The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz.[5] Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise.[6] Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a 3600 seat performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 6, 1979,[3] and was listed as a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983.[7] The distinctive Chicago Theatre marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography.[7]
History
Grand opening, growth, and decline
Marquee during the theater's 90th anniversary
The Y-shaped figure behind the horizontal word Chicago on the State Street marquee is the city's "municipal device," a badge which symbolizes the forked Chicago River at Wolf Point.[8][9]
Abe and Barney Balaban, together with Sam and Morris Katz—founders of the Balaban and Katz theater chain, built the Chicago Theatre in 1921 as one of a large chain of opulent motion picture houses.[6] The theater would become the flagship for 28 theaters in the city and over 100 others in the Midwestern United States that B&K operated in conjunction with the Paramount Publix chain.[10]Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp were primary architects and the final construction cost was $4 million ($68.3 million in 2023 dollars[11]). The Rapp brothers also designed many other B&K properties in Chicago, including the Oriental and Uptown Theatres.[12] Preceded by the now-demolished Tivoli Theatre of Chicago and Capitol Theatre of New York City, the Chicago Theatre was the "...largest, most costly and grandest of the super deluxe movie palaces" built up to that date and thus now the oldest surviving grand movie palace.[13] The Chicago Theatre was among the earliest theaters in the nation to be built in Rapp and Rapp's signature Neo-BaroqueFrench-revival style.[1] It is the oldest surviving example of this style in Chicago.[7][14]
The original 1921 interior decoration of the auditorium included fourteen large romantic French-themed murals surrounding the proscenium by Chicago artist Louis Grell (1887–1960), a common feature that Rapp and Rapp architects included in their movie palace designs.[15]
During its first 40 years of operation, the Chicago Theatre presented premiere films and live entertainment. Throughout its existence, many of the top performers and stars of their day made live appearances at the theater. One of its biggest draws was live jazz, which Balaban and Katz promoted as early as September 1922 in a special event they called "Syncopation Week". This proved so successful that jazz bands became a mainstay of the Chicago Theatre's programming through the 1920s and into the 1930s.[12] In preparation for the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, the Chicago Theatre was redecorated. Part of the World's Fair renovation included another commission by Balaban & Katz for Grell to repaint the architecturally enclosed fourteen murals. This time Grell chose Greek/Roman deities as the theme for the large oil on canvas murals which are on public exhibit today in the theatre auditorium.[18][19] The building has been associated with popular culture occasions. For example, Ronald Reagan announced his engagement to Jane Wyman at the theater.[20] Another modernization occurred in the 1950s when management discontinued stage shows.[12]
The theater in October 1944 with sign painted blue-gray.
During the economic and social changes of the 1970s, business at the theatre slowed for owner Plitt Theatres, affecting ongoing viability. The Chicago Theatre was re-opened to stage shows in 1983 by Festival's Inc Production Director Lou Volpano who directed the rehab to showcase the theatre's viability with the first shows in forty years that included: Liza Minnelli, grand ballet with Alexander Godunov, Vegas stalwarts Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé and Bob Hope, jazz great Sarah Vaughn and many more over two winter weekends. "When I first scouted the location, there were bullet holes in the picture sheet and they were showing 'Shaft', but it was so magnificent a venue I knew it'd be a hit" said producer Volpano. In 1984, the Chicago Theatre Preservation Group purchased the theater and adjoining Page Brothers Building for $11.5 million ($33.7 million today).[21] The group attempted to maintain the venue as a picture theater but was unable to remain viable and the facility closed September 19, 1985.[16] The last known films to play at the theater under its original incarnation were American Ninja and Teen Wolf.[22]
The Chicago Theatre Preservation Group commenced renovation of the buildings which were completed in 1986 at a cost of $9 million ($25 million), with $4.3 million ($12 million) spent on the Theatre.[21] The renovation by architects Daniel P. Coffey & Associates, Ltd. and interior design consultants A.T. Heinsbergen & Co. restored the Chicago Theatre to a 1930s appearance and a seating capacity of 3,600.[16] The theatre reopened September 10, 1986, with a performance by Frank Sinatra[14] marking the culmination of a four-year historic preservation effort championed by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois,[21][23] The gala reopening was also symbolic because Sinatra had performed at the theater in the 1950s.[20] The restoration of the adjoining Page Building, itself a Chicago and National Register landmark,[24] provided office space to support the theatre.[25] The theater, like its neighbor the Joffrey Tower, is an important component of the North Loop/Theatre District revitalization plan.[21] Theatre district revitalization plans go back as far as Mayor Jane Byrne's 1981 plan.[20]
Revitalized
On April 1, 2004, TheatreDreams Chicago, LLC purchased the building for $3 million.[26][27] The Balaban and Katz trademark is now the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. New York's Madison Square Garden Entertainment announced October 11, 2007, that it would buy the theater.[28]
Prior to 2008, the theater hosted the annual opening film of the Chicago International Film Festival until the festivities moved to the nearby Harris Theater.[29] Mayor Richard M. Daley declared July 12, 2005 "Roger Ebert Day in Chicago" and dedicated a plaque under the marquee in his honor. The theater is featured in the book, The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz, by David Balaban, grandson of the original owner.[30]
As of 2011, as permitted under the terms of sale dictated by the city, the vertical CHICAGO sign had a logotype for Chase Bank added to indicate sponsorship.[31]
Architecture
Auditorium detail showing murals, chandeliers, and gilded decorations.
