The Ramova Theater is a historic

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

at 3508-3518 South Halsted Street in the

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Businessman Jokūbas Maskoliūnas, one of the many Lithuanian immigrants who settled in Bridgeport in the early twentieth century, built the theater in 1929. The theater opened with 1,300 seats, making it the largest in the neighborhood, and was built with a commercial block and apartments in the same building. Its name, which was chosen by the winner of a local newspaper contest, means "peaceful place" or "serene place" in Lithuanian. Architect Myer O. Nathan designed the building as an

atmospheric theater An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, archi ...

, a style of theater meant to transplant audiences to a distant place or time; in the case of the Ramova, its interior used false fronts and balconies to resemble a Spanish courtyard. Nathan's design included elements of Neoclassical and

Spanish Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

architecture, such as extensive

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

ornamentation, a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

spanning the length of the building, and plaster detailing on the interior. In 2001, the City of Chicago purchased the building and funded roof repairs. The theater was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on December 17, 2021. Tyler Nevius purchased the Ramova and an adjacent lot from the City of Chicago for $1 in 2017. Together with 55 partners and 49 investors, including Chicago natives .Quincy Jones,

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

and

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

, he undertook an extensive renovation, resulting in a live mustic space along with a craft brewery and a restaurant and beer garden, that held a grand reopening event on December 31, 2023.

References

External links

Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Theatres completed in 1929 Atmospheric theatres Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Spanish Revival architecture in Illinois {{CookCountyIL-NRHP-stub