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| Historic Chicago posted Chicago Civic Opera House under construction (1929) Philip Murphy Samuel Insull's monument built to resemble a throne. |
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| Eric J. Nordstrom posted early 1930s photograph of graham, anderson, probst & white's 45-story civic opera building (1929), located at 20 n. wacker drive, chicago, ills. courtesy of bldg. 51 archive. Larry Kaplan: Was Insul responsible for getting the Civic Opera House built? Christopher N. Kaufmann: Larry Kaplan Yes, because his wife liked opera. Insull’s office for Commonwealth Edison was on the top floor. And, that company’s biggest competitor in the 1880s and ‘90s was Chicago Arc Light and Power Company, formerly located on this very site before ComEd bought them out and Insull built this throne shaped edifice to mirror the Daily News building’s design opposite it. |
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| Terry Gregory commented on Eric's post Insull’s Throne was actually the Commonwealth Edison building, where his office was on the top floor. The labeling of the Civic Opera House as “Insull’s Throne” was created decades later. This architectural style was used in the Daily News and the Field Building for its energy efficiency. It was mostly a lounge he would go to after hours. Complete story on the Opera House here: https://chicagology.com/skyscrapers/skyscrapers014/ |
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| David Daruszka answered my question on the following posting The skyscraper is the Civic Opera House on Wacker Drive Dennis DeBrulerGroup Admin Then Insull's "throne" really was big as recently as the 1960s. |
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| Eric J. Nordstrom posted original photographic image of graham, anderson, probst & white's 45-story civic opera building (1929) under construction in 1929. courtesy of bldg. 51 archive. |
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| David Daruszka posted The Broadway Limited departs Chicago's Union Station in 1961. Richard H. Solomon, photographer. Dennis DeBrulerGroup Admin Pennsy (right) and CB&Q (left) Freight Warehouses, the old post office in the left background, and Harrison Tower at the lower-right corner of the post office. But I don't know what the skinny skyscraper is in the middle of the background. That is probably the Chicago & Alton Freight House to the east of the old post office. It still stands. But I read a developer of the old post office wants to tear it down. I lost track of whether or not it is the current developer. |
In this above photo of trains we see the long side of the 22-story south wing and the skinny side of the 45-story tower. It was built by Samuel Insull who founded ComEd and who owned some interurban lines. It is a "mixed-use" building because he knew that opera shows alone could not pay for a building that fulfilled his vision. His wife loved opera --- talk about an anniversary present. It was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and opened Nov. 4, 1929. It uses limestone on the outside and Tennessee marble on the floor of the grand foyer. The auditorium and it backstage occupy about 1/3 of the total space. That space was bought by the Lyric Opera in 1993, and they did a multi-year, $100,000,000 renovation. The auditorium has 31 boxes and two balconies that seat 800 each for a total seating of 3563. [LyricOpera-History]
Bernie Lyngdal commented on David's posting: "The stage was 7 stories high and the scenery drop above the stage was another 7 stories."
In its day, the Civic Opera House was a significantly tall building.
Bernie Lyngdal commented on David's posting: "The stage was 7 stories high and the scenery drop above the stage was another 7 stories."
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| LyricOpera-History |
In its day, the Civic Opera House was a significantly tall building.
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| Xavier Quintana posted The Civic Opera House being built in 1928. (Vintage Tribune, Chicago) Tim Rogers: What train is that where Wacker Drive is now? Alan Follett: Tim Rogers It’s the Market Street Spur, a three-block structure which was the original downtown terminal of the Lake Street ”L” before that line was connected to the Loop. It remained in service until about 1947, in its later years serving only a handful of rush-hour Lake Street trains. I believe this is the only photo I’ve ever seen from this angle, before the Opera House blocked the view from the west. Xavier Quintana posted again From Vintage Tribune: We just uncovered this glass-plate negative yesterday. The writing on the envelope for the negative says, "New opera house site taken at 3 p.m. on July 23, 1928. Historical. Important. First one taken of set. Plate No. 358-359." We wish we had the photographers name. (Vintage Tribune) Craig Wilbanks: Does anyone know the story of the El going down Wacker? I have never heard that an El line ran right there. David Daruszka: Craig Wilbanks https://www.chicago-l.org/stations/market_term.html Timothy Henning: It was a "stub" of the Lake St. Line. Called Market St. stub. (Wacker drive did not exist till the mid-1920') Prior to the opening of the Loop elevated in 1897, the Lake Street Elevated's eastern terminus was the Market Street Terminal at Madison Street and Market Street. After the opening of the Loop in 1897, service continued to the Market Street stub, which had a stop at Randolph & Market in addition to the terminal at Madison & Market. Service to the Market Street stub ended on April 4, 1948, as the CTA implemented its new A/B skip-stop service. The Market Street stub was demolished soon after to make way for construction of Wacker Drive. Triva: The "stub" served the office for the old William Randolph Hearst newspaper. In the early 1950's the Tribune bought that paper and closed down the office. Hearst entered the Chicago market in 1900 by establishing the Chicago American, an evening paper; in 1902, he started a morning edition, the Chicago Examiner. In 1918, Hearst also bought the long-established Chicago Herald and merged it with his morning paper to form the Herald-Examiner. By the beginning of the 1920s, when Hearst owned 20 daily newspapers in 13 cities, his two Chicago papers each had a circulation of about 300,000, making them the third and fourth leading dailies in the city. Circulation peaked in 1929, when the American sold about 560,000 copies a day. By the mid-1930s, the Hearst papers employed about 2,500 people in Chicago. Declining sales during the Great Depression led to a merger of the morning and evening papers in 1939, creating the Chicago Herald-American (later reverting to the Chicago American). In 1956, the Hearst paper was purchased by the Tribune Co., which proceeded to publish it as an evening paper under the names Chicago's American and (starting in 1969) Chicago Today. |
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| Ralph Leoni commented on Xavier's post |
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| LyricOpera-About |
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| LyricOpera-About |
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| LyricOpera-About |
But you might want to check out the Downers Grove Tivoli (tour, museum) first as a more reasonable alternative.
Or if you need to feed 1,100 people, the auditorium has a build-out option that will seat that many people. [RentalRates]
Or if you need to feed 1,100 people, the auditorium has a build-out option that will seat that many people. [RentalRates]
14 photos, some with captions
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