Auditorium Theatre

About

The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in the theatre until 1904 as well as the Chicago Grand Opera Company and its successors the Chicago Opera Association and Chicago Civic Opera until its relocation to the Civic Opera House in 1929. The theater was home to the Joffrey Ballet from 1998 until 2020. It currently hosts a variety of concerts, musicals, performances, and events. Since the 1940s, it has been owned by Roosevelt University and since the 1960s it has been refurbished and managed by an independent non-profit arts organization.

In 1885, Chicago-based businessman and philanthropist Ferdinand Wythe Peck began ambitious plans for the building that would house the Auditorium Theatre. At the time, Chicago was still recovering from the 1871 Great Chicago Fire and was rife with the contentious labor issues that would lead to the 1886 Haymarket Square bombing. Peck was committed to building a state-of-the-art performance venue that would make high culture available to the general public, while also helping to bolster Chicago's sullied reputation. To subsidize the cost of performances, Peck envisioned a new concept in design: a multi-use structure that would encompass the theatre, as well as a luxury hotel and office space; proceeds from the hotel and offices would fund performances and keep ticket prices affordable. The architecture firm Adler and Sullivan was retained to design the building at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street. It is considered to be one of their most notable buildings during their partnership together. The gala opening night performance on December 9, 1889, was a major social event bringing together politicians and national leaders. In attendance were President Benjamin Harrison, Vice President Levi Morton, Illinois Governor Joseph Wilson Fifer, Chicago Mayor DeWitt Clinton Cregier, the theatre's financial backers, and the city's elite. President Harrison (who had visited the Auditorium in 1888, when the theatre, still a construction site, housed 9000 Republican National Convention attendees) was evidently so impressed that he was rumored to have whispered to Vice President Levi P. Morton, "New York surrenders, eh?" Crowds of people lined the streets waiting to get a glimpse of the famous and wealthy guests. A highlight of the evening was opera star Madame Adelina Patti's rendition of John Howard Payne's "Home Sweet Home".

The Auditorium Theatre played a critical role in Chicago being named host for 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Local civic leaders in Chicago were vying with those in St. Louis, New York City, and Washington to host a fair that could reestablish Chicago as a destination for travel and commerce. The international sensation brought about by the opening of the Auditorium was seen by Congress as an indication that the people of Chicago possessed the vision and financing to successfully produce a world-class fair. During its early years, the Auditorium stage played host to the leading entertainers of the era, including John Philip Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, The Ziegfeld Follies, Anna Pavlova, and Helen Morgan, as well as political figures including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Booker T. Washington. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt famously told the Auditorium crowd, he felt "as strong a bull moose", during his controversial run for an additional term as United States' president. It was also the home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Grand Opera Company, and also featured indoor baseball games.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.