Cha-ching! Most of this week's cornerspotters correctly named and placed the the building from this 1909 photo as the original Hotel Del Prado at 59th and Dorchester. That's right at the Jackson Park entrance to the Midway, built in its entirety for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Del Prado opened in 1891, joining the illustrious Chicago Beach Hotel at Hyde Park Blvd and Cornell and the Hyde Park Hotel at Lake Park and Hyde Park Blvds as leisure palaces for the hordes of visitors descending on the Fair grounds. The old Del Prado came down in 1927, the Chicago Beach lasted until the late-40s, and Hyde Park Hotel til 1963. The Del Prado and Chicago Beach names have transferred to newer, much larger buildings nearby.
The Del Prado took over the 1918 Cooper-Carlton Hotel at 53rd and Hyde Park Blvd in 1930, where it thrived for decades as a destination for the rich and famous. In the last few years, Antheus Capital/MAC Properties embarked on a restoration and conversion to market rentals now largely complete. Cruising down The Midway today you wouldn't figure anything so large had gone missing, as the University of Chicago has filled in the lots so snugly. Thanks for playing!
·Hint: This Piece of Intensive Late-1800s Development Leaped Across the Neighborhood in the 1920s [Curbed Chicago]
·Inside the Del Prado: Restoring a Hyde Park Hotel to Former Glory [Curbed Chicago]
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