View the Hotel Florence

The Hotel Florence is a former hotel, designed by architect Solon Spencer Beman as part of the planned industrial community of Pullman. Although the building, owned by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is currently closed to the public, visitors are encouraged to walk the Victorian verandah and peer in the windows. About the Hotel Florence: George Pullman approved the design, and construction commenced in 1880 on the 50-room hotel, to rent rooms to supply representatives for his company. The hotel cost $100,000 (in gold-standard dollars) to build. George Pullman named the hotel after his oldest daughter, Florence Pullman. The most luxurious suite in the hotel, the Pullman Suite, was designed for the personal use of George Pullman and his family. The hotel could also offer first-class accommodations to railroad CEOs who came to Pullman to do business with the firm. The hotel opened to guests on November 1, 1881. The Historic Pullman Foundation purchased the hotel in 1975 to save it from demolition; the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (now part of IDNR) took title in 1991.