Chicago Theatre
175 N. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
175 N. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60601
83 people
favorited this theater
One of the grandest movie palaces ever built, this 3,896-seat palace opened on October 26, 1921, the work of the firm of Rapp & Rapp, the favored architectural firm of the theater’s original operators, the Balaban & Katz chain.
The Chicago Theatre was restored in 1986 to its 1930’s appearance and now hosts a mix of concerts, live entertainment, and assorted special events (like the annual Glamorama fashion show sponsored by Macy’s -formerly Marshall Field’s- and the occasional movie screening for the Chicago International Film Festival).
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Recent comments (view all 322 comments)
Here’s the auditorium featured in a full-page trade ad in 1940: boxofficemagazine
Hello From NYC-
if i am not mistaken the big building period for grand old movie theaters or palaces to use the popular term was 1913-1941? this is where my question comes in.
none of the theaters built in Manhattan to be exclusive first run engagement theaters survive as such. for instance Radio City Music Hall is now a multi-purpose venue and hasn’t been a 1st run theater since 1979. so i was wondering if any of the grand old movie theaters/palaces built in Chicago in the period mentioned above have continued to operate in more or less their original condition as exclusive 1st rum theaters since the day they opened? Washington,D.C has the Uptown and L.A. has Grauman’s Chinese
among a few but Manhattan comes up zippo as does San Francisco.
nope. closest is the patio.
So who are Chad and Francois? They have their names on the Chicago’s marquee at the 16-second mark of this AT&T spot.
Here is a 1938-dated view of the Chicago Theatre. The Masonic Temple building still stands to the right of the theater in the photo, but would be demolished less than a year later. The Joffrey Tower is on the site today.
Interesting photo. Obviously taken from the marquee of the State-Lake Theatre across the street.
This photo was not taken across the street on the State-Lake marquee. The State-Lake was directly across the street from the Chicago. This photo may have been taken from the L station platform.
Here is a great picture showing the wonderful detail of the second marquee.
In the 1957 movie “BEGINNING OF THE END”, you can see the Chicago and Loop theatres at exactly 1 hour and 23 seconds into the film. On the Chicago marquee “MOBY DICK” ; the Loop is showing “MEET ME IN LAS VEGAS”. Can be seen- for free- at YouTube.
(Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1996)
Sign Of The Times
State Street Is Losing Its Brightest Light, But Only For A Short While.
Chicago Theatre Getting A Brand-new Old Look
By Sabrina L. Miller, Tribune Staff Writer.
Aging stars don’t burn out—they get replaced. After 75 illuminating years, the towering Chicago Theatre sign, State Street’s brightest star and one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, is coming down this week. The 76-foot-high steel sign, with 2,534 lights screaming “Chicago” for all to see, is corroded beyond repair and must be removed, said Chicago Theatre Executive Director Wendy Heimann-Nunes.
“We are ensuring that the sign will look as it did when it was first put up,” he said.
Theater officials discovered the sign’s deterioration during a routine inspection last March, after the Civic Preservation Foundation assumed management of the theater. The sign appeared fine on the outside, but 75 years of Chicago’s harsh weather had taken its toll on the inside.
“It had to be close to falling, the steel was so rusted,” said Steve Kieffer, owner of Kieffer & Co., the Sheboygan, Wis., firm that is manufacturing the replica for $500,000.
“If it was at all possible to keep the original, we would have done it,” said Heimann-Nunes. “But it would have cost us two to three times as much to repair than to replace.”
So, how does one go about replicating a national landmark? Painstakingly, said Kieffer. Everything must be identical, from the seams between the metal pieces and obsolete maintenance ladders inside the top of the sign to intricate scrollwork.
The entire project will take about 860 hours of work, he said. The sign will be made in Sheboygan, then shipped to the Kieffer firm’s Buffalo Grove office, where an installation team will take it to Chicago.
The replica will be constructed from aluminum, which weighs about one-third less than the current steel sign and will ease stress on the building, Kieffer said. There will be a modern wiring system and “chaser” lights around the perimeter will be reconnected.
“We’ve gone to the nth degree to replicate it,” Heimann-Nunes said. “I don’t think anybody will know the difference.”