Chicago Auditorium Theater
WARNING!! Historical architectural post ahead. If it’s not of interest to you feel free to skip this one. Sometimes I write this mainly so that I can remember what I learned and relive my excitement of seeing it in person. I feel so fortunate to live in an area that has many people like myself that love to preserve the history of our beautiful city, and celebrate what has made Chicago a special destination for over a century. The Auditorium Theater is one of those buildings.
Thanks to Ferdinand Wyeth Peck Chicago is considered to be the most architecturally significant city in the United States. Who? You’ve never heard of him? Well me neither. Until today. Saying it’s all due to Ferdinand might be a bit of an exaggeration, but he certainly played an important role. After the Chicago fire of 1871 there was a concern that Chicago wouldn’t rebound and be one of the most important cities in the US. After all, a huge portion of the city was burnt to the ground and 100’s of people died. Well Ferdinand had a vision to build the largest, grandest, most modern building in the world, and persuaded other important businessmen like himself to join his efforts. He hired the architectural firm of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan to build his vision of the first multi use building in the world. It was the Auditorium Theater which was a theater open to all Chicagoans - not just the wealthy. It had a hotel and office space which helped lower the cost of tickets making it an option for maybe not the poorest people but middle class and the wealthy. When it opened in 1889 it was the tallest building in Chicago and the most modern in the world. It utilized electric lighting to a massive degree and the first ever building with air conditioning!
Adler and Sullivan was the perfect architectural firm to hire. Adler was renowned for his engineering skill and knowledge of acoustics, and Sullivan the creative which created a new American style of building utilizing gold leaf, terra cotta and elaborate stencil design. They also had a young man by the name of Frank Lloyd Wright in their employ who had some ideas of his own. There are a few things that Frank was so fond of in the design of the building and ornamentation that he added them to the home he was building in Oak Park and even in some of his later designs.
The building was so impressive that it secured the Colombian Exhibition in 1893 for Chicago - the World’s Fair that put Chicago back on the map.
But like so many historic buildings it had some tough times. It was used for not just performances, but weddings, political events, and even housed soldiers during World War II. But sadly was closed in the 1940’s and stayed closed until 1967. It had been purchased in 1947 by Roosevelt University, but sat there vacant falling into even worse condition until a woman by the name of Beatrice Teller Spachner, who had wonderful memories of attending performances there as a child decided to take action. She worked tirelessly to raise funds to renovate the theater and take it back to its original grandeur. It reopened in 1967 and was added to the National Historic Registry in 1975. Here she is and thank you Beatrice for all your hard work. The Auditorium Theater will be here for future generations thanks to you. One person CAN make a difference❤️
Now for the pictures! First the entrance to the lobby where tickets are sold. Six beautiful arches with art glass depicting 6 of the arts you might see performed there ie. dance, music, opera, theater etc. The bottom right picture is of the central lobby. A concept Sullivan loved was an idea Frank Lloyd Wright embraced called “compression and release.” A lower ceiling creating a compressed feeling but then upon entering the theater your breath is taken away by the contrast. Many theaters you have probably been in have very high ceilings in the lobby - and this is the opposite of that.
Another angle of the central lobby. In this picture you can see the beautiful detail of the design, the abundance of electrical lighting and the delicate ironwork of the stair rails.
This picture is just for fun. I love Wes Anderson (American filmmaker, photographer, and genius known for his visual style) so this is my poor attempt at imitating his pictures.
Now we enter the theater! Stunning! I am obsessed with the semicircular rows of lighting on the ceiling. Lit with 3500 Edison lightbulbs it creates a vision of gold. Also so much larger than what it looks like because those bands of lights are actually walkways where men went inside to change out the bulbs. Artwork on the walls and above the stage. The acoustics are still considered to be some of the finest in the world thanks to Dankmar Adler. There were no sound systems or microphones when this building opened, and from the stage you can hear a whisper all the way in the gallery. He used a bullhorn shape with arches and angled panels to carry the sound out and up.
It’s called the Backstage Tour because they take you everywhere. You have the main floor and dress circle, the balcony, and then an even higher tier called the gallery. I’m not a big fan of height and when we went to the gallery I almost lost it. I felt like at any moment I was going to flip right over the side because it was quite steep. The guide Kevin said they usually don’t sell those tickets unless it’s such an in demand performance that people are happy to sit anywhere. Also the gallery still has the original wooden seats so I went up because I wanted to see them. Compared to the seats most theaters now have I’m not sure how woman in big dresses even fit in the seats because they are about two thirds the size of what we would consider a normal seat. The bottom left picture is the seats in the gallery. Bottom right is a very cool monogram on each of those seats that is an A and a C. Stands for Auditorium Chicago. Top left picture is a stencil pattern from the ceiling in the lobby and the one Frank Lloyd Wright copied for the stencil border in the primary bedroom at his home in Oak Park. Top right - two things to see. The light fixture Wright also copied for his home in Oak Park, and the scroll cone is one of the fixtures that supplied air conditioning into the gallery.
On the tour we went down into the lower levels below the stage to see the orchestra pit, the large dressing rooms, laundry rooms, break/snack rooms, physical therapy rooms, and the smaller private dressing rooms for the stars. Very clean and modern.
One other innovative feature the Auditorium Theater had when it opened was a hydraulic lift system that enabled the stage to raise and lower in sections so sets could be brought up as if by magic and performers elevated on stage from below. It allowed much quicker set changes than what was done in the past all manually. This hydraulic system was powered by water so operated by pipes attached to the city water system and levers adjusted by humans. Now of course there is a new electric hydraulic system but in recognition of this accomplishment there is still one of the original lifts for you to see.
Lastly we got to go onstage. Another innovation is that the area above the stage is 10 stories high with all kinds of ability through a weighted system to store sets and raise and lower them quickly. Unless I really pick it up with my tap classes this is the only time I’ll ever get to be on the stage!
Many of the most famous entertainers in the world have performed there. Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Prince, the Boston Pops, American Ballet theater to name just a few. It’s still going strong and a fantastic place to see a performance. Two for one. A great show and an architectural landmark. We had a great tour guide Kevin and tours are available several days a week at noon. Check their website and I suggest you purchase a ticket in advance.
When I was taking the tour I had a flashback and realized that my mother took me to this beautiful theater in the early 70’s to see a ballet. I remember even where we sat and I’ll never go in there again without the feeling that she is with me.💕 That made a really good tour a great and special day for me. Thanks for coming along. Fun trip coming very soon so check back!🤗
