original early 20th century nicely aged ornamental cast brass interior downtown chicago blackstone hotel guestroom escutcheon with matching figural doorknob. the antique american hotel door hardware was designed and fabricated by the yale & towne mfg. co., stamford, ct. the oval-shaped doorknob features a larger rooster atop a cartouche or plaque with three smaller roosters. the raised border contains a detailed bayleaf design motif. the deeply embossed backplate is replete with a single cartouche surrounded by fanciful volutes, along with scrollwork and swag. the extant hotel and the adjacent blackstone theatre were built on the site of timothy blackstone's mansion by john and tracy drake, sons of blackstone's former business partner, the hotel magnate john drake. the hotel was named for blackstone, who a notable chicago business executive and politician, who served as the founding president of the union stock yards, president of the chicago and alton railroad and mayor of la salle, illinois. the 21-story marshall and fox-designed hotel was built from 1908 to 1910. the hotel's exterior and interior are considered an excellent example of both neoclassical beaux-arts and french second empire architecture. the original construction was capitalized at $1.5 million, including a $600,000 to $750,000 bond issue by the drake hotel company. in the 1920's, the drake hotel company undertook some financing arrangements which included extending their debt to construct the drake hotel. they used the blackstone hotel as collateral for one loan in 1927. the wall street crash of 1929 rippled into the hotel industry, leaving the chicago title and trust company with 30 chicago hotels in receivership and causing the drakes to default in 1932. after going into receivership, the hotel closed and was refurbished, but it was reopened in time for the 1933 century of progress exposition. the hotel closed again in 2000 after occupational safety and health administration building inspectors found safety problems during a 1999 inspection. the years of neglect following the closing of the hotel took a toll on the building's appearance with both the interior and exterior facade crumbling. in 2005, it was announced that the hotel would undergo a $112 million renovation. the hotel's restoration process was quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage. the final cost of the restoration came to $128 million, of which the city of chicago provided $13.5 million for street-front improvement, including the restoration and recasting of over 10,000 pieces of decorative terra cotta, and federal historical tax credits because the building is a historical landmark. the chicago landmark status necessitated renovation oversight by the commission on chicago landmarks. the hotel door backplate measures approximately 11 1/8 x 3 inches and doorknob measures 3 x 1 3/4 inches.