I stayed at a Chicago hotel that was once a Gilded Age men’s club. The history drew me in, but playful details won me over.

The Venetian-Gothic-style building was designed by architect and club member Henry Ives Cobb, who took inspiration from the Doge’s Palace in Venice, according to the hotel’s website.

The hotel stood out to me among modern buildings on Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago. It’s just across from Millennium Park and the Bean (formally known as Cloud Gate) and within walking distance of many tourist hot spots like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Theater, and the Chicago Riverwalk.

The Chicago Athletic Association began as a Gilded Age gentlemen’s club joined by influential sports icons. Membership opened to women in 1972.

It was a stomping ground for industry moguls like William Wrigley and Marshall Field. It was a training base for five-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller and the first professional football player, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger.

The building’s history is celebrated inside the hotel, with 19th-century relics and refurbished materials, from wood paneling to marble flooring, Elizabeth Story, the hotel’s sales and marketing director, told Business Insider.

The lobby, also known as the drawing room, looked as if it had been designed 100 years ago, with restored 19th-century trim, moldings, and replicated historic details.

“Teams of craftsmen restored the 1893 grandeur of the Lobby Lounge by removing, refinishing, and reinstalling every piece of millwork, and recreating original light fixtures from old photographs,” Story said.

I noticed other contemporary details that pay tribute to the city and club’s history. The check-in desk, designed with long strips of wood in different colors, was inspired by vintage athletic equipment.

“A mural above the desk depicts the elevated train tracks that encircle Chicago’s Loop,” Story added.

I was mesmerized by the preserved luxury finishings as I walked through the hotel. Restored Italian columns, stained-glass windows, and golden doors made me feel as if I were inside a palace.

The hotel had many event spaces, including the White City Ballroom. During the restoration process, Story said that the Italian Carrara marble floor was buried under an inch and a half of carpet, glue, and concrete.

Known as “The Tank,” this space still has the swimming lane flooring tiles from its pool days.

“Artists hand-made 167 individual stalactites as part of the atmospheric design,” Story said.

Although the highlight of this room is the historic pool tiles, I thought repurposing the space for events was surprising and innovative.

The game room was the billiards room back in the club days, Story said.

It didn’t feel frozen in time like some of the other spaces. The walls blended antique woodwork with whimsical murals, such as chalkboard sketches of athletes and an aerial view of a basketball court. I thought it was a playful, creative way to showcase the building’s history.

“The past was honored at every turn, but the transformation also called for thoughtful new additions,” Story explained.

For example, Cindy’s, the rooftop restaurant and bar, was built ahead of the hotel’s 2015 opening.

I thought the space had a midcentury modern vibe with vintage influence. Cindy’s brought the outdoors in with a steel-framed, windowed pavilion inspired by 19th-century train sheds.

Here, I found cardio machines with tablet attachments and fun cartoons of men stretching on the walls. The fitness center is open 24 hours a day.

I booked a standard room with a comfy king-sized bed and a downtown view for about $250 a night. I immediately noticed the custom metal bedframe with brass accents — a vintage design inspired by the 19th-century club.

The desk was unlike any I’d seen before. Wooden bars, inspired by stretching racks, climbed the wall to a netted shelf that appeared large enough to hold a typical checked suitcase.

The bars were cleverly used as vertical storage, with leather pouches of varying sizes hanging from them. I used these pockets to store my wallet, keys, and chargers during my stay.

“The bathrooms were conceived as a quiet luxury counterpoint,” Story said. A black-and-white palette and a simple striped backsplash were paired with a Carrara marble vanity and a rainfall shower.

There was also a boxing-style robe in the bathroom, which almost made me feel like an athlete myself.

While parts of the hotel felt 100 years old, fresh designs inspired by its private-club past gave other spaces a modern twist.

“The goal was never a museum-quality freeze in time, but something more alive,” Story said. “A touch of disorder in the new space was introduced to draw in a younger generation, balanced bravely with references to the building’s past.”

From the palace-like common spaces to the creative nods to the past, the Chicago Athletic Association was more luxurious and distinctive than I expected for $250 a night. I would definitely stay there again, and maybe next time, I’ll bring a jock with me.