ACD in Chicago

I'm in Chicago for a very short period of time, and had a few brief hours to take a leisurely walk. I decided to spend that time visiting two sites that Conan Doyle had frequented in Chicago.

Doyle visited the US three times - 1894, 1922 and 1923. On the second and third visits, Doyle visited Chicago and lectured there.

Where did he stay? Well, we have some window into this, and ACD wrote books about his visits.

In Our American Adventure published on 16 March 1923 (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd), Doyle covered his stay in Chapter 11. There, Doyle says that:

"Chicago is the very noisiest city I have ever known. It is a serious drawback to its amenity. All the pavements seem to rumble, all the trains whistle, the taxis hoot, the brakes grind, and the wheels scream. It has other disadvantages in that the Blackstone Hotel at which we stayed is the most expensive and least accommodating that we had met. It is meant for millionaires and we were out of the picture. Our rooms alone cost a good ten pounds a day, and the service of a meal cost as much as a meal itself would have done in England."

Chicago Tribune, Sun, May 21, 1922 ·Page 5

Chicago Tribune, Tue, May 23, 1922 ·Page 9

The Blackstone Hotel is on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive, across from Grant Park that sits astride Lake Michigan. The hotel was opened in 1910, and hosted many well-known guests, and Al Capone held meetings there.

While the hotel was significantly renovated in the early 2000s, it still displays a beautiful exterior and the lobby retains original features.

In the not-imaginatively titled Our Second American Adventure published on 16 15 Feb 1924 (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd), Doyle covered his stay in Chapter 3. Doyle mentions that he was staying at 'the Auditorium which was our tryst in Chicago'.

The Auditorium Building housed a hotel, office space... and an auditorium. It was completed in 1889, and it still stands today. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part of Roosevelt University - it is a National Historic Landmark and still standing. I entered, and explained to the security guard that "this used to be a hotel" and she let me take a few photos.

These two hotels were about two blocks apart, so Doyle had a local stomping ground in Chicago in the 1920s. 

I like to see spaces and know someone like ACD walked there too, had a drink there too... and did things I wouldn't like a seance.

I'll try and identify a few more locations such as those where he gave his lectures.