Granada Theater
6427 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago,
IL
60626
6427 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago,
IL
60626
33 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1926 for the Marks Brothers circuit, this was one of the largest movie palaces on Chicago’s Far North Side, located in Rogers Park. In November 1929, the theater was acquired by the Balaban & Katz chain. The Granada Theater was originally designed by Edward Eichenbaum (of the firm of Levy & Klein) for both live stage shows and movies, but by the 1940’s, was only showing films. It remained open until the late-1970’s.
The Granada Theater was used for rock concerts sporadically during the early to mid-1980’s, but eventually closed entirely.
It was torn down in 1990, after being stripped of all its remaining decoration. An apartment/retail complex (named for the Granada) was constructed in its place.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 178 comments)
Nice find Brian. I’ve never seen a good shot of the box office and entrance.
I believe some of the glass doors now reside at the Portage.
I had the pleaure of being in the theater in 1986 when a new owner full of high hopes took over. Reality than set in. It was an experience. Only in the US do we destroy our architectural treasures in the name of progress, Very sad.
I heard once that it was the building owner who removed the decorative glass from the center of the grand window. The story goes that he did a poor job of packing and the window was destroyed in transit to another part of the U.S.
Here is a nice early lobby view
September 18th, 1926 grand opening ad is in the photo section for this theatre.
Who remembers or has pictures of the sculture in the lobby of Abe Lincoln as boy in the Granada
Pictured at bottom right in this 1929 trade article: Boxoffice
An interior photo of the Granada’s audtorium probably taken not long before the theater’s demolition can be seen here.
I’m wondering if the Three Stooges festival I attended in March, 1986 was on the last night the Granada was open. It was cold in the Granada although the heat was on, but the large audience remained throughout. In the poster cases outside, there were announcements of new ownership and presentations to come, yet I never read of anything else ever offered at the Granada.