The Lake View House (Hotel), Chicago. 1854-1890

Built roughly where Lake Shore Drive and Byron Street now intersect, the building served as a hotel where city dwellers could go to escape noise and pollution.

The Hotel Lake View (aka Lake View Hotel) operated between July 4, 1854, and the 1890s. It was originally the home of Elisha Huntley with a lakefront view.
Photograph circa 1860.

In 1854, James Rees and Elisha Hundley built the Lakeview House as a resort for potential investors in local land. (According to legend, Walter Newberry stood on the hotel’s veranda admiring the view, suggested that it be called “Lake View House.”)

Lake View Hotel in the 1880s on Grace Street with additions to the hotel.

Wealthy Chicagoans seeking summer retreats from the city’s heat and disease bought up land in the eastern sector of the area. New railroad lines prompted the development of more residential land and added suburban characteristics to Lake View’s resort atmosphere.

1869 Map

The Lake View House was demolished by 1890.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.