THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL CHICAGO
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Hotel with a colorful dome of North African influence at the top, benefiting from the architectural styles of different periods.
The Intercontinental Hotel was founded in 1929 as the Medinah Athletic Club, a club for men only, and features architectural styles from different eras, such as the bas-reliefs on the west, north and south facades on the eighth floor, which are a revival of an ancient Assyrian style, modelled on the portraits of club members of the time.
The gold-coloured dome at the top is of North African influence; it was used to moor Zeppelin-style airships until 1937, when the Hindenburg airship exploded with its thirty-five occupants, putting an end to the transport of passengers on board these devices filled with flammable gas. Until 1937, however, the members of the Medinah Club travelled there by airship and then descended a small spiral staircase. It was the first Art Deco building to be built on Michigan Avenue as the city expanded northward, and it was immediately criticized for its extravagance: check out the swimming pool on the tenth floor, with its Neptune fountain and Spanish blue tiles, or one of the many reception rooms, all named after knights or kings. It's a real maze, you can spend an hour climbing majestic staircases decorated with fountains, walk along endless corridors with painted walls or walls covered with paintings, discover small unsuspected corners. If someone asks you what you are doing here, just say you are visiting.
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