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The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States · Ritz-Carlton · High Luxury
The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago opened in 1975 at Water Tower Place, Edward D. Dart's 859-foot reinforced-concrete tower that was the tallest concrete building in the world, beside the 1869 Water Tower that survived the Great Chicago Fire. For 38 years it was known as The Ritz-Carlton (A Four Seasons Hotel), because Four Seasons held the management contract, and a $100 million renovation moved it into the Ritz-Carlton brand in 2015.
- 434 rooms
- Opened 1975
- Neighborhood: The Loop
- Rooms from 380 sq ft (35 m²)
- Interiors: BAMO
About The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago
- Architect Edward D. Dart designed Water Tower Place as a 74-story, 859-foot reinforced concrete tower that was the tallest concrete building in the world when it opened in 1975.
- For 38 years the hotel operated under the hybrid name 'The Ritz-Carlton (A Four Seasons Hotel)' because Four Seasons held the management contract even though Ritz-Carlton licensed the name.
- The tower takes its name from the 1869 Chicago Water Tower next door, one of the few structures left standing after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
- The 2015 renovation that finally moved the hotel into the real Ritz-Carlton brand also built its first Club Lounge, a Ritz-Carlton program standard the Four Seasons-run years never had.
History
Water Tower Place, completed in 1975 at 160 East Pearson Street on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, was itself an architectural event. Designed by Edward D. Dart of Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart, the 74-story, 859-foot reinforced concrete tower was at the time of its completion the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world — a structural achievement that placed Chicago, already the city that had invented the skyscraper, at the global frontier of high-rise construction once more. The building sits a block north of the historic 1869 Chicago Water Tower, one of the handful of structures to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and its name is a direct homage to that limestone landmark.
The hotel occupying floors 15 through 31 of Water Tower Place opened in 1975 under a licensing arrangement that used the Ritz-Carlton name, but the management contract was held by Four Seasons Hotels, which took over in 1977. For nearly four decades the property operated under the hybrid identity "The Ritz-Carlton (A Four Seasons Hotel)" — a configuration unique in American luxury hospitality history, in which one of the world's most prestigious hotel names was applied to a property managed by a different company whose own brand would eventually become equally prestigious. The arrangement produced a hotel with the service culture and operational standards of Four Seasons in a building that bore Ritz-Carlton's name but without the formal connection to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
In 2015, following a $100 million renovation executed by BAMO, the property was formally inducted into the actual Ritz-Carlton brand, ending the ambiguity that had defined it for 38 years. The renovation required creating a Club Lounge, among other Ritz-Carlton-standard program changes, and the interiors now read as a contemporary interpretation of Chicago's architectural confidence, a shift from the traditional luxury register of the Four Seasons years. Torali Italian-Steak, on the 12th floor with Magnificent Mile views, carries the dining program today, offering handmade pastas, dry-aged meats, and a seasonal rooftop component. The hotel's 2025 season marks its 50th anniversary — half a century on one of the most historically loaded blocks in American commercial architecture, across the street from a water tower that outlasted the fire that burned the rest of the city.
The setting
The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago occupies floors 15 through 31 of Water Tower Place at 160 East Pearson Street, the Magnificent Mile's pioneering 1975 vertical mixed-use tower that helped shift Chicago's luxury retail axis northward to Michigan Avenue. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a one-minute walk from the entrance — among the most culturally immediate positions of any hotel in the city. Water Tower Place rises beside the historic 1869 Chicago Water Tower, placing the hotel at the intersection of the city's architectural heritage and its premier shopping corridor, with the Gold Coast's residential elegance and the Riverwalk accessible at eighteen minutes on foot.
Restaurants and bars
- Torali Italian-Steak — Restaurant · Steakhouse · Chef Guenther Moreno
Amenities
- 52-foot indoor lap pool under a glass atrium; ESPA treatments
- 5 treatment rooms with steam and sauna; nail salon
- Club Lounge (2,600 sq ft on 15th floor) with 5 daily culinary presentations
- 21,000+ sq ft meeting space
- Magnificent Mile shopping with direct porte-cochère access
- Spa
- Fitness center
- Yoga
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
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