Auditorium Theatre |
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Background Facts Cost of the Building: $3,500,000 Architects: Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan Official Opening: December 10, 1889 Who Performed at Opening: Apollo Club Chorus and Mme. Adelina Patti Number of Seats: 4,232 Dedication Speech: President Benjamin Harrison Location: Corner of Wabash Ave. and Congress St.
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"Above the proscenium arch is a mural, painted against a gold background. The curtain is of silk embroidered in gold. The upper boxes were draped in ivory plush, and the seats upholstered in yellow satin." (4) |
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| On the date of the theatre's official opening, every seat in the house was filled. This included box seats, which sold for as much as $2,100 each. (5) While the lucky thousands who had tickets for opening night sat in the plush seats watching the performance, around 20,000 people gathered outside the theatre, standing in the rain to get a glimpse of the opening. With the largest seating capacity for its time, this new theatre became the first public place to have both electricity and air-conditioning. (6) This theatre also had many other unique features. Adler's construction allowed for every word of a simple conversation to be audible at the top of the gallery, which was six stories high and a half of a block away, giving the theatre perfect acoustics. (7) Furthermore, this unique theatre never appeared to play to an empty house. If the seats in the upper balconies were unoccupied, "an ingenious system of hinged ceilings made it possible to completely shut away the top sections of the gallery." (8) In addition to holding the theatre, the vast building it also housed a recital-hall, a business portion, a tower observatory, and the Auditorium Hotel. With all of these amenities, the Auditorium was perfect for charity balls, mass meetings, or concerts. After its opening, the Grand Dining Room of the hotel became a fashionable social scene for the upper class. The hotel also housed many visitors for the World's Fair in 1893. During its peak, the Auditorium Theatre was the center of entertainment in Chicago. | |
Click on the photograph to view other current pictures of the theatre
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Although the theatre was spectacular, the Depression brought on many financial struggles. Because the theatre could seat so many people, there were multiple performances that lacked a full house - regardless of the hinged ceilings. Between this and the Depression, the Auditorium Theatre became a financial failure. Eventually, Chicago Auditorium Association brought suit against the landowners of the Auditorium in 1923. The Association believed that the Auditorium was no longer the architectural center of the city, since skyscrapers were on the rise. The Association wanted to replace the Auditorium with a modern skyscraper, providing a new hotel or office spaces. The theatre became stagnant - during the thirties, occasional operas and ballets took place, and during WWII the United Service Organizations used it as a bowling ally. (9) Finally, in 1946, the founder of Chicago's Roosevelt University, Dr. E. James Sparling, thought the building would be the perfect site for his university, so he purchased the structure. On Tuesday, October 31, 1967, the newly renovated theatre reopened, with the New York City Ballet performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream." This reopening was a significant point in Chicago's entertainment industry. Today, the Auditorium Theatre is still one of the main theatres for showing all varieties of performances, as it serves as a center for the performing arts in Chicago. |
