An old advertising slogan–What becomes a legend most?–popped into my head as I approached the Palmolive Building, the Art Deco tower across Walton Place from the Drake Hotel at the corner of Michigan Avenue.
If that slogan could be used for a building, it surely applies to this one.
The 37-floor edifice, commissioned to be the offices of the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co., opened in June 1929. It was a premiere office address despite such calamities as the soon-to-follow stock market crash, the Great Depression and Colgate-Palmolive’s relocation to New York in 1934.
It was known to millions who had never been near it from what was described as a 2 billion-candlepower revolving beacon mounted atop the roof.
In the mid-1960s, Playboy Enterprises leased the structure and renamed it; so when I arrived in Chicago as a young married in the 1970s, it was generally called the Playboy Building.
Now, 75 years after it opened, this iconic structure, named a Chicago landmark in 2000, has undergone yet another name change–back to its original moniker–and is being re-incarnated as 103 units of pricey private homes.
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The venerable interior has been gutted. The architecture firm Booth Hansen Associates is overseeing the conversion for Draper and Kramer, the real estate company that bought the building in 2001 and is the project developer.
To its credit, the developer seems to be serious about retaining some of the dignity and charm of the original design with such touches as keeping parking underground, as it should be.
So far, most of the sales have been larger units, though this is the kind of development where unique residences can be created by assembling and combining spaces.
One buyer bought a floor and added part of another floor to create a duplex.
Those arrangements, plus the building’s architecture, which includes a number of setbacks as the structure gets higher, mean, unlike many contemporary condo buildings, there are a relatively limited number of units exactly alike, says sales director Katherine Chez.
And that is as it should be for unit prices that start at $500,000 and rise to $10 million for the single-floor penthouse with 7,880 square feet.
Home buyers should be forewarned that this is housing for those with serious money and not for the faint of heart. For those who would like to get a flavor of the space, woodwork and some of the finishes, as well as the appliances, there are two models, shown by appointment only.
Residence F is the smaller of the two and is a 1,146-square foot, one-bedroom, one-bath unit at the center back of the building next to the Westin Hotel. In other words, this unit has no view unless you count looking at the action in the neighboring hotel as scenery.
Still, you almost don’t notice because of the sleek interiors by architect Larry Booth. Visitors enter an alcove entry opening to the 14 1/2-by-14 1/2-foot living room through walnut double doors.
The 16-by-12-foot master bedroom is to the right and the 17 1/2-by-14-foot kitchen is to the left.
The three rooms have 9 1/2-foot ceilings, adding to a feeling of spaciousness. There are two small coat closets on either side of the front entry alcove.
The bath, which serves both as a powder room and the master bath, is to the right of the living room. It has floor-to-ceiling limestone slab walls and floors. A walk-in closet is next to the bath.
The living room is smallish and it feels it. In contrast, the sparsely decorated bedroom and kitchen feel roomy.
The kitchen’s stark charcoal-toned island divides the food preparation area from the dining area next to the windows. Standard appliances include a Wolf range, Sub-Zero refrigerator and Miele dishwasher. A washer and dryer are tucked under the counter in the corner of the room.
The shotgun-like floor plan is considerably softened by the woodwork around the wide doorways between the rooms; it even could work as one long open space.
With a Murphy bed in the bedroom, the space might double as a home office or work space.
Although white shutters to blend with the walls obscure the view of the hotel next door, two large windows in each room allow in considerable light.
The model is testimony to smart planning and good design–small, but useful and well-disguised closets between rooms are a nice touch.
In some ways it is surprisingly appealing and it is easy to forget there is very little storage space. Decorated with a hard-working young professional man in mind, it might work for those who use a residence for little more than sleeping or night owls who live with the simplicity of the Japanese and do not long for lots of sunshine or open vistas.
In contrast, the second model is Residence G, a 2,361-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath unit on the southwest corner of the building that overlooks Michigan Avenue.
This is a unit with an impressive 16-by-6-foot foyer with a large coat closet on one side. The foyer acts as an unofficial dividing line between the residence’s public and private living areas.
To the right of the foyer, a short hall passes the 12-by-11-foot kitchen and leads into the 35 1/2-by-15-foot living/dining room with its views of the 900 North Michigan building and Fourth Presbyterian Church. To the left of the foyer is the hall that leads to the master bedroom and master bath.
The kitchen, which is in the interior of the condo, is long on granite counters and backsplashes, but short on food preparation space, possibly by design. This $1 million-plus model is described as a “city pied-a-terre” so the designers may be thinking carry-in or catering.
Still, the kitchen has nifty glass-paneled doors on a pass though to a formal dining area at one end of the open living/dining space.
Opposite the kitchen is a door to a powder room and the secondary bedroom, shown as a home office and TV room, a clever way to focus the attention on the wall with the large flat-screen television and away from the neighboring hotel on the other side of the window. A walk-in closet and bathroom are to one side of the room.
Back to the foyer and down the hall to the master bedroom is a small laundry and utility room. It includes a stacked technology tower of home controls. That means high-speed Internet access, computer networking, digital telephone, cable, satellite and high-definition television.
An optional in-home touch screen allows residents to do such things as summon cars from the valet garage, control temperatures within the unit and get instant notification of deliveries. I confess to being a technological dinosaur and am quite possibly not the best one to judge, but the technology seems impressive.
The bedrooms in Residence G, as in Residence F, are at the rear of the Palmolive Building, but it is fair to note there is air space between the building and its hotel neighbor.
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In addition, at least this floor of the Palmolive is somewhat like a barbell; it is wider at the east and west end and is narrower through the middle. This is an advantage in the Model G master bedroom. Though at the back of the building, it is on a corner where the building indents to the narrow middle.
This does not make the walls of neighboring buildings any more scenic but windows on two walls does mean plenty of light in the 15-by-14-foot space. The sizable master bath does not open onto the bedroom, but is down a short hall.
This model neatly divides the public and private living areas for privacy in the master suite, but it also uses a lot of space in hallways rather than rooms.
Building conversions always entail certain risks, but it is hard to fault the solidity of this building, its pedigree, or the team assembled to make the transformation. The models are stylish, if short on much needed storage. These could work as an in-town units for those with the money and, depending upon your personal taste, the importance of a view.
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Palmolive Building
Address: 159 E. Walton Place
Developer: Draper and Kramer Inc.
Phone: 312-397-1590. Shown by appointment only.
Web: www.palmolivebuilding.com
Description: 103 condominiums ranging from 1,146 square-foot one-bedroom, one-bath units, priced from $500,00, to a 7,880-square-foot penthouse, priced from $10 million. Parking space, $55,000. Monthly assessment, $460 to $5,500. Prices as of Aug. 23.
Amenities: Ceilings are 9 1/2 feet or higher; white oak flooring; double walnut entry doors; Wolf, Sub-Zero and Miele appliances. Residents’ club, doorman, valet parking.
Neighborhood: North Michigan Avenue, walking distance to retail, restaurants. Close to beach, Lake Shore Drive.