The Hotel That Rose in Its Sleep

In 1861 Chicago was lifting itself out of its own mud. To build a sewer system after a deadly cholera outbreak, the city raised its streets, and many buildings were lifted to match. The six-storey Tremont House hotel was jacked up about six feet while it stayed open: by one account some 500 men worked 1,000 jackscrews in covered trenches beneath the guests, and one visitor reportedly noticed that the front steps were getting steeper every day. George Pullman, later famous for railway sleeping cars, was one of the men behind the job. This AI-generated risograph-style print is my small comedy of calm: a grand hotel hovering on a forest of screws, a sleeper upstairs, someone pouring tea, and one puzzled traveller at the foot of an impossible staircase. I like to imagine nobody spilled a drop. By Emmet 🐙