One of Chicago's most glamorous Gilded Age interiors glows from this richly colored early postcard: the Pompeiian Fountain Room of the Congress Hotel and Annex, its tiered bronze fountain rising in concentric rings from a mosaic-tiled pool, surrounded by fluted marble columns, Greek key friezes picked out in gold, and a skylit mezzanine of ornate ironwork above. The Congress Hotel — facing Grant Park and Lake Michigan on Michigan Boulevard — opened in 1893 to serve visitors to the World's Columbian Exposition and quickly became one of Chicago's premier addresses, hosting presidents from Cleveland to Roosevelt. The Pompeiian Room (named for its Roman Revival décor) was celebrated as a showpiece of the hotel's lavish interior, and this early undivided-back or early divided-back card, copyrighted by the Geo. R. Lawrence Co. and printed by Curt Teich & Co. of Chicago, captures it in all its pre-Prohibition splendor. The card is unposted and retains vivid original color, making it a fine example of early Chicago hotel ephemera.