Coronet Theatre
817 Chicago Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60202
817 Chicago Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60202
5 people
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Originally opened in 1915 as the Triangle Theatre, it was re-named Park Theatre in the 1920’s and the New Main Theatre in 1928. The theater became part of the Balaban & Katz chain in 1936 and was remodeled by the firm of Pereira & Pereira. It was renamed the Coronet Theatre in 1938. The Coronet Theatre was one of the smaller of Evanston’s movie theaters, which included, among others, the Varsity, the Valencia, and the Stadium (later renamed the Evanston).
This Art Deco style movie house sat just over 800, and remained a first-run theater for decades, before it began to decline in the 1970’s, due to the abundance of larger multiplexes opening up in neighboring Chicago and nearby suburbs.
It closed as a movie theatre in 1984 and was later used on and off as a concert venue, but was closed in the late-1990’s, and demolished in 2000.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
Doris Day grew up here. She may have attended this theatre as a child.
Greetings. Different Evanston. Doris Day was born in Evanston, Ohio. Near Cincinatti. The Coronet was in Evanston Illinois.
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All new seats, but the marquee leaves something to be desired. 1982:
View link
They almost spelled it right.
Your starting to remind me of someone else on here.
Here are two more 1982 photos:
Day Photo
Night Photo
The principals of Pereira & Pereira, the firm that did the 1936 remodeling of this theater, were William Pereira and Hal Pereira. Percival Pereira was an older architect who was never a member of this firm.
Correction to the circa 1928 photo I just posted. Photo credit should got to Barney Neuberger via Scott Greig.
Here is a brief view of the Coronet in a Drivers Ed video, as found by David Zornig