The United Artists Theatre was a popular movie theatre located in the

Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. It was built as a live venue called the Apollo, then later turned into a cinema. It was demolished in 1989.

Live theater venue

The Apollo Theatre was constructed in 1921 by theatrical producer

A. H. Woods Albert Herman Woods (born Aladore Herman; January 3, 1870 – April 24, 1951) was a Hungarian-born theatrical producer who spent much of his life in the USA. He produced over 140 plays on Broadway, including some of the most successful sho ...

, who also owned the nearby

Woods Theatre The Woods Theatre was a movie palace located at the corner of Randolph and Dearborn Streets in the Chicago Loop. It opened in 1918 and was a popular entertainment destination for decades. Originally a venue for live theater, it later converted to s ...

. It was located on

Randolph Street Randolph Street is a street in Chicago. It runs east–west through the Chicago Loop, carrying westbound traffic west from Michigan Avenue across the Chicago River on the Randolph Street Bridge, interchanging with the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/ I- ...

, which was once known as Chicago's Great White Way and continues to be the center of Chicago's theater district. Designed by the architectural firm of Holabird and Roche, the theater was notable for its incorporation of elements of the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style.

Cinema

The building was purchased by the

Balaban and Katz 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. It was founded by Barney Balaban (later long-time President of Paramount Pictures), his six ...

cinema chain and renamed in 1927. It was later operated by ABC/Great States and

Cineplex Odeon Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto. The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included t ...

. The theater featured ornate interior design common of the

movie palaces A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

of its era. It was known for showing exclusive runs and premieres of top

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

films. In the 1970s, the theater focused mostly on the action and horror films popular at the time, with the occasional blockbuster, such as the house-record breaking run of ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

''. From the 1950s until its closing, the theater featured an elaborate marquee, which wrapped around the building's curved corner entrance. This marquee can be seen in many films including ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...

'', ''

Adventures in Babysitting ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (also known as ''A Night on the Town'' in certain countries) is a 1987 American teen comedy film written by David Simkins and directed by Chris Columbus in his directorial debut. It stars Elisabeth Shue, Keith Coo ...

'', and ''

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer Grey ...

''.

Closing and demolition

It continued operation until late 1987, and was demolished in 1989. The building was located on

Block 37 108 North State Street, also known as Block 37, is a development located in the Loop community area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the square block bounded clockwise from the North by West Randolph Street, North State Street ...

, a parcel in the

that saw nearly every building demolished in 1989. Various projects were proposed for the site before construction began on a new structure in 2005.

External links

* http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1015/ {{Chicago Theatre District Cinemas and movie theaters in Chicago Demolished theatres in Illinois Former buildings and structures in Chicago

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

Theatres completed in 1921 Buildings and structures demolished in 1989 1920s architecture in the United States