and original designs. Wilks & Co., of Chicago, made the kitchen ranges, and all the other fixtures and adornments are the work of correspondingly well-known firms.

The city has long needed just such an institution; a hotel which should give handsome accommodations and elegant surroundings at reasonable rates. This latter important feature is a certainty here, for the reason that Mr. Nason is under obligations to no creditors, and can give his guests the benefit of that fact. The accessibility of the hotel to the business portion of the city is another very strong point in its favor. Gentlemen can reach it quickly from their stores or offices, while their wives are within convenient visiting distance of each of the three divisions of the city. Boarders at the Hotel Brunswick will thus suffer none of the customary vexations of time and patience lost by having constantly to travel unnecessary distances.

Mr. Nason has been to uncommon pains in the securing of his help, having gradually engaged the most competent and experienced of assistants and servants, instead of waiting until the last minute and taking whoever might come along, as is, unfortunately, the general method. Special attention is to be given to keeping the cuisine at an invariably high standard, and the table at Hotel Brunswick is destinedh to remain as good as the most experienced of catering and artistic of cooking can make it. The advertisement of the house will be found on our first page.

Altogether, it seems to us that this establishment begins life most auspiciously. Conveniently located, handsomely furnished, equipped with every desirable improvement, out of debt, and in the hands of a gentleman accustomed to make a success of whatever he undertakes, this hotel is likely to have a most prosperous existence. A quiet family house, where the privacy of home may be joined to the comforts and conveniences of hotel life, is something for which there has been a positive demand. We believe that these objects have all been strikingly secured in this new and admirable institution.—the Hotel Brunswick.

Excerpted from Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1887

Work Begun on the Great Convention Hall At Last.
Work has been commenced on the convention hall and hotel building to be erected by the Grand Auditorium Association on the half block bounded by Michigan and Wabash avenues and Congress street. The contract for the excavation was let ten days ago, and Monday the first shovelful of earth was removed. The ground was frozen, and as the men were behind the buildings scattered over the property their presence was not known to but few until yesterday, when, the weather being pleasant, operations were begun in earnest. At 8 o’clock yesterday morning 200 men and thirty teams were as busy as they could be, some taking out dirt and others tearing down the structures. The old rink at the corner of Michigan avenue and Congress has almost entirely disappeared, and by the latter part of next week there will be no trace of it or of the other buildings, except the Hotel Brunswick. The lease of the proprietor of the hotel runs until May 1, so it will not be disturbed until he vacates.

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