The Langham, Chicago

The Langham occupies the last office building Mies van der Rohe designed, the black tower at 330 North Wabash that Chicago still points at from the water. Turning it into a hotel could have gone badly. Instead the interiors answer the architecture with warmth: wood worked by hand, deep upholstery and windows that run floor to ceiling, so the discipline outside becomes a frame rather than a rule.

The river does the rest. It is the city’s best vantage point on itself, and the river-facing categories are pointed straight at it. Travelle, with interiors by David Rockwell, holds the daytime, Chuan Spa and an indoor pool absorb the afternoon, and the Riverwalk runs directly below. In a city that argues about buildings the way others argue about football, this is the address with the strongest case.

The last Mies building

Mies van der Rohe finished his career with this tower, and the hotel has the sense not to fight it. The proportions are severe, the views enormous and the black steel grid organises everything visible from inside. What the hotel adds is temperature: hand-worked wood, textiles with some give in them and lighting that softens the geometry after dark. Architecture tourists get a room inside the subject of their own tour, which is not a common arrangement.

Rooms turned to the water

A Deluxe room runs to 48 square metres, with a double vanity, a separate rainfall shower and a soaking tub deep enough to end a day in. The real distinction is orientation. Premier River View Rooms and the river-view suites face the water, where the bridges lift, the tour boats pass and the towers rearrange themselves in the glass all day long. The suites add a living room to sit in while that happens.

Travelle, morning and night

Travelle takes the daytime, its Rockwell interiors nodding to the industrial-age aesthetic of the building around it and the river filling the windows. In the evening the lounge takes over with cocktails and bar plates, which is the better seat anyway once the towers light up. Pavilion keeps afternoon tea going beneath a high ceiling. Chuan Spa and the indoor pool handle the hours when Chicago weather makes a persuasive case for staying in.