Rialto Theatre
336 S. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60604
336 S. State Street,
Chicago,
IL
60604
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jones, Linick & Schaefer
Architects: Charles Eli Fox, Benjamin Howard Marshall
Firms: Marshall & Fox
Styles: Italian Renaissance
Previous Names: Minsky's Rialto Theatre, Loop End Theatre, Downtown Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Rialto Theatre opened in 1917 as a venue for vaudeville and motion pictures, near the corner of S. State Street and W. Van Buren Street.
The theatre was designed by the architectural duo of Marshall & Fox, who also designed the earlier legitimate Blackstone Theatre (now the Merle Reskin), the Blackstone Hotel and, later, Chicago’s famed Drake Hotel.
This mid-sized venue was located directly across the street from the Neo-Classical style department store building that began its life as Rothschild’s, then the Davis Store, then Goldblatt’s and is today the Loop campus of DePaul University. By 1930 it was Minsky’s Rialto Theatre presenting burlesque.
From November 7, 1931 it was renamed Loop End Theatre presenting vaudeville & movies. From September 1, 1944 in was the Downtown Theatre, it later reverted back to the Rialto Theatre name and closed December 31, 1953.
It was demolished in January 1954. It was replaced by a handful of small one-story retail stores (“taxpayers”), which in turn were also torn down in the late-1980’s/early-1990’s, replaced by Pritzker Park, which is on the site today.
Not to be confused with the other Rialto Theatre located a couple of blocks away at 546 S. State Street (also a burlesque house and adult movie theatre) which has its own page on Cinema Treasures.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
Several of the comments on this theater’s page actually pertain to the later Rialto Theatre at 546 S. State Street, which took the name sometime after this house closed.
Just added a circa 1953 Chuckman photo and a 1945 print ad.
@ Broan:
I’m not sure how Yale is/was financed. But they might have simply been investing their endowment in things that seemed sensible at the time.
Added a 1924 photo courtesy of Darla Zailskas.
Here and Here are THSA photos.
This reopened as Downtown on September 1st, 1944. Its grand opening ad can be found in the photo section. Reverted to the Rialto by the end of 1945.
This reopened as the Loop-End theatre by Jones, Linick and Schafer on November 7th, 1931 as a vaudeville and screen theatre. Grand opening ad posted.
rivest266, the last ad posted was in July. Is it possible your 11/7/31 grand opening ad did not download?
Loop-End ad now posted, Dave. Reopened as Rialto again on September 19th, 1941 or before, since the ad did not say “Grand Opening” etc.
Thanks!