Burnham Plaza Cinemas
826 S. Wabash Street,
Chicago,
IL
60605
826 S. Wabash Street,
Chicago,
IL
60605
3 people
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Theatres closed by the Village Entertainment chain and the years Village operated them:
Biograph: 2002-2004
Burnham Plaza: 2002-2005
Fox Valley: 2002-2003
Golf Glen: 2002-2006
Hinsdale: 2002-2003
Water Tower: 2002-2003
Notice that all came from Village’s expansion in 2002. Undercapitalized and over-expanded in such a short time
Yeah, just look at the Lincoln Village (even Loews didn’t take down the sign there) and the recently closed Golf Glen.
Speaking of the sign, how were the letters on the upper sign changed? Was there a catwalk, or was a long pole used?
How odd, Village NEVER takes down the old owner’s signs!
Village took down the sign. I remember going past this place in 99 and I think I saw the Meridian logo out front.
You can compare it to the photos of the Cinematour website. In this view View link (2004) we see that the Cineplex-Odeon logo has been removed and that the vertical sign is no longer used. Did Meridien cease using the sign or did Village?
And here is a photo of the pay-booth View link
I still say it’s a shame this place closed. Someone with good business sense could have made the Burnham profitable, what with several colleges and new housing nearby. But it was treated like an unwanted step-child fromt he beginning.
I think that was in the early 90’s, because one of the films on the marquee is House Party. Thanks for the link, Brian.
I notice that in that view, the canopy and vertical sign are missing, and the Cineplex sign is intact. Were those alterations from Meridian?
Here is a link to the renovation architect’s page. It seems that Burnham Plaza employed a very sophisticated system to avoid noise from the el. The site also includes an early view of the theater.
Also, the theater wasn’t in the YMCA Hotel space, it was in an adjacent addition, so Robert C. Berlin would not really be an accurate architect for this building.
The function for this theatre should be “Office Space.”
Well, I guess it didn’t take long for a new theatre to be put in the south loop. Kerasotes Theatres is planning a 14-18 screen theatre to put up near Clark Street & Roosevelt Road. Here’s a link to the article.
http://ccchronicle.com/paper/citybeat.php?id=1949
Can’t wait for this to open.
And now Village Theatres has the Lincoln Village too! Of course, they are not advertising it (at least in the Sun-Times), so we’ll see how long it lasts.
Anyways, I recently took a walk past the Burnham. It is already almost completely gutted. Even the marquee, which was more like a signboard, has been completely removed. Virtually nothing remains except the pay booth to indicate that this was a theatre.
The biggest theater was quite spacious and nice. 500 seats not stadium style but traditional. You just don’t get that with the mega’s these days. The Lincoln Village 1-6 is one of the few remaining theaters of this Cineplex Odeon style remaining.
Despite many comments saying that Burnham was a terrible theater and what-not, I enjoyed it. I liked that very few people went there. It felt like a neighborhood hangout, cozy. It was the location of my first date with my boyfriend almost 4 years ago. I will miss it
And so the Burnham closed after today, Labor Day, 2005! The final movies were The Cave, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Red Eye, Four Brothers, and Skeleton Key.
The Burnham is yet another cinema, built by Cineplex Odeon circa 1987-1989, to close. Out of some 16 theatres built by C-O in the Chicagoland Area during that time, only about 5 remain.
I believe that the Burnham may have been the last theatre of the ill-fated Meridien chain to close.
I went here to see CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY today. The guy working at the concession stand says it will close Labor Day Weekend, 2005. There were only about 8 people in the auditorium.
I’ve seen a couple of movies here when it first opened. It’s too bad that this theater always seems to be struggling. The location has done a 360 and has become quite hot. I think if they clean it up and add some eclectic fare, it would do well. I stopped going here because the audience became a little rough; however, with the gentification going on, this could change.
Village Entrainment is the biggest dumb as*es working in the theater exhibitor business today. Village has no public relations first of all. They do no advertising what so ever. There are no newspaper ads and not even the Village Entrainment web site works anymore
http://www.villagetheatres.com The Webmaster had some kind of falling out with Village, which am sure was over money. Village has grown over the years but does not have the money to keep theatres running, either because they don’t have the financial backing or they simply don’t want to spend the money. Biograph Theater was sentence to death under Village’s name. Village sentenced Water Tower Theatre to death. That is just to name a few. Note to big chains if you want to destroy a theatre without a bad mark on your name sell it to Village Entertainment. Landlords want a reason to use a theatre space for other use rent it to Village! At Village Entertainment will kill them all!! No theatre is too big! 1,2,3, 4 screens even 5. Heck give us 20 we kill them too!
Brendan, I did not find that Tribune aticle. But in reply, consider that the place was built in 1988 and has already had 4 owners/operators (per my comment above). It puzzles me too that the South Loop area has become so popular, yet no one has been able to make a success of this place. Watch, this place will close and then in a few years, someone like Loews or AMC will announce plans for a mega-plex in the South Loop (There’s a lot of vacant land at Clark and Roosevelt, right across from the new Target store).
By the way, I don’t think that the 600 North theatre is obsolete. I go there often and it appears to do good business.
According to the Chicago Tribune, this theater will be closing in August; the building will be converted to a medical office bldg.
Was this soon-to-be-former theater ever successful? It seems from what I have read that this theater was likely obsolete within a few years of its opening, much like the Cineplex Odeon theater in 600 N Michigan. Considering how busy the South Loop is becoming, with all the new residences, I would think a multiplex would flourish in the area.
Pertaining to my above comments, it appears to me that Village is slowly but surely cleaning up its theaters. Village just doesn’t have the capital that Loews or AMC does. In addition to the rest rooms being clean, the past two times I’ve been in the Burnham, my feet didn’t stick to the floors. My friend lost his book in the theater and the manager gladly went with him, flashlight in hand, to help him look.
Another thing too I noticed is NO COMMERCIALS. Although you get the by-now-standard 15-20 minutes of previews, the Burnham doesn’t have ads for Coke, Pepsi, etc. People, if you want to continue to have alternatives to Loews and AMC, then get out there and patronize smaller chains like Village and Classic Cinemas and indpendent theaters. The more you patronize smaller chains, the more money they can put into their theaters and the more money they can spend on getting good bookings.
Probably a good chunk of SAIC students too
Also, if this place screened an art film, they would probably get a lot of students, especially from Columbia College. I attended Columbia in the mid-1980s and would go to the Fine Arts, which was on Michigan Avenue, if I had a few hours between classes.
The Burnham Plaza is an excellent example of a theater that SHOULD be doing better than it is. I was there to see “The Interpreter” and I saw that the place “could” have a lot of potential. The South Loop is a burgeoning area. There are a lot of bars and restaurants nearby. It is close to the ‘L’. And there are at least three colleges nearby-Columbia College, DePaul and Roosevelt (the theatre does offer discounts to college students).
However, the theatre isn’t very old (17 years) and it’s already had four owners—Cineplex Odeon, Loews-Cineplex, Meridian, and Village. A disused soft drink machine in the lobby still has the Cineplex-Odeon Logo on it. Although Village Theatres has kept open theatres no one else wanted, they’ve done so on the cheap. Although the Burnham Plaza is kept somewhat clean-especially the restrooms, it looks “tired” already and it could really use an update. Plus, Village doesn’t advertise its theatres in the paper!
This place is a dump with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.