Flemish House of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Flemish House of Chicago offers serviced apartments with stocked kitchens in downtown Chicago, steps from Michigan Avenue shopping, Oak Street Beach and our magnificent lakefront parks.
We offer comfortably furnished studio and one-bedroom apartments in an 1890s greystone row house. Our renovation has kept the best of the old while updating kitchens and baths. The apartments are available for short-term stays (two-night minimum mid-week; three-night minimum weekends) or as furnished corporate units by the week or month (monthly rentals vary seasonally and are typically not available May through December).

We are located in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, the premier residential area on the city's North Side. Luxury high-rises and rows of century-old mansions reside in quiet contrast to the lively stores, restaurants and nightspots of Michigan Avenue and Rush Street. The “Loop” financial district, fabulous Navy Pier and our world-class museums are only minutes away by bus, car or taxi.

The building was constructed in 1892 as a single-family row house, part of a unified block of five. The exterior detailing is considered Flemish Revival architecture and was the inspiration for the name of our Bed & Breakfast. In the 1920s the four row houses to our east were torn down for construction of the 15-story luxury cooperative next door. Sometime between World Wars I and II, the building was divided into apartments. Fortunately, many original features of the home were saved.

The first floor front apartment was the original double parlor, and the first floor rear studio apartment was the formal dining room. The upper floors contained bedroom suites for the family, which are now studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Your hosts, Mike Maczka and Tom Warnke, live in the building. We bought the property in July of 1997 and since then have undertaken a sensitive renovation program. Vintage amenities vary, but our guest apartments feature some combination of wood-paneled rooms, fireplaces, in-laid wood floors, high ceilings, and decorative moldings. We have chosen an English Arts & Crafts motif for the decor, popular in the late-Victorian period. Beds include all-cotton linens, wool and cotton blankets, down comforters and both down and hypoallergenic pillows. All kitchens are totally new and self-contained with refrigerator, gas range, sink, microwave oven, dishes, cookware and utensils. Bathrooms have new fixtures and tile. Each apartment includes a private phone line, cordless phone with answering machine, color television with cable channels, VCR, and individually-controlled air conditioning.

High-speed wireless internet (Wi-Fi) access available in all guest rooms. Guests can send and receive e- mail, surf the Internet, access Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and more from their own laptop computers. The service uses the 802.11b protocol and is an independent network run by HotSpotHere, Inc.

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