The structure is seven stories tall and fills nearly one half of a city block. The 60-foot (18m) wide by six-story tall triumphal arch motif of the State Street façade has been journalistically compared to the l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.[20] The central arch-headed window adapts the familiar motif of Borromini's false-perspective window reveals of the top floor of Palazzo Barberini, Rome. The coat of arms of the Balaban and Katz chain—two horses holding ribbons of 35mm film in their mouths outlined by a border of film reels—is set inside a circular Tiffany stained glass window inside the arch.[2][16] The exterior of the building is covered in off-white architectural terracotta supplied by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company with Neo-Baroquestucco designs by the McNulty Brothers.[1]
The stage dimensions exceed 60 feet (18m) in width and 30 feet (9.1m) in depth. The orchestra pit is approximately 6 feet (1.8m) below stage level, 54 feet (16m) wide at the stage lip, with a depth of 15 feet (4.6m) at center. An adjustable pit filler can be used for performances requiring other levels.[32]
At the time of the building's 1978 application for the National Register of Historic Places designation, the venue's marquee had been replaced twice. The original marquee was basic and facilitated two lines of text for announcements. The 1922–23 marquee had ornate "flashing pinwheels, swirls and garlands of colored lights".[13] It also included "milk glass letter attraction boards, and CHICAGO in large letters on three sides".[13] The 1949 replacement was similar to the second marquee, but its attraction boards were larger and the oversized CHICAGO lettering only appeared on the front.[13] Until Balaban and Katz' 1969 sale to the American Broadcasting Company, their name was on the marquee.[13] The entire marquee was replaced in 1994, but retains the look of its predecessor.[1] In 2004, the original marquee was donated to the Smithsonian Institution.[21] The marquee is featured in numerous movies and TV shows set in Chicago, and its neonfont was used in the title of the 2002 film Chicago.
Organ
The theater is also known for its grand Wurlitzer pipe organ. At the time it was installed it was known as "The Mighty Wurlitzer" and could imitate the instruments of an orchestra.[33]Jesse Crawford, a noted Theatre Organ performer, is attributed as the person who "was responsible for the design and choice of sounds". The organ came from the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda in July 1921 with "four manuals and 26 ranks of pipes-Opus 434".[13] It is one of the oldest Mighty Wurlitzers still in existence.[33]
The Tennessee Theatre is a movie palace in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. The theater was built in 1928 in the 1908 Burwell Building, considered Knoxville's first skyscraper. The theater and Burwell Building were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and the theater was extensively restored in the early 2000s. The Tennessee Theatre currently focuses on hosting performing arts events and classic films, and is home to the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The theater is managed by AC Entertainment.
C. W. & George L. Rapp, commonly known as Rapp & Rapp, was an American architectural firm famed for the design of movie palaces and other theatres. Active from 1906 to 1965 and based in Chicago, the office designed over 400 theatres, including the Chicago Theatre (1921), Bismarck Hotel and Theatre (1926) and Oriental Theater (1926) in Chicago, the Five Flags Center (1910) in Dubuque, Iowa and the Paramount Theatres in New York City (1926) and Aurora, Illinois (1931).
The Alabama Theatre is a movie palace in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built in 1927 by Paramount's Publix Theatres chain as its flagship theater for the southeastern region of the United States. Seating 2,500 people at the time, it was the largest in the Birmingham theater district. The district was once home to many large theaters and movie palaces that featured vaudeville, performing arts, nickelodeons and Hollywood films. Built to show silent films, the Alabama still features its original Wurlitzer theater organ. The Alabama Theatre and Lyric Theatre are the district's only remaining theaters, and as of 2024, both are in operation.
The Warner Theatre is an Art Deco and French Renaissance-styled theater located in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Warner was designed by Chicago-architects Rapp and Rapp and was opened in 1931. It was used as a movie theater until 1976, when it was sold to the City of Erie. In the early 1980s, Erie converted the theater to a performing arts center, which has become the focus of a downtown revival.
The Paramount Theatre is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue located at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in the downtown core of Seattle, Washington, United States. The theater originally opened on March 1, 1928, as the Seattle Theatre, with 3,000 seats. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 9, 1974, and has also been designated a City of Seattle landmark.
Uptown Theatre is a currently closed movie palace and concert venue located in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Rapp and Rapp and built by Paschen Bros. contractors, it is one of the many movie palaces built by the Balaban & Katz theatre chain run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban, and their partner Sam Katz.
