Check out what movie theaters used to look like back in the day.
Downtown Chicago is known for its theaters, but the Chicago Theatre is extra special. One, they do daily tours. Two, while now a theater with a stage, it started life as a movie palace. Movie palaces were large, elaborately decorated movie theaters that were popular between the 1910s and the 1940s.
The Chicago Theater located right on State Street, near the Chicago River.
The Chicago Theatre opened its doors in 1921 and is now the oldest surviving movie palace of its size. The theater is decorated in a lavish Neo-Baroque French style (if that makes any sense). It was absolutely huge, with seating for up to 3,880 people, and they needed it. The Chicago Theatre wanted people to stay all day to watch the films and enjoy the air-conditioning (part of their marketing strategy). The productions went all out. They could be orchestras and an organ playing. The theater also incorporated a small stage for live music acts, which is still used today.
Unfortunately, the lavish interior was stripped down and “modernized” a bland look. The many murals were lost, as well as some of the light fixtures. Luckily most of the walls were saved because of cost saving measures just covered the original decorations. The theater went downhill and finally went out of business as a movie theater in 1985. The Chicago Theatre Preservation Group got started in 1986 and revamped the place, returning it to its original splendor and it is fantastic.
Just the view through the door screams palace.
The Grand Staircase leading to the seats from the lobby.
Above the lobby is one fantastic chandelier. It came from another theater after the restoration and there were originally two chandeliers here with a ceiling painting. Now a led color show is up where the painting once was.
Weird angle of the sides of the upper lobby. This wouldn’t look out of place in a theater in Paris, or even Versailles.
Even the hallway to the theatre is even amazing. How could any cover this in wainscoting. Seriously, someone did that.
The upper-level hallway has this for lighting. So much fancy.
Interior Balcony seating had less of a view of the screen, but it did have a fantastic view of the rest of the theatre. The screen would have been further ahead on the stage, so it could have been seen.
The organ would have been played during silent films and intermissions. It still works and is fantastic.
Now we find ourselves on the top balcony. From here you get perfect views of the stage, walls and ceiling of this beyond elaborate movie palace.
Just look at this ceiling. A chandelier once hung from the middle of the relief.
These boxes hold the organ pipes along the side of the theater. Just so much detail.
Looking up the balcony, the sides were painted with murals, with lots of gilding surrounding them.
The projector’s box is original and just plain awesome.
The stage still has a movie screen, which is right in front behind the curtains, but the stage is used more now. The Chicago Theatre does musical acts, comedians and plays that don’t require a large stage. The stage isn’t very deep.
Now we head to the bottom floor, where we can see the different levels of the balconies.
One of the cool things is that if you go on a tour, you get to go backstage. Every artist that performs here signs their name somewhere in this stairwell. They are starting to run out of room.
The Chicago Theatre is a must see if you find yourself in Chicago. You could see a show or go on a tour like I did. It was absolutely amazing.
The Chicago Theatre was featured in my Wandering Around the Windy City post on the great architecture of the city of Chicago.
