Uptown Theatre (Chicago) facts for kids

Balaban and Katz Uptown Theatre
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Uptown Theatre, 2011
Location	4816 N. Broadway, Chicago, Illinois
Built	1925; 100 years ago (1925)
Architect	C.W. Rapp, George Rapp
Architectural style	Tudor Revival, Mission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No.	86003181
Quick facts for kids Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 20, 1986

The Uptown Theatre is a very large and old movie palace and concert hall in Chicago, Illinois. It's also known as the Balaban and Katz Uptown Theatre. This amazing building was designed by famous architects named Rapp and Rapp. It was built by the Balaban & Katz company, which owned many theaters.

The Uptown Theatre is the biggest movie palace still standing in Chicago. It has 4,381 seats! Its inside space is even larger than other famous theaters, like Radio City Music Hall in New York. The theater covers a huge area, more than 46,000 square feet, in Chicago's Uptown Entertainment District. It has a grand five-story entrance lobby.

The Uptown Theatre has been closed since 1981. For many years, people talked about fixing it up. There were several tries to restore it, but they didn't work out. In 2018, new plans to renovate the theater were announced. However, these plans also fell through in 2021.

History of the Uptown Theatre

A Grand Opening Day

The Uptown Theatre first opened its doors on August 18, 1925. It was called "An Acre of Seats in a Magic City." The opening day was a huge event! There was a big parade with over 200 floats. A grand ball was held nearby. More than 12,000 people waited in line to be the first to get tickets. Some people even fainted from waiting so long!

Theater Staff and Live Shows

When it opened, the theater had more than 130 staff members. This included a 34-person orchestra, a nurse, and even firemen. Each movie shown at the Uptown Theatre came with a special live stage show. These shows were unique because they matched the theme of the movie. Other theaters usually had simple variety acts before their movies. The Uptown Theatre is now listed on several important historic registers.

Decades of Movies

Uptown Theatre around 1980

The Uptown Theatre continued to show movies for many years. The live stage shows stopped for a while to save money. But they came back for a short time in 1949. Movies were still popular through the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, a TV show called Queen for a Day was even filmed there with a live audience.

However, fewer people started going to the movies. Also, the Uptown area itself saw a decline in shops in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

New Life as a Concert Hall

From 1974 to 1976, the theater was partly fixed up to show movies again. A manager named Richard Davis helped bring it back to life. He worked hard on repairs and restoration. He had great success booking popular films like The Godfather.

In 1976, Richard Davis helped the Uptown become a major concert venue. Many local and national music acts performed there. Famous bands like the Grateful Dead played at the Uptown three times between 1978 and 1981. The J. Geils Band was the last group to perform there.

Closed Since 1981

The Uptown Theatre has been closed for regular events since the winter of 1981. The heat was accidentally turned off, and a water pipe burst. This caused a lot of damage inside the theater. Over the years, more damage happened because of a lack of care and vandalism.

Even though it's closed, the theater has been used for filming movies. Scenes from the Academy Award-nominated movie Backdraft were filmed there. The movies I Love Trouble and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York also used the theater. In the 1990s, the lobby hosted a "Hearts Party" to raise money for an AIDS charity. In 2016, the theater was used for a music video by Regina Spektor.

Current Restoration Efforts

In 1990, some people who wanted to save the theater convinced the owners to donate important parts of the interior. These pieces were stored by a collector named Jasper Sanfilippo. They were saved for future restoration work.

In 2006, the outside of the theater was made secure. Pieces of the terra cotta (a type of pottery used in building) were saved for future repairs. In 2007, a business article said the Uptown Theatre was "suddenly a hot property." Three big entertainment companies wanted to buy and restore it.

JAM Productions bought the theater in 2008. They also own the Riviera Theatre nearby. It is thought that it will cost about $70 million to fully restore the Uptown Theatre. In 2013, parts of the Transformers movie series were filmed in the theater.

In June 2018, it was announced that $75 million had been set aside to restore the theater. Construction was expected to start in 2019. However, the work never began, and the company involved left the project in 2021.

Saving the Uptown Theatre

A group called Friends of the Uptown was started in 1998. This group includes neighbors, historians, and theater fans. They want to help restore the Uptown Theatre. They believe it can once again be a great place for entertainment and help the Uptown neighborhood.

A documentary film called Uptown: Portrait of a Palace was made in 2006. It tells the story of the Uptown Theatre. It explains why such a large and beautiful theater has been empty since 1981. The film shows old photos next to new video to show how the building has changed. It includes interviews with people who know the theater well. The film won an award for "Best Documentary" at the 11th Annual Flicker Fest.

The group Landmarks Illinois has listed the Uptown Theatre as one of the "Ten Most Endangered Historic Places" several times. This shows how important it is to save this building.

About the Uptown Theatre

The Uptown Theatre is featured on the cover of a book. The book is called The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz by David Balaban.

Famous Performers

Many famous musicians and entertainers have performed at the Uptown Theatre.