The Carbide & Carbon Building: Chicago's Green and Gold Art Deco Tower

By Solomon Rokowsky

October 28, 2026

The Carbide & Carbon Building tower. Photo: David Brossard. Source. CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized.

Most Chicago skyscrapers are gray, tan or glass. The Carbide & Carbon Building at 230 North Michigan Avenue is black, dark green and gold. It was designed in 1929 by the Burnham Brothers, Daniel Burnham Jr. and Hubert Burnham, as the regional office of the Union Carbide and Carbon Company. Today it is a hotel, and it is one of the best-known Art Deco buildings in the city.

The tower is 37 stories and about 503 feet tall. The base is polished black granite with black marble and bronze trim, the shaft is dark green terra cotta, and the top is trimmed in gold leaf. Chicago made it a landmark in 1996. Paschen Brothers, a well-known Chicago construction family, built it.

Black, green and gold

The materials were chosen on purpose. Wikipedia reports that the stylized leaves on the exterior were an intended reference to the origins of carbon, in the decay of ancient plants. The ground floor was designed to show off products made by the company's subsidiaries, and the lobby has black Belgian marble and Art Deco bronze trim.

The bronze and granite entrance on Michigan Avenue. Photo: Sailko. Source. Public domain. Resized.

The legend is that the architects designed the tower to look like a dark green champagne bottle with gold foil on the neck. The sources say this is a popular myth. The building was lit permanently at night starting November 16, 2007, which has kept the story alive.

The facade and lettering. Photo: David Brossard. Source. CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized.

The cap is worth a second look. From a distance the greenish top looks like malachite, but it is terra cotta, trimmed in gold leaf. Wikipedia also notes that the design has been compared with Raymond Hood's American Radiator Building in New York, which allegedly inspired it. I have not seen an architectural source that settles how direct that influence was, so I treat it as a comparison, not a fact.

Michigan Avenue around 1951, with the Carbide & Carbon Building second from the left — Michigan Avenue around 1951, in a view that includes the Carbide & Carbon Building. Photo: U.S. Information Agency, National Archives. Source. Public domain. Resized.

The Burnham Brothers

The firm began as a split in the Burnham family business. After Daniel Burnham died in 1912, his company continued under other partners, and in 1917 his sons Daniel Jr. and Hubert left to start their own. By 1928 it was called Burnham Brothers. Their other Chicago work included the original State of Illinois Building at 160 North LaSalle (1924), the Seneca Hotel at 200 East Chestnut (1926), the Bankers Building (1927), the City-State Building (1927), the Randolph-Wells Building (1928) and the Engineering Building at 205 West Wacker (1928). The Carbide & Carbon Building was the firm's best-known work in Chicago and its last major commission before the Great Depression. The brothers were also planning a second skyscraper, the Cuneo Building, at Michigan and Randolph, but the stock market crash of October 1929 ended it. Wikipedia, citing the April 1930 Western Architect, says the Carbide & Carbon commission helped win the Cuneo job. The Cuneo Building was meant to be 60 stories and 657 feet, another skyscraper of contrasting colors, and it was never built. By the time the Depression ended, the firm had become Burnham & Hammond.

There is also a connection to a much larger firm. Nathaniel Owings joined the Burnham Brothers in 1929 and Louis Skidmore joined in 1930. Both left in the mid-1930s and formed Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with John Merrill, which is still one of the biggest architecture firms in the world.

Elevator doors in the lobby. Photo: Daderot. Source. CC0. Resized.

From offices to hotels

For its first seven decades the building was an office tower. In 2001 a conversion began that Wikipedia says cost $106 million and was directed by Lucien Lagrange & Associates. The Hard Rock Hotel opened on January 1, 2004, and had its grand opening on April 21, 2004. It operated under a license from Hard Rock International until December 1, 2017.

The tower reopened in 2018 as the St. Jane Chicago, named for the social reformer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams. Forbes described it as a joint project of the venture capital firm Becker Ventures and the hotel company Aparium, and Becker took out a $74.85 million loan in 2017 to finance the renovation. The hotel closed early in 2020 during the pandemic.

In October 2020, Montage International announced that it had bought the building. The new owner said it would honor the history while it renovated, and the hotel reopened in May 2021 as Pendry Chicago.

The tower in May 2016, when it was the Hard Rock Hotel. Photo: MusikAnimal. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized.

Visiting Pendry Chicago

The building is a working hotel at 230 North Michigan Avenue, with 364 guest rooms and suites, according to Pendry. I did not find a policy on casual lobby visits, so the easiest way to see the interior is to book a table at one of the hotel's restaurants or bars. The tower can be seen from the Michigan Avenue Bridge, where it stands next to the London Guarantee Building, Mather Tower and 333 North Michigan. The detailed bronze entrance on Michigan Avenue can be seen from the sidewalk.

Because the building is a hotel, the rooms are the part of the interior most people never see. Wikipedia counts 383 rooms and 13 suites, while Pendry lists 364, so I would trust the hotel's own current figure. The tower has also been a movie set. The top was used in the opening scene of the 2008 film Wanted, and in the 2018 Elseworlds television crossover it stood in for Bruce Wayne's building. It also appears in an episode of Shameless and, in a scaled-up form, in the video game Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Who owns the Carbide & Carbon Building today?

Legal title: In October 2020 the Chicago Sun-Times and Crain's Chicago Business reported that Montage International had bought the building from its longtime owner, Becker Ventures. Montage did not disclose the price. I found no sale report after 2020.

Operator: Montage runs the property as Pendry Chicago, its own luxury hotel brand. Pendry's site presents the hotel as part of Montage.

Land: I found no source that says the land is owned separately from the building.

Still unconfirmed: the legal entity that holds title today. The Cook County Assessor's parcel record for 230 North Michigan lists the owner as "TRTG CHI LLC," with a mailing address at the building. That is a tax-bill label, and I could not connect that name to Montage from any published source. Wikipedia's infobox still lists Becker Ventures, which is out of date after the 2020 sale. Read October 28, 2026.

Where can you eat or drink at Pendry Chicago?

Pendry's website lists three places in the building. Venteux is a French brasserie, café and oyster and champagne bar that serves brunch, dinner and happy hour. Bar Pendry is a hotel bar with a central fireplace, small plates, cocktails and a Saturday afternoon "boozy tea." Château Carbide is a rooftop cocktail lounge that Pendry presents as a seasonal summer venue, so it may be closed this time of year. Pendry says the restaurants and bars welcome hotel guests and locals. I did not find opening hours on the pages I read, and I did not confirm the rooftop's fall schedule, so call the hotel at 312-777-9000 before you go. Read October 28, 2026.