The Chicago Theatre features a six-story triumphal arch facade modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. When it opened in nineteen twenty-one, the Balaban and Katz corporation designed it as a movie palace to bring opulence to the general public. During the Great Depression, the theater drew massive crowds by pairing first-run films with lavish stage shows. Today, the venue remains a landmark, even after the building’s original interior was nearly gutted for a modern office tower expansion in the eighties.
The Chicago Theatre
cultural
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