Art Deco Trim, Take #1 – Carbide and Carbon Building, 333 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States

The building was designed by the Burnham Brothers (the firm launched by Daniel Burnham’s sons Hubert Burnham and Daniel Burnham Jr.) as the regional office of Union Carbide and Carbon Co.. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1996. The building was transformed into the Hard Rock Cafe’s Hard Rock Hotel Chicago from 2001-2004. The $106 million conversion was directed by Lucien Lagrange & Associates. The hotel began hosting guests on January 1, 2004 and after its bar and restaurant were completed, it celebrated its grand opening on April 21, 2004. The current hotel capacity is 383 guest rooms and 13 suites. The Hard Rock Hotel reopened in 2018 as the St. Jane Chicago Hotel, named for Nobel Peace Prize-winner and noted Chicagoan, social activist Jane Addams.

The exterior of the building is covered in polished black granite, and the tower is dark green terra cotta with gold leaf accents. The use of stylized representations of leaves on the building’s exterior was an intentional reference by the architects to the prehistoric origins of subterranean carbon deposits in the decay of ancient plants. The ground floor was specifically designed to display the products of Union Carbide and Carbon’s subsidiaries. The lobby features black Belgian Marble and Art Deco bronzework trim. The exterior base is black granite with black marble and bronze trim, whereas the central shaft is clad in dark green and gold terra cotta and the greenish cap (which looks from a distance like malachite but is not) is trimmed in gold leaf. According to popular myth of the era, Burnham Brothers supposedly designed the building to resemble a dark green champagne bottle with gold foil at the top. Beginning on November 16, 2007, the gold-leaf tower was permanently illuminated at night, which further encouraged this urban legend.