Chicago is considered a major theater city, with the Legendary Chicago Theatre located on North Slate Street.
Hosting from plays to live music shows for over 80 years, it was first Chicago's premier movie theater, now a leader in comedy, music concerts, plays and shows. In 1979, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in addition to being listed in 1983 as a famous Chicago landmark. Its elegant staircases and majestic lobby are just a small part of why it was originally labeled the "Wonder Theatre of the World" in 1921. A prototype for theatres in the United States over the years, it was the very first large and lavish movie palace ever built at a cost of $4 million dollar, built in the exquisite French Baroque style.
Original shows consisted of legendary stars such as Jack Benny, John Denver, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Neil Young, Benny
Goodman, and Duke Ellington in a 3600-seat auditorium that is seven stories high. The building is half a city wide and and as long, with the CHICAGO sign six stories high—one of the few remaining signs of this early era. These historical and architectural highlights were part of the visionary plans developed for the Legendary Chicago Theatre, part of the world today the theatre still encompasses.
Tours to the theatre look into the past which made the Chicago Theatre so famous, a look at what is still present today. A photo gallery is available to the tours in the theatre's lower lobby entitled, "Chicago: Three Centuries of Theatres" along with Saturday tours offering a demonstration of the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, a landmark of the historical theatre.
