Allegro Hotel for Kimpton

Chicago, Illinois

The New York times credited our client/mentor Bill Kimpton as the original contemporary boutique hotel pioneer.  He transformed empty hotel lobbies into vibrant upscale-casual destination cafes which mixed hotel guests with locals and inspired Ian Schrager. JMA was selected as the design architect for Kimpton’s flagship Chicago hotel, the renovation of the historic 300,000 square foot Bismark Hotel. The design included 483 rooms and 15,000 square feet of public space.

JMA began working with Kimpton Hotels to create destination restaurants in San Francisco in the 80’s, working on some of the early efforts to create lobbies which were upscale-casual cafés where guests could try on San Francisco personas,  relaxing with the locals that crowded into Kimpton’s lobbies where the partitions between the reception desk and the public space were eliminated.

In the mid 90’s Kimpton established the first of several hotels in Chicago. The Allegro project entailed the renovation of the storied Bismark Hotel, originally opened in 1926 in the downtown Theater District. The conversion involved updating 480 guest rooms and 15,000 square feet of public space.