10-Sep-13 – One of River North’s latest luxury hotels officially opened on Tuesday, just in time to enjoy the year’s record number of tourists.

The 316-room Langham has been mostly open since July 10 but Tuesday was the day Dr. K. S. Lo, chairman of Langham Hospitality Group, could travel to Chicago from Hong Kong.

Nine people cut a ribbon of flowers to formally open the Langham at 11:57 a.m.

With a ground floor lobby, the hotel is on floors 2-13 of the 52-story riverfront building, completed in 1971, that was the last major work of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Formerly known as IBM Plaza, even after IBM moved out in 2006, the building is enjoying a renaissance as new tenants move in, including American Medical Association that got to rename the building.

Mies van der Rohe’s grandson, Dirk Lohan, himself a respected architect, says the hotel is good fit.

“I remember well his answer to a question I had asked: What should be done when one of his buildings had outlived its functional usefulness? He answered, ‘We design our structures with ultimate flexibility in mind. I am sure other functions can be found in the future that will fit well.’ Today highlights the proof of this prediction. This new hotel, The Langham, fits so well into this landmark building as if the structure had originally intended to accommodate a hotel in the future.”

Including Lohan, six architects and designers worked on the conversion of IBM Plaza, known for its travertine walls and granite floors. It was the building’s location, close to the Loop and Michigan Avenue that sold Langham on the site.

“The property has the best view in Chicago,” said Dr. Lo (left). “We have a lot of challenges to try to preserve the principle of Mies’s architecture and his principles of no-nonsense, clean, elegant lines, everything, but you have to introduce the element of luxury. That’s the challenge of marrying them together.” Lo says he did not have any hesitation about the location. “This is an opportunity that we welcomed, to build a hotel with the architecture and interior that we wanted, so this was an opportunity of a lifetime. It was easy for me but I think [the preservation advocates], they really welcomed this.” Besides location, to compete with nearby luxury hotels such as Trump International Hotel & Tower right across Wabash Avenue from The Langham, Lo says they are just going to be at their best.

“Judging from comments and feedback that we have, this is one of the most beautiful hotels to come up in Chicago.”

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly called The Langham “an exciting economic development story,” creating jobs to re-develop the site plus many hospitality jobs. “It’s also an exciting day for landmark preservation advocates who fight for the adaptive reuse of important architecture that is at risk of becoming obsolete.”

The hotel received a minor setback last Thursday from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, which declined to issue a permit to AMA Plaza for a large sculpture they wanted to build on the south plaza. Langham said in a statement it was “disappointed with the decision” but “we are sure that we’ll be able to come to a mutually beneficial resolution on this matter in the future.”