Drake Hotel Party Celebrating Architect Benjamin Marshall
CHICAGO (CBS) -- To celebrate a new book about Chicago architect Benjamin Marshall, fans and his descendants are throwing a party tonight that he might have approved of.
Marshall liked to throw lavish parties, and was compared to the Great Gatsby. He entertained the Prince of Wales and President Herbert Hoover at his palace in Wilmette.
The classical architect isn't as well known as his more modern peers such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. Jane Lapauw, president of the Benjamin Marshall society, said that is in part because Marshall didn't put his name on buildings.
Lapauw credited him with bringing culture to Chicago, and creating the Streeterville neighborhood.
The site for the book party, the Drake, is one of Marshall's designs.
He also created the Iroquois Theatre, the Blackstone Hotel, the Edgewater Beach Hotel, and what's now the South Shore Cultural Center.
The party is from 4 p.m . to 8 p.m.