1635 West Belmont Avenue
Built 1925
Architect: W.W. Ahlschlager
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The Belmont Theater was one of the North Side's largest movie palaces. Located in the heart of the busy Lincoln-Belmont shopping district, the Belmont attracted housewives by day and couples by night to its motion picture presentations. The theater opened in 1925 and could seat audiences of up to 3,300 persons.
In later years, part of the theater was converted for use as a bowling alley. Then, in 1996, the Belmont was demolished to make way for a condominium complex. The elegant terra cotta facade, however, was preserved.
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Internet Resources
Photograph:
"Women sitting in a car in front of the Belmont Theater," 1927 [Library of Congress]
Photograph:
"Women sitting in a car in front of the Belmont Theater," 1927 [Library of Congress]
Suggested Reading
· George D. Bushnell, "Chicago's Magnificent
Movie Palaces," Chicago History 6 (Summer 1977),
99-106.
· Ben Hall, Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the
Golden Age of the Movie Palace (DaCapo Press, 1988).
· Lary May,
Screening
Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture
Industry (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1983).
· Michael Putnam,
Silent
Screens: The Decline and Transformation of the American Movie
Theater (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2000).
· Robert Sklar,
Movie-Made
America: A Cultural History of American Movies
(Vintage, 1994).
· Maggie Valentine,
The
Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the
Movie Theater (Yale Univ. Press, 1996).
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Page authored: 11 June 1998
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