The Paramount Theatre was a 3,664-seat movie palace located at 43rd Street and Broadway on Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1926, it was a showcase theatre and the New York headquarters of Paramount Pictures. Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount predecessor Famous Players Film Company, maintained an office in the building until his death in 1976. The Paramount Theatre eventually became a popular live performance venue. The theater was closed in 1964 and its space converted to office and retail use. The tower which housed it, known as the Paramount Building at 1501 Broadway, is in commercial use as an office building and is still home to Paramount Pictures offices.
The James M. Nederlander Theatre is a theater located at 24 West Randolph Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. Previously known as the Oriental Theatre, it opened in 1926 as a deluxe movie palace and vaudeville venue. Today the Nederlander presents live Broadway theater and is operated by Broadway In Chicago, currently seating 2,253.
There are more than 350 places listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places in Chicago, Illinois, including 83 historic districts that may include numerous historic buildings, structures, objects and sites. This total is documented in the tables referenced below. Tables of these listings may be found in the following articles:
The Paramount Theatre is a concert venue in Denver, Colorado, located on Glenarm Place, near Denver's famous 16th Street Mall. The venue has a seating capacity of 1,870 but is a popular destination for large acts looking for a smaller concert setting. With spelling as Paramount Theater, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, or B&K, was a theatre corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters in Chicago and surrounding areas.
The Riviera Theatre is a historic, 1140 seat entertainment venue in North Tonawanda, New York. The theatre hosts live concerts, theatre, dance shows, and movies. The Riviera's “Mighty Wurlitzer” theatre organ has been restored, is maintained by volunteers, and is famed as being one of two original Wurlitzer demonstrator organs, which the company would use to show off to potential clients in the height of the silent film era.
The Copernicus Center is a 1,852-seat former movie palace that is now part of the Copernicus Center in the Jefferson Park community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The Copernicus Center is located at 5216 W. Lawrence Avenue.
The Mainstreet Theater, also commonly referred to as The Empire Theater, is a historic theater in downtown Kansas City, Missouri in the Power & Light District. The theater was landmarked and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 2007.
The Virginia Theatre is a live performance and movie theatre in downtown Champaign, Illinois. It has been providing theatrical and cinematic entertainment to the Champaign-Urbana community since its doors opened in 1921. Each year, the Virginia Theatre is host to movies from film reels, plays from various acting troupes, concerts, and Ebertfest, presented by the UIUC College of Media. It is currently owned by the Champaign Park District.
The Orpheum Theater opened in Champaign, Illinois in 1914 on the site of a vaudeville theater built in 1904. Designed by the Architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, the Orpheum was built to accommodate both live vaudeville performances and the projection of film. After a series of renovations and changes of ownership, the Orpheum screened its final film in 1986.
Abraham Joseph Balaban, known as A. J. Balaban or Abe Balaban, was an American showman whose influence on popular entertainment in the early 20th century led to enormous innovations in the American movie-going experience.
The Tivoli Theatre, also known as the Tivoli and the "Jewel of the South", is a historic theatre in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that opened on March 19, 1921. Built between 1919 and 1921 at a cost of $750,000, designed by famed Chicago-based architectural firm Rapp and Rapp and well-known Chattanooga architect Reuben H. Hunt, and constructed by the John Parks Company, the theatre was one of the first air-conditioned public buildings in the United States. The theatre was named Tivoli after Tivoli, Italy, has cream tiles and beige terra-cotta bricks, has a large red, black, and white marquee with 1,000 chaser lights, and has a large black neon sign that displays TIVOLI with still more chaser lights.
Louis Frederick Grell was an American figure composition and portrait artist based in the Tree Studio resident artist colony in Chicago, Illinois. He received his formal training in Europe from 1900 through 1915 and later became art professor at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 to 1922, and at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1922 to 1934. Grell exhibited his works throughout Europe from 1905 to 1915, in San Francisco in 1907, and in Chicago at the Art Institute 25 times from 1917 to 1941. He exhibited in New York in 1915 and 1916 and in Philadelphia and Washington DC. Primarily an allegorical and figurative composition muralist and portrait painter, his creative strokes adorn the ceilings and walls of numerous US National Historic Landmark buildings.
Central Park Theater is a historic theater building at 3531-39 W. Roosevelt Road in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1917, the theater was the first in the Balaban and Katz chain. Chicago architectural firm Rapp and Rapp designed the Spanish Revival building; their design led them to become the main architects for Balaban and Katz, and later for Paramount Pictures. The firm's design featured two prominent towers on its front facade and was decorated with red brick and terra cotta. The theater was also the first in the world to include mechanical air conditioning, which featured prominently in its advertising during the summer. It provided entertainment to both Lawndale's Jewish community and the African-American community that replaced it in the 1950s, and it is one of the few remaining Lawndale business from the early twentieth century. The theatre was the inspiration for the well known Call of Duty Zombies map, Kino Der Toten.
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