Hotel Somerset, Dorset Hotel (4943 Sheridan), and Edgewater Beach Hotel, Sheridan and Argyle, Uptown Chicago 1964

A terrific view of Sheridan from 1964, which shows both the Somerset Hotel with the marquee still on top, and the Dorset. Way in the distance, you can see the Edgewater Beach Hotel and apartments.

New Life for the Somerset?

We recently received this comment to one of our posts on the Somerset:

My husband and his partner toured this property last week.


Let me begin by saying, not all developers have green scales for skin and only one motivation. We proudly have a long resume of historic preservation and would like to see this property regain some of it's original grace.

We are busy in the research phase at the moment; and I want to ask-

What (as a community) would you like to see this building become?

In addition to apartments, there is a tremendous amount of open space. The possibilities for retail, a cafe/restaurant, and on the top floor a community room/gym facilities available for the tenants/owners...
(as part of my research I'm looking into if I think I could find someone to do a CAFETERIA...no joke, they were all the rage in 1920's and there was one in the building originally!) Cool or not?

Obviously a new, more thoughtfully planned facade is a must...sadly it would take a lot of resources and a lot of time to recreate the terra cotta facade that once was there...an eventual goal perhaps.

Kindly reply.
Developer's wife...

PS. this is of course NOT a "done deal" at this stage in the game.

So fellow Uptowners, any reuse ideas for the Somerset?

The Copeland, a.k.a., Somerset, Sheridan at Argyle, Uptown, Chicago

When the Somerset Hotel was known as the Copeland. Click links below for more images.

Hotel Somerset Advertisement, Argyle and Sheridan, Uptown Chicago

Here's a little more love for the Hotel Somerset this evening: a 1922 advertisement from Scribner's Magazine, volume LXXI, 1922. Text reads:

In Chicago's chief boulevard, near the lake, in the smart North Shore district, the luxurious new Somerset is the preferred abode of motor tourists and of others who seek highest class accommodations at moderate cost.

Kitchenette apartments (large and small) for families or single guests; also rooms, single or in suite, without kitchenettes; excellent restaurants, roof garden, solarium for parties and conventions. Spring and summer reservations now being received. For booklet and floor plans, address Hotel Somerset, Sheridan Road at Argyle, Chicago. S. W. Gerstner, Manager (formerly of French Lick Springs Hotel)

Chicago's North Shore is delightful in autumn!

Somerset Hotel, circa 1964

And speaking of the Somerset, here's an image from the 1960s. It's currently available on eBay, item number 170329817768. I wonder when those gorgeous apartment buildings beside it were torn down.

Somerset Hotel, S. N. Crowen, Architect, Uptown Chicago

Special thanks to Tom Matthews for giving us the heads up on these great images of the Somerset Hotel, located at Argyle and Sheridan. (Now Somerset Place.) They are from The Architectural Record, volume LI, 1922. The first thing you're going to notice is the loss of all the terracotta elements that once graced the entrance. It broke our hearts to see it. Below the first image, we've pasted in the same view from today, as taken by Google Street Views. (If the image doesn't show up, go to Google directly.




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The Somerset was designed by S. N. Crowen. Click on the links below the article to see more great images of this gorgeous Uptown building.

Somerset Hotel Matchbook, Sheridan and Argyle, Uptown Chicago

A postcard view of the hotel can be found here. Image courtesy John Chuckman Collection.

Somerset Hotel, 5009 Sheridan at Argyle

The Somerset Hotel, on Sheridan at Argyle, looking north. What a great image! I wish the terracotta buildings just to the south were still there, instead of the mid-rise.

This is how the hotel looks today. Now known as Somerset Place, it functions as a nursing care facility. Image from Google street views.

The Somerset was designed by Samuel N. Crowen and opened in 1920. It originally had 441 furnished rooms arranged in 205 suites of one to four rooms. It was described as "the ideal dwelling place for those desiring the homelike atmosphere and privacy of an apartment combined with all the modern conveniences of a hotel." Jazz Age Chicago has an excellent history of the hotel.