Chicago Theatre
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Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
(Chicago Landmark)
The State Street marquee of the Chicago Theatre.
Location:	Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates:	41°53′7″N 87°37′40″W / 41.88528, -87.62778
Built/Founded:	1921
Architect:	Rapp & Rapp
Architectural style(s):	Neo-Baroque/Neoclassical (exterior);[1][2] French Baroque (Neo-Baroque)(interior)[1]
Added to NRHP:	June 6, 1979
Designated as CL:	January 28, 1983
NRHP Reference#:	79000822[3]

The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a famous theater landmark located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. For several decades, it was the city's premier movie theater.^[4][5] Now the Chicago is a leading venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, and popular music concerts.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 6, 1979,^[6] and it was listed as a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983.^[7] The marquee is a Chicago cultural and physical landmark that commonly appears in film, television, artwork, and photography.^[7]

History

Abe and Barney Balaban, together with Sam and Morris Katz (founders of the Balaban and Katz theater chain), built the Chicago Theatre in 1921 with plans for it to be one of a large chain of opulent motion picture houses.^[4] 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.^[8] The building was constructed at a cost of 4 million dollars and was designed by architects Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp. The Rapp brothers also designed many other B&K properties in Chicago, including the Oriental and Uptown Theatres.^[9] The Chicago was one of the first theaters in the nation to be built in Rapp and Rapp's signature Neo-Baroque French-revival style.^[1] It is the oldest surviving example of this style in Chicago.^[7][10]

When it opened on October 26, 1921, the 3,880 seat theater was promoted as the "Wonder Theatre of the World".^[9][10] Capacity crowds packed the theater during its opening week. The feature film was First National Pictures' The Sign on the Door starring Norma Talmadge, and other attractions included a 50-piece orchestra, famed organist Jesse Crawford at the 29-rank Wurlitzer organ, and a live stage show.^[11] Poet Carl Sandburg, reporting for the Chicago Tribune, wrote that mounted police were required for crowd control.^[9] The theater's strategy of enticing movie patrons with a plush environment and top notch service (including the pioneering use of air conditioning) was emulated nationwide.^[4]

During its first 40 years of operation, the Chicago Theatre presented premiere films and live entertainment. Throughout its decades 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.^[9] In preparation for the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, the Chicago Theatre was redecorated. It was also modernized in the 1950s when stage shows were discontinued.^[9]

During the 1970s, business at the Chicago Theatre slowed under the ownership of Plitt Theatres and it closed on September 19, 1985.^[11] On April 1, 2004 the building was purchased by TheatreDreams Chicago, LLC from the City of Chicago for $3 million in 2003.^[12] The Balaban and Katz trademark is now the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. On October 11, 2007 it was announced that New York's Madison Square Garden Entertainment, subsidiary of Cablevision, was buying the theater.^[13]

Architecture

The structure is seven stories tall and fills nearly one half of a city block. The 60-foot (18 m) wide by six-story tall arch on the State Street façade is designed similarly to the l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.^[14] The coat of arms of the Balaban and Katz chain—two horses holding ribbons of 35 mm film in their mouths outlined by a border of film reels—is set inside a circular Tiffany stained glass window inside the arch.^[11][2] The exterior of the building is covered in off-white terra cotta supplied by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company with neo-Baroque plaster designs by the McNulty Brothers.^[1]

The interior shows French Baroque influence from the Second French Empire.^[1] The grand lobby, five stories high and surrounded by gallery promenades at the mezzanine and balcony levels, is an influence of the Royal Chapel at Versailles. The grand staircase is patterned from one inside the Paris Opera House and ascends to the various balcony levels.^[11] Marshall Field and Company supplied interior decorations including drapes and furniture. The crystal chandeliers and bronze light fixtures fitted with Steuben glass shades were designed and built by Victor Pearlman and Co.

The stage dimensions exceed 60 feet (18 m) in width and 30 feet (9.1 m) in depth. The orchestra pit is approximately 6 feet (1.8 m) below stage level, 54 feet (16 m) wide at the stage lip, with a depth of 15 feet (4.6 m) at center. An adjustable pit filler can be used for performances requiring other levels.^[15][16]

The entire marquee was replaced in 1994, but retains the look of its predecessor, which was not part of the original design.^[1] In 2004, the original marquee was donated to the Smithsonian Institution.^[17] The marquee is featured in numerous movies and TV shows set in Chicago, and its neon font was used in the title of the 2002 film Chicago. The Y-shaped figure behind the horizontal word Chicago on the State Street side of the marquee is a city symbol and represents the Chicago River.^[18]

Restoration

In 1984, the Chicago Theater Preservation Group purchased the theatre and adjoining Page Brothers Building for $11.5 million.^[17] Renovation of the Page building was completed in 1986 at a cost of $9 million (including $4.3 million spent on the Theatre).^[17] During the renovation, the Chicago Theatre was restored to a 1930s appearance by architects Daniel P. Coffey & Associates, Ltd and interior design consultants A.T. Heinsbergen & Co. The Chicago Theatre reopened on September 10, 1986 with a performance by Frank Sinatra.^[10] This reopening marked the culmination of a four-year historic preservation effort championed by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois,^[17][19] which has left the current seating capacity of the theatre at 3,600.^[11] The gala reopening was also symbolic because Sinatra had performed at the theatre in the 1950s.^[14] The restoration of the adjoining Page Building, which is itself a Chicago Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places,^[20] provided office space to support the Chicago Theatre.^[21] The theater, like its neighbor (the Joffrey Tower), is an important component of the North Loop/Theatre District revitalization plan.^[17] Theatre district revitalization plans go back as far as Mayor Jane Byrne's 1981 plan.^[14]

Cultural references

Mayor Daley's Roger Ebert Day award

• The building has been associated with popular culture occasions of varying import. For example, Ronald Reagan announced his engagement to Jane Wyman at the theater,^[14] and Al Capone assumed control of the projectionists and stagehands unions and extorted money from the Balaban and Katz chain.^[8]
• The theater hosts screenings for the Chicago International Film Festival and has hosted National Press Club events.
• 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 a new book, The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz, by David Balaban, grandson of the original owner.^[22]

Notes

External links

• The Chicago Theatre
• Historic Images of the Chicago Theatre
• History of the Chicago Theatre
• Balaban and Katz Foundation
• Balaban and Katz

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