The Blackstone history

Every President of the United States for seven decades stayed at the Blackstone Hotel after it opened in 1910.

However, it still maintains its charm with commanding views of Grant Park and an aesthetics preserved in its 1920 form, making it feel like the domain of the privileged.

Ken Auletta’s excellent Greed and Glory on Wall Street (1986) is devoted entirely to the war within Lehman. It was Peterson, an investment banker who had been chairman and co-CEO of Lehman, who was the victim of a putsch the year before, in 1983.

Schwarzman was not “behind the putsch that drove [his and Pete Peterson’s] enemies from power” at Lehman Brothers in 1984.

King of Capital recounts the infighting, which ultimately led to Peterson and Schwarzman forming Blackstone in 1985.

The hotel underwent a few ownership changes before it was announced in 2005 that the hotel would undergo a $112 million renovation and acquisition deal with Marriott International and Saga Hospitality.

The Blackstone Group was little known outside Wall Street until two events in 2007 catapulted it onto the public stage: the lavish sixtieth birthday party of its CEO Steve Schwarzman and the firm’s IPO a few months later.

The newly restored hotel was reopened in 2008 as the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel.

Schwarzman, one can always turn to “King of Capital” (2010) by David Carey and John E. Morris.

The hotel was rechristened The Black Stone Hotel in 2017 following a renovation that celebrates its eclectic history with upgraded amenities and rooms.