Norshore Theatre
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
3 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1926 and operated by Balaban & Katz, the palatial Norshore Theatre seated 3,017. The theater was located in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Its outer lobby featured huge crystal chandeliers and the ceiling was decorated with Pompeiian motifs. The theater also contained fine French antiques.
The Norshore Theatre was closed in 1957, and in 1960, this amazing theater was reduced to rubble. A bank was later built in its place.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft, Thomas Stranich, Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
This exterior image was copied from a 1926 trade magazine. I can’t quite make out the message on the marquee, but I think that it says:
WELCOME TO THE GALA PREMIERE PERFORMANCE 3,000 SEATS
A DISTINCTIVE THEATRE FOR THE ENTIRE NORTH SHORE
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/norshore26.jpg
I found the same photo on another site, Warren. Since it’s a little larger, I will post it here. You’re right about the marquee.
http://tinyurl.com/ysbutg
Thanks! I’m removing mine, since there’s no need for duplication.
Oh, I get it. It’s where the Howard Bowl ended up being built.
This theater came down, while I was just blocks away in the hospital after being born. Sorry I missed out on it’s beauty. This must be the closest two theatres were ever built next to the “L” tracks.
There is also a long time cab company in Evanston called Norshore. Their taxi’s used to line up directly across Howard Street from where this place stood. Waiting to take “L” patrons into Evanston where the “L” and buses couldn’t, and at night before the Evanston line ran 24 hours.
I found this page after checking Lost Memory’s most recent post to the Howard Theatre page. That post’s second link has a clearer picture of the above picture.
Reactivate Notification Status.
FYI. There’s a great b&w daytime shot of the Norshore, within that “American Classic Images” site where everyone’s pulling pictures from as of late.
It has a towering presence that must have been awe inspiring at the time.
I can’t post anything from my WebTV server except comments. So if anyone can do the honors, it would be appreciated.
OK, David. Here ya go: View link
Trolleyguy, your url link comes up not product found. Doing a search on AC they still come up no product found for the Norshore
Oh, that’s too bad. It was a really nice daytime picture as I recall.
It showed the white ceramic tile work on the spires, etc.
An early view of the Norshore’s lobby can be seen here.