A vacant 1918 dairy factory sat unused for a decade; entrepreneurs Michael Downing and Robert Baum transformed it into a 52-room Chicago boutique hotel

What happens when an old factory is left empty for years? In Chicago, one vacant dairy building found a very different future. Built in 1918, the building was once a Borden Dairy Depot. The two-story factory eventually sat unused for about a decade. Its working life was over, however, the building still had something that was pretty hard to recreate in a new hotel, its original character.



Hotel founders Michael Downing and Robert Baum saw that potential. Instead of clearing the site and starting from scratch, they turned the old dairy factory into FieldHouse Jones, a 52-room boutique hotel in Chicago's River North neighborhood.


The project was part of a wider change taking place in old American industrial buildings. Across the country, former factories, warehouses and other industrial sites were being given new uses as hotels, restaurants, galleries and public spaces. But FieldHouse Jones kept a strong connection to the building's past.

What happened to the old Borden Dairy Depot

The Borden Dairy Depot had been sitting vacant for a decade when Downing and Baum noticed the property.

The original building was a two-story dairy factory. Its open industrial layout gave the developers plenty of space to work with, but turning it into a hotel required major changes.

The renovation added a functional second floor with skylights. The lower level was also finished and redesigned. The former open floor plan was divided into different areas, including a café, event space and guest rooms.

Yet the renovation did not erase the building's history.

One of the clearest reminders is the original stone-engraved Borden sign. The exposed brick was also kept, allowing guests to see parts of the old factory rather than covering everything with new finishes.

For Baum, those old details were a major part of what made the project worth doing.

"There are so many elements with old factory buildings that are impossible to replicate, and that’s what makes them so special." “It’s so much fun to bring a modern twist to these relics while still embracing the inherent oddities."

Why turn an old factory into a hotel?

FieldHouse Jones was one example of how developers were finding new uses for aging industrial buildings.

Old factories often have large open spaces, strong structural details and materials that are difficult to reproduce in a new building. That made them useful starting points for hotels and other modern projects.

The same idea could be seen in other parts of the country.

In Los Angeles, an old flour mill became the Hauser & Wirth art gallery, in Washington, D.C., an abandoned Georgetown incinerator was turned into the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown and in New Orleans, seven historic warehouses became the Eliza Jane Hotel.

These projects differed in size and purpose, but they still shared one basic idea which is an old industrial building did not have to disappear simply because its original use had ended. FieldHouse Jones turned into a 52-room boutique hotel. FieldHouse Jones still shows parts of its life as a dairy factory.

The old Borden Dairy Depot had spent roughly ten years empty. Its next chapter looked very different from the one that came before it, but the exposed brick, original sign and industrial character remained part of the story.