Still there. There’s a good picture of it and the rest of the nortown in one of the three or four pictoral history books on Chicago’s north side. Sorry I can’t be more specific.
I spoke to the very friendly owner the other day actually; he said that the theater has a large base of loyal customers and that although the Renaissance multi a few blocks away took maybe 10% of business away; however it also helped open the local audience to art films, which is now the specialty. It’s really a very neat place, and it’s worth seeing just to look at the way they split it. It’s a very high-quality split; they put the wall halfway between the back wall and the stage so the main house is only split into two pretty sizable theaters with very big screens. A corridor was made along the side of the rear theater, and the partition wall was plastered and paneled to look like the original wall. This was extended into a former exit corridor to reach the third screen on the stage, which is more of a shoebox, but still decently done. The fourth screen, also a shoebox is built out of dead space upstairs and is accessed by the old stairs to the balcony. The small horseshoe balcony is used to access the various projection booths. It’s all very cleverly done. The owner also confirmed my architect information.
General Cinemas were often really just called CINEMA or CINEMA I & II or so on. The town name was just tacked on to differentiate them.
I’m really quite confident that this is a William B. Betts design. The tudor style is so rare, and it reappears 4 times in the Chicago area. The Deerpath was similarly attributed to local architect Stanley D. Anderson – a well-connected Lake Forest architect – despite the fact that its interior is a dead ringer for the Catlow. On top of that, William D. Mann’s office was directly next door to Betts & Holcomb. I’m pretty sure it was just attributed to Mann to gain local support.
It was built in 1915 as the Grand Oak for the Alfred Hamburger chain and became the Peerless in 1917 for Ascher Brothers. It was noted as having “A very special ventilating system that actually ventilates!”
The seats are the largely same ones that were in there when it was a twin. Seating has been reduced to 1321 due to a much-expanded stage, larger seats, and deeper aisles. Also as an interesting note, the original (tiny) stage and proscenium is still behind the screen, blacked out so as to not interfere with the modern screen, now among the largest in Chicagoland.
I think someone at the theater told me it was office space now but they were looking at using it. LTS, how was it accessed? Also, please email me some time, i’d like to chat.
The Chicago has apparently created a second venue in the basement of the Chicago called “Chicago Theatre Downstairs” opening in July. I believe they were once considering putting two shoebox theatres in this space in the early days of the 1980s renovations.
You’d really need to specify things like where you are, what condition it’s in, etc. If you just need new neon, any good signmaker or neon electrician should be able to handle it; you might want to go with a larger outfit that can do maintenance too. If it’s more than that, like a full replacement, you might need to go to a major manufacturer like Wagner (http://www.wagnersign.com/theatermarquees.htm). Same with the box office; it all depends on the complexity. It’s quite possible it’s a job a local general contractor could handle, or it could be far more complex.
It originally opened for Ascher Brothers, but was sold two years later to L&T after they opened their new Pantheon a short distance away, probably to avoid pricing wars. Good old anticompetitive practices!
The lobby was among the largest contructed at the time, at 40x100, and the lease was the largest paid for an outlying theater, at $175,000. It was also one of the largest in the area in seating at the time.
No, it isn’t. There is nothing of the Iroquois. The Iroquois, after the fire, was remodeled into Hyde and Beman’s Music Hall and shortly thereafter became the Colonial Theater, which it remained until the Oriental was built. The Iroquois was not nearly as big as the Oriental.
Yes, it reopened last weekend. I don’t really care for the ‘modernized’ marquee.
Still there. There’s a good picture of it and the rest of the nortown in one of the three or four pictoral history books on Chicago’s north side. Sorry I can’t be more specific.
I spoke to the very friendly owner the other day actually; he said that the theater has a large base of loyal customers and that although the Renaissance multi a few blocks away took maybe 10% of business away; however it also helped open the local audience to art films, which is now the specialty. It’s really a very neat place, and it’s worth seeing just to look at the way they split it. It’s a very high-quality split; they put the wall halfway between the back wall and the stage so the main house is only split into two pretty sizable theaters with very big screens. A corridor was made along the side of the rear theater, and the partition wall was plastered and paneled to look like the original wall. This was extended into a former exit corridor to reach the third screen on the stage, which is more of a shoebox, but still decently done. The fourth screen, also a shoebox is built out of dead space upstairs and is accessed by the old stairs to the balcony. The small horseshoe balcony is used to access the various projection booths. It’s all very cleverly done. The owner also confirmed my architect information.
General Cinemas were often really just called CINEMA or CINEMA I & II or so on. The town name was just tacked on to differentiate them.
This is a duplicate listing. /theaters/2676/
The original architects were Buechner & Orth
The other fox, which I can’t seem to find a listing for, was designed by william barfield, who also did the hinsdale
Architect was Edwin H. Clark.
Here is a sun-times story on the changes: View link
I’m really quite confident that this is a William B. Betts design. The tudor style is so rare, and it reappears 4 times in the Chicago area. The Deerpath was similarly attributed to local architect Stanley D. Anderson – a well-connected Lake Forest architect – despite the fact that its interior is a dead ringer for the Catlow. On top of that, William D. Mann’s office was directly next door to Betts & Holcomb. I’m pretty sure it was just attributed to Mann to gain local support.
It was built in 1915 as the Grand Oak for the Alfred Hamburger chain and became the Peerless in 1917 for Ascher Brothers. It was noted as having “A very special ventilating system that actually ventilates!”
The Irving was always the Irving. The Irving Park was a nickelodeon at 4835 W Irving Park Road, at Six Corners.
The seats are the largely same ones that were in there when it was a twin. Seating has been reduced to 1321 due to a much-expanded stage, larger seats, and deeper aisles. Also as an interesting note, the original (tiny) stage and proscenium is still behind the screen, blacked out so as to not interfere with the modern screen, now among the largest in Chicagoland.
In fairness, Modern Times was a last minute addition and had virtually no advance publicity.
I think someone at the theater told me it was office space now but they were looking at using it. LTS, how was it accessed? Also, please email me some time, i’d like to chat.
The Chicago has apparently created a second venue in the basement of the Chicago called “Chicago Theatre Downstairs” opening in July. I believe they were once considering putting two shoebox theatres in this space in the early days of the 1980s renovations.
You’d really need to specify things like where you are, what condition it’s in, etc. If you just need new neon, any good signmaker or neon electrician should be able to handle it; you might want to go with a larger outfit that can do maintenance too. If it’s more than that, like a full replacement, you might need to go to a major manufacturer like Wagner (http://www.wagnersign.com/theatermarquees.htm). Same with the box office; it all depends on the complexity. It’s quite possible it’s a job a local general contractor could handle, or it could be far more complex.
It originally opened for Ascher Brothers, but was sold two years later to L&T after they opened their new Pantheon a short distance away, probably to avoid pricing wars. Good old anticompetitive practices!
The lobby was among the largest contructed at the time, at 40x100, and the lease was the largest paid for an outlying theater, at $175,000. It was also one of the largest in the area in seating at the time.
I saw an article that said the architect for the fourth McVickers was Thomas Lamb with Newhouse & Bernham associated.
Henry L. Newhouse was architect
Architect was W.C. Heinbeck
No.
Nah, it’s on here as the Lansing 8. I’ll look it up and see if I can refine any further though.
No, it isn’t. There is nothing of the Iroquois. The Iroquois, after the fire, was remodeled into Hyde and Beman’s Music Hall and shortly thereafter became the Colonial Theater, which it remained until the Oriental was built. The Iroquois was not nearly as big as the Oriental.
…?