Savoy Theatre
4346 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60624
4346 W. Madison Street,
Chicago,
IL
60624
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The Savoy Theatre opened in 1913, in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, on W. Madison Street, between S. Kildare Avenue and S. Kostner Avenue.
It could seat just under 500 and was built for the Simansky & Miller circuit. It was soon after taken over by the Lynch circuit, and by the 1930’s, was independently operated.
The Savoy Theatre was closed in the early-1950’s, and later became a church, a use it retains today.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The Savoy is still standing. Today it functions at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and it was formerly Holy Raiders Revivals Church. The address is 4344 West Madison. A brick façade added in the 1980s conceals the original. The 2005 book How The Other Half Worships by Camilo José Vergara features photographs of this building from 1981, 1989, and 2003.
I believe this theater was shown in a 1953 theater owners' documentary about the financial devastation wrought by the 20% federal tax, plus other encroachments on the box office, such as television.
The doc is called “The Case Against the 20% Federal Admission Tax on Motion Picture Theaters” and is a treasure trove of theaters operating but in imminent trouble, including long looks at their still-open theaters, marquees, etc., and interviews with the owners.
There are also plenty of shots of already-closed theaters; the writing was really on the wall already.
TCM ran this movie on 11/1/09 at about 6am and I stumbled upon it by accident; I don’t know when it will screen again but it is well worth seeking out.
I would have liked to see the original facade. This church does not inspire confidence in the neighborhood with that look! More like a fortress!
A permit had been applied for to build a one-story brick theater, 140x50 feet, at 4346 W.Madison Street, according to the October 12, 1912, issue of Construction News. Owner of the project was Leopold Semon, the architect was C. W. Christiansen (or perhaps Christianson— I’ve seen both spellings, but can’t confirm either as correct.)