Long-shuttered Uptown Theatre added to Open House Chicago lineup

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) Chicagoans who have spent decades passing the faded red marquee at Broadway and Lawrence will soon get a rare chance to see what is behind it.

The Uptown Theatre, closed since 1981, has been added to this year's Open House Chicago lineup, the Chicago Architecture Center announced Thursday. Visitors will be allowed inside the landmark in guided groups Oct. 17 and 18, with access to its Broadway lobby and rarely seen auditorium. The theater is one of several new additions to Open House Chicago, now in its 16th year, which gives the public free access to architecturally, historically and culturally significant sites that are often difficult or impossible to visit otherwise.

The Uptown Theatre, a Spanish Baroque Revival movie palace, opened in 1925 with 4,381 seats and was considered the crown jewel of the Balaban & Katz theater chain, according to the Chicago Architecture Center. In contrast, the Chicago Theatre, at State and Lake streets in the Loop, had opened four years earlier and was designed by the same architects, brothers C.W. and George L. Rapp. But the Uptown was even larger, with more than 4,300 seats compared with 3,600 at the Chicago Theatre.

The Uptown Theatre featured a six-story grand lobby, ornate artwork, air conditioning at a time when that was still an attraction, floating-cloud and twinkling-light effects in the auditorium, and even a system designed to perfume the air beneath the seats, according to the Chicago Architecture Center. By the 1970s, the theater had evolved into a major concert venue, hosting acts including Prince, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, The Who and Frank Zappa. Major flood damage followed when storm drain pipes froze and burst in December 1981, according to the Chicago Architecture Center. The theater has remained closed since, while decades of deterioration and repeated restoration efforts have left its future unresolved.

The Uptown Theatre is not the only newly announced Open House Chicago stop. The Chicago Architecture Center also added the Pittsfield Building, the historic Monadnock Building and its new Marquette Hub inside the historic Marquette Building. The Monadnock, at Jackson Boulevard and Dearborn Street, is considered one of Chicago's pioneering early skyscrapers.

Open House Chicago runs Oct. 17 and 18 and includes more than 200 sites across 30 Chicago neighborhoods. The festival is free, and no advance registration is required to participate.