Stacked above a Bloomingdale's department store on North Michigan Avenue, a 66-floor limestone-clad tower designed by Helmut Jahn's office and completed in 1989 gave the Four Seasons Chicago one of the more unlikely foundations in luxury hotel history — its lobby doesn't begin until the 30th floor, reached by a dedicated bank of elevators that lift guests clean out of the retail city below. The building's stepped crown, visible in the image catching late afternoon light against a clear sky, carries an Art Deco confidence unusual for its era, the warm limestone cladding and vertical pilaster rhythm distinguishing it sharply from the reflective glass towers surrounding it along the Magnificent Mile. Inside, the 345 rooms were refreshed in a renovation that introduced a palette of soft taupe, warm grey, and indigo — woven-texture carpet underfoot, upholstered platform beds dressed in crisp white linen, and marble-topped nightstands in rounded walnut. The club lounge and restaurant spaces lean into a more assertive contemporary register: quilted velvet dining chairs, dark-stained timber wall panels, and stone-topped tables in a room where full-height curtains pool against polished grey floor tile. The spa pool, framed by Ionic columns and a coffered oval ceiling in pale mint and cream, strikes a different note entirely — closer to an Edwardian municipal bathhouse than a Mies-influenced tower, and all the more memorable for it.

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