Saturday, August 30, 2014

Tea Room Postcard #35 -- Japanese Tea Room, Congress Hotel (Chicago, Illinois)

It's not often I come across vintage postcards for old hotel tea rooms, so I was especially pleased to find this week's tea room postcard from the Japanese Tea Room of the Congress Hotel and Annex in Chicago.

Happily, this hotel is still in business today, long after someone sent this postcard to Scott Graham of West Buxton, Maine in 1909! According to the hotel's website, the Congress Plaza Hotel was originally constructed in 1893 and "featured cobbled streets, gaslights, and horse drawn carriages. The hotel was originally called the Auditorium Annex when it opened to house the throngs of visitors to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The original conception was an annex with a facade designed to complement Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building across the street, at the time housing a remarkable hotel, theater and office complex." They don't mention serving afternoon tea today, but perhaps the hotel should consider a few special teatimes honoring its tea room of yesteryear!

6 comments:

  1. Oh, what an awesome find, Angela!
    Thanks for sharing yesteryear with us, always such a pleasure!

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  2. Love that they had a Japanese tearoom at that time of the century. I would have enjoyed tea here and I totally agree, they should still be serviing tea.

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  3. Angela, how do you find these? Ebay or thrifting? I know you are a good shopper! It is always interesting for us. :) Ruthie

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  4. Angela, what a neat looking postcard! Nice to hear the hotel is still in operation - I love all those wood features. How about that address: West Buxton, Maine?
    So much history in those post cards, hope you have a wonderful weekend, Joanie

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  5. What I want to know is how that postcard found him with that little amount of info. Amazing! And great find.

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