Leon Hotel, Chicago

A Small Hotel On Clark Street

The Leon Hotel occupied the northeast corner of Clark Street and Drummond Place. Its three-story scale and ground-floor commercial frontage belonged to the fine-grained mixed-use fabric of the corridor.

As an SRO, it also represented a housing type that provided furnished rooms and flexible residence outside conventional apartment tenancy. Many such buildings have been converted, demolished, or repositioned as neighborhood land values rose.

Reuse With Two New Floors

Studio Dwell Architects designed a renovation that retains the existing building and adds two metal-clad floors above it. The old facade remains legible while the addition is intentionally contemporary.

The 25-unit program includes studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments plus 4,820 square feet of retail. The transit-oriented plan provides bicycle parking but no automobile spaces.

What The Conversion Preserves And Changes

Selective demolition and construction were underway by April 2026 after issuance of the renovation permit. Retaining the structure keeps the corner's scale and embodied material while adding housing without clearing the parcel.

The social transition is equally important to document. The building will remain residential, but the relationship between former SRO rooms and new market apartments should not be collapsed into a simple preservation success story.