| Northwest Tower | |
| Alternate Names: | Coyote Building, Robey Hotel |
| Address: | 2018 W. North Avenue, at Damen Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue |
| Location Town: | Wicker Park, Chicago, Illinois |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Coordinates: | 41.9106°N -87.6782°W |
| Years Built: | 1928–1929 |
| Architect: | Perkins, Chatten & Hammond |
| Building Type: | Hotel |
| Architectural Style: | Art Deco |
| Current Tenants: | The Robey Chicago |
| Height: | 203feet |
| Renovation Date: | 2015–2017 |
| Number Of Stores: | 12 |
The Northwest Tower, later popularly known as the Coyote Building,[1] and Robey Hotel since 2017, is a 12-story Art Deco building at the corner of North Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. It was designed by Perkins, Chatten & Hammond and built between 1928 and 1929.[2] [3]
The Northwest Tower is one of the first skyscrapers in Chicago to have been constructed outside the downtown area.[4] The tower was built on the site of the Noel State Bank, near the Damen stop on the Chicago "L", at the intersection of Damen, North and Milwaukee Avenues. Milwaukee Avenue runs northwest through Chicago’s grid of streets, creating intersections that often have a “flatiron” or wedge-shaped building on one corner, like this building.
It was originally marketed to attorneys, doctors, and other professionals.[4] In the 1980s, it became home to the Tower Coyote Gallery, reportedly named because artists thought the building resembled a howling coyote. Over the next two decades, the surrounding neighborhood held an annual arts festival called Around the Coyote.[5] In 2008, the Chicago Zoning Board approved plans to convert the building into a hotel, but financial difficulties prevented the building's owner from moving ahead with the project.[6]
Renovation as a hotel began in 2015 and ended in 2017 when it opened as the Robey Hotel, with its address at 2018 W. North Avenue and its neighborhood now called Wicker Park. Robey Street was an early name for Damen Avenue. The Grupo Habita did the design of the renovation and operates the hotel. The building received praise for its use of “layering” interior designs of rooms and restaurants from all the decades of the building’s history. The warehouse on the adjacent lot was renovated to include a swimming pool and gym.[7]
In 2012, the property was purchased by a venture backed by Don Wilson and AJ Capita with the intent to renovate the property into a boutique hotel. Hotel Robey, named after the prior street name for Damen Avenue, offers 69 rooms and Cafe Robey serving French-American cuisine. The hotel is operated by Grupo Habita, a Mexico-based hotel group with 14 hotels in Mexico and one in New York.[8]
From 2015 to 2017, Northwest Tower was renovated by the Chicago-based Antunovich Associates as the architect of record, design work by Brussels offices of Nicolas Schuybroek Architects, and interior work by Marc Merckx Interiors.[9]