Lawndale Theatre
The main level of the Lawndale Theatre.
When the Lawndale Theater of North Lawndale, IL closed permanently in the mid 2000s, it had been in use primarily as a church. This end to the theater very much resembles its beginning — after a series of architectural control changes, it is generally believed that the design responsibilities finally fell to William P. Whitney, a local architect known mostly for designing churches. However, there is no hard evidence for Whitney’s involvement in the project. The Lawndale’s resemblance to Whitney’s Symphony Theater in Chicago suggests his influence on the Lawndale’s design.
The balcony was sealed off from the main level when the theater was converted into a church.
The 2,200 seat Lawndale opened on October 19, 1927 with a screening of “A Girl from Rio.” Like several other theaters at the time, the Lawndale’s ceiling covered with twinkling “star” lights to resemble the night sky.
The lobby area ceiