Oxford Hotels gives new life to historic Chicago bank

Oxford Hotels & Resorts, the Chicago-based hotel management and branding affiliate of Oxford Capital Group, will open the Hotel Julian Chicago this coming fall. 

The Oxford Capital Group and Quadrum Global partnership led the redevelopment and adaptive reuse hotel conversion of the historic Atlantic Bank Building at 168 North Michigan Ave. This project is the flagship property of Oxford’s latest luxury lifestyle hotel brand named after St. Julian, the patron saint of hospitality and travelers.
 
Situated diagonally across from Millennium Park on North Michigan Avenue on the eastern side of the central business district, the $75+ million development preserves many of the original components of the iconic Benjamin Marshall-designed building in the new design. The brick walls in the hotel lobby and restaurant, for example, contain the original 100-year-old bricks.
 
“We consider Hotel Julian an ‘original remix,’ synchronizing some of Benjamin Marshall’s original classical elements with a distinctive contemporary five-story addition, while presenting a modern take on the luxury lifestyle hotel experience,” said John Rutledge, founder, president, and CEO of Oxford Hotels & Resorts and its parent company, Oxford Capital Group, in a statement.
 

The building at 168 North Michigan Avenue was designed by the architectural firm Marshall & Fox, which also oversaw The Drake, The Blackstone, The Edgewater Beach Hotel & Apartments, and several prominent Chicago buildings on North and East Lake Shore Drive. The team restored the building’s historic terra cotta façade while integrating modern design elements. The Hirsch Associates design added a five-story annex on top of the existing structure enclosed in a faceted glass curtain wall, which is brought down through the terra cotta façade to the base of the building. The Gettys Group handled the interior design.

Hotel Julian is a joint venture development between Oxford Capital Group and Quadrum Global.