Metro Theatre

3308 W. Lawrence Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60625

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Ascher Brothers Inc.

Architects: Henry L. Newhouse

Previous Names: Terminal Theatre

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Metro Theatre

This Albany Park neighborhood house was located on Lawrence Avenue near Spaulding Avenue. It opened in 1915 as the Terminal Theatre, and was originally operated by the Ascher Brothers circuit.

In 1925, the Terminal Theatre was renamed the Metro Theatre, after a new and much larger Terminal Theatre opened across the street at 3315 W. Lawrence Avenue.

The theatre was noteworthy because it was only one of a couple of movie houses in Chicago designed with “reverse auditoriums”, where the audience entered at the screen side of the auditorium, facing the rear wall of the auditorium.

The Metro Theatre closed in 1952 and the lobby area was converted into retail space, in addition to existing storefronts in the Metro building. In September 2006, the former auditorium portion of the Metro Theatre collapsed and was razed. In March 2008, the remainder of the building was torn down.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 54 comments)

mp775
mp775 on March 3, 2008 at 10:26 am

It’s there:

3300 W LAWRENCE AVE
Description: WRECK AND REMOVE A TWO STORY COMMERCIAL BUILDING.

Total Records: 2
Discipline ApprDate Status
FINAL DATA REVIEW 02/20/2008 APPROVED
FINAL DATA REVIEW 02/20/2008 APPROVED

mp775
mp775 on March 11, 2008 at 6:59 am

First-class demo job, too. You can jump from the sidewalk right into one of the windowless storefronts and land in the basement.

Life's Too Short
Life's Too Short on March 25, 2008 at 8:47 pm

Wish they had save the front of the building.

pritikin1
pritikin1 on December 6, 2009 at 7:40 am

The Metro always showed movies made by independent film makers…
When I was about 8 years old in ‘45, I put a penny in the automatic pop machine that cost a nickel… and to my surprise a cup came out
and filled up.,when I took it out… another cup came down and filled up…and then another, and I got scared and went back into the movie expecting the theater was going to be flooded. That was the last time I ever tried that!

CharlesR
CharlesR on June 26, 2010 at 3:23 pm

Oddly, one can still see the building on Google maps street view. Neat!

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on July 6, 2010 at 4:47 pm

ANOTHER ONE GONE.

Broan
Broan on January 17, 2016 at 12:41 pm

Here is a night view of the Metro from THSA.

JoeFriendly
JoeFriendly on October 1, 2016 at 11:17 pm

My experiences at the Metro in the 40’s were among the most powerful in my childhood, the Saturday children matinees complete with each new installment of a serial like Batman and Robin.

There was not much in ordinary life compared with the power of that big movie screen, a magical power I could indeed feel.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 11, 2021 at 7:00 pm

This description of the Terminal Theatre is from an article about the Ascher Bros. chain in the March 10, 1917 issue of Moving Picture World:

“The Terminal theater, Lawrence and Spaulding avenues, is designed architecturally along the same lines as the Frolic. It has the same reverse seating arrangement with the screen hung in front of the auditorium. The exterior of the building is of rough cast tapestry brick. The foyer and ticket booth are of grain white marble. There are 1,000 seats all on one floor, and a feature picture, a comedy and occasionally a scenic completes the program each day. A pipe organ furnishes the music. Edward Nikodeon is the manager.”

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