Apollo's 2000
2875 W. Cermak Road,
Chicago,
IL
60623
2875 W. Cermak Road,
Chicago,
IL
60623
8 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1917, the Marshall Square Theatre was designed by Alexander Levy, who later teamed with Frederick Klein to go on to design some of Chicago’s greatest movie palaces, like the Granada and Marbro Theatres. It was located in the Marshall Square neighborhood on 22nd Street near Marshall Boulevard (22nd Street was later renamed Cermak Road, after the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, 1931-33, who died from a bullet in Miami meant for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt).
Originally a venue for both vaudeville acts as well as movies, the Marshall Square later switched to a movies-only policy, until the screen went dark in the 70s.
In 1936, architect Roy B. Blass remodeled the Marshall Square, and new signage was added on the the elegant terra-cotta covered facade. One of the support beams for the soaring vertical sign was unfortunately rammed right through the large terra-cotta face of a beautiful goddess above the main entrance, sadly destroying it.
Today, restored and renovated in the 90s for use as a concert hall, the Marshall Square is now known as Apollo’s 2000.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
There are rats in that theatre.
Lifes too Shorts post and photo shows up what defacing a theatre really is.
A rare opportunity to visit this weekend during Open House Chicago http://myitinerary.openhousechicago.org/site/85/
Went to Open House Chicago. The interior of the theater is in very nice shape. The projection booth is still fully equipped, with three Simplex projectors with carbon arc lamps. I wish I had brought my camera—I wasn’t expecting the booth to be so complete. If anyone has pictures, please post!
They were actually Brenkert projectors with Simplex lamphouses and RCA soundheads. I’ll post a couple pictures later, but they are not too good. Watch Flickr, I’m sure a lot of photos will pop up there.
Curiously, the Marshall Square had a very similar design to the Howard Theatre, down to the domes (removed at the Howard). But they had different architects.
Mike Royko worked as an usher here.
Did this theater show Spanish language movies in the late 1970’s early 80’s?