This is the first time this writer has called a hotel a “gem” where the description can be taken literally. That’s because every interior detail of the Silversmith Hotel, a newly renovated downtown Chicago boutique hotel, is…bejeweled. The stylish chandeliers extending down from the ultra-high lobby ceiling simply drip with crystals. The tables in the new restaurant/lounge, Adamus (the name itself a nod to the ancient Latin term for diamond), are actually jewelry cases sprinkled with diamonds on black velvet. The cocktail tables are clear lucite gems. This gemstone-and-silver theme extends throughout the 144-room hotel—in the artwork, lighting and soft goods, right down to the faceted guest-room lamps. The level of detail by the interior designers at Leo A Daly is simply extraordinary.
The intent of all this bling? The Silversmith is located right in the middle of Jeweler’s Row, the city’s diamond district, tucked away on South Wabash beneath the roaring elevated train (which is barely audible from inside). At first glance, the location doesn’t feel like the Chicago visitors would expect. But turn the corner one block in either direction and you realize it couldn’t be better: directly across the street from “The Bean” in Millennium Park in one direction, and in the heart of State Street shopping in the other. Just a few blocks’ stroll and you’re on the Miracle Mile.
The hotel, which was purchased two and a half years ago, has seen an $11 million investment that touched every square foot. Prevue was among the first to visit its newly redone meeting space (the furniture had not yet arrived), with 5 rooms accommodating up to 100 guests. The ideal meeting group size is between 30 and 40 people. Companies can also accommodate 150 in the restaurant space, which has a beautiful extra-long table at its heart.
Located in an 1896 building (which has been a hotel for the past 30 years), the Silversmith is a member of Remington Hotels’ independent luxury division, which also manages One Ocean Resort & Spa in Jacksonville and Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West. All of the Remington properties have a relationship with their locations, according to Silversmith General Manager Hans Ritten. The goal is “to integrate a sense of place” into the hotel experience.
Ritten has been given the creative opportunity of redefining “luxury” for the Silversmith’s—and all the Remington Hotels’—guests. One concept he has spearheaded is Sensory Direct room service, where guests choose from a menu of farm-to-table items, left at their doors in sleek eco-friendly containers within 10 minutes. “In the past, hotels dictated what luxury was—now the guests are,” he says. “Old-fashioned room service doesn’t work any more. People don’t necessarily want someone coming into their room first thing in the morning. Our guests just love this.”
