The new W Chicago-City Center hotel

A sculpture modeled after the L’s tracks in the Loop hangs above the hotel’s reception desk.

Workers put the finishing touches on the glowing bar that anchors the hotel’s lobby.

A so-called “infinity ceiling” with blinking lights greets guests as they enter the hotel. It’s meant to symbolize the city’s rapid rebirth after the Great Fire.

A large bucket suspended from the lobby ceiling is a nod to Mrs. O’Leary’s dairy cow, once thought to have started the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 by kicking over a lantern in the barn.

The wiring on a leather chair in the hotel’s lobby is reminiscent of the building’s fire escape.

W Chicago-City Center hotel’s new restaurant, Midland Social Club, features a mural of the city’s streets by Ryan Lape.

The Midland Social Club restaurant seats 65 people and has a menu featuring dishes inspired by various city neighborhoods.

Dark, charred wood flanks the front doors of the hotel’s lobby. The wood is a subtle reference to the fire that ravaged the city in 1871.

The new lobby bar at the W Chicago-City Center hotel, located in a historic 1928 Beaux Arts building in the Loop.