the hotel between 2007 and 2009. The total cost was over $170 million. The hotel has a total of 1,639 guest rooms, making it the second-largest hotel in the city after the Hyatt Regency Chicago. It has recently had its name adjusted to Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel. In 1970, the hotel was the site of the murder of Evelyn Okubo, a young Japanese-American racial justice activist attending a Japanese American Citizens League convention held there. Entertainers who have appeared at the Palmer House's Empire Room have included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Liberace, Ella Fitzgerald, Maurice Chevalier, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, Carol Channing, Bobby Darin, Jimmy Durante, Sonny & Cher, Liza Minnelli, Dionne Warwick, Sophie Tucker, Tommy Dorsey, Phyllis Diller, Lou Rawls, Shep Fields (1930s) Dick Gregory (1963), Frankie Laine (1963), Josh White (1966), Tony Bennett (1968), Florence Henderson (1968), Donald O'Connor (1971), Jerry Lewis (1971), The Supremes (1971 & 1972),Jane Powell (1972), Lorna Luft (1972), Trini Lopez (1973), The Lettermen (1973) and many others. In August 2020 Wells Fargo filed suit against hotel owner Thor Equities for defaulting on a $333 million commercial mortgage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel closed in March 2020. The hotel reopened to the public on June 17, 2021 following a series of upgrades to its interior, including a renovation to its indoor pool. Gallery See also Chocolate brownie - invented at the hotel for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. References Further reading External links Palmer House - official website Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel - official Hilton website with virtual tour Palmer House Chicagology Palmer House history by Chicagology Chicago Historical Society - 1873 description by Rudyard Kipling following the Great Chicago Fire Fred A. Bernstein, "A Hotel Looks Back to Its 1920s Glamour", The New York Times, October 25, 2008 Palmer House Hilton Reviews - Reviews of guests who have visited the hotel 1920s architecture in the United States Chicago school architecture in Illinois Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotels Hotels established in 1871 Projects by Holabird & Root Skyscraper hotels in Chicago Chicago Landmarks Historic Hotels of America