Castle Theatre
6 S. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60603
6 S. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60603
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Built in 1915 and opened a year later, the Castle, located on South State Street at Madison Street, was one of many movie houses that sprung up in the Loop in the first couple decades of the 20th century. The Castle was wired for sound films in 1929.
Three years later, its new owner converted it into Chicago’s first all-newsreel theater, with shows every half hour for 15 cents each. It predated the opening of the Telenews (later known as the Loop) and Today newsreel houses by nearly a decade.
The building in which the Castle was located has long since been razed. In the 80s, a large Toys ‘R’ Us store was built on the site, which closed several years ago, and has recently been divided into a couple retail stores, including Office Depot and Urban Outfitters.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
In the book “THEN & NOW- CHICAGO’S LOOP” by Janice A. Knox, there is a small picture of the Castle -circa 1928- on page 51. “THE JAZZ SINGER” is on the marquee.
Are we certain that the Castle started out as a vaudeville house? 300 seats seems awfully small for a vauder. Perhaps it was drastically reduced in size when “modernized” for sound? Here’s an ad from August, 1928. The Columbia Pictures release is listed in reference books as silent, but this print apparently had music and sound effects using the “Dramaphone” system:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/castle01.jpg
A Felgemaker theater organ opus 1218 size 2/7 was installed in the Castle Theater in 1915. Note: Electropneumatic; built for Coburn Organ Company.
An undated view of the Castle (it’s marquee is just visible in the bottom corner of the photo) can be seen here.