Built in 1918, the Hotel Del Prado is one of the earliest and largest of the Hyde Park Apartment Hotels. The H-shaped red brick and terra cotta building rises 10 stories. Built in the Neoclassical style, the hotel features an arcade with a terra cotta base containing a series of large Palladian windows and arched doorways on the E. 53rd Street side. Vertical terra cotta trim frames the outside bays and terminates in finely sculpted Indian heads with feathered headdresses just below the cornice.

There are several commercial spaces in the two-story terra cotta base on the west side of the building. The Hotel Del Prado contains 198 apartment units. Few alterations have been made to the hotel, although two of the Palladian windows have been filled in with glass block and metal double hung windows have been installed on both street facades.

Hotel Del Prado is located at 5307 S. Hyde Park Blvd. and is not open to the public.

Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Chicago, IL Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.

Credits and Sources:

Nancy Cox, Undergraduate Student, University of West Florida