Tremont House Hotel – Chicago

The Tremont House Hotel has a long and interesting place in Chicago history, primarily due to its resiliency after disasters. The original Tremont House Hotel was built in 1833 and was named after the Tremont House in Boston. It was a three story building on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn in Chicago. It was established as one of Chicago’s first hotels in 1836. The structure burnt down in an 1839 fire.  It was replaced by the second Tremont House Hotel in Chicago, which was built in 1841. It was also destroyed by fire in 1849. The third Tremont House was built in 1850 (and this time was built of brick in an effort to prevent fires). Alas, this building was also destroyed by fire (the Great Chicago Fire of 1871).

It had been designed and built by Chicago architect John Van Osdel. It was six stories high and had 260 rooms. It stood on the southeast corner of Lake and Dearborn in Chicago. It was considered the only real first-class hotel in Chicago at that time and the leading hotel in the West.

It was at this hotel that Lincoln and Douglas began their campaigns, and it was therefore unofficially known as the 1860 National Republican Convention Headquarters. The Wigwam (located on Lake Street near the Chicago River) was the convention center attended by more than 12,000 delegates and the hotel provided accommodations for the Illinois Republican Party members who attended the convention. The building was raised to street level in 1861 by Ely, Smith and Pullman and received a complete overhaul during that process. Building owner, James Couch and his son Ira Couch made sure the building was perfect inside and out, sparing no expense on details such as luxury furnishings throughout. In 1861, Stephen Douglas died in the building. After it burnt to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, a hotel at Michigan and Congress became the temporary New Tremont House.

Then, the New Tremont House (or Tremont House  No. 4)  was built on the same spot of the last landmark building. Although, Ira Couch had died in 1857, his estate built the fourth Tremont House in 1873, which stood until 1937, but was bought by Northwestern University in 1902 to house their law, dental and business schools. The Couch family presence can still be found in Chicago. There’s an alley-like street in the Loop named Couch Place.  It’s also important to note there were a lot of fires in downtown Chicago in the 1800s due to wood structures, lumber yards, the winds and poor fire fighting equipment.

The Tremont name is preserved in Chicago today, because there is currently a Tremont Chicago Hotel at 100 East Chestnut. John Coleman purchased the property in 1976 and renamed it The Tremont, reviving the name and prestige of the famous hotel. The Tremont was bought by Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 1998, but the Tremont name lives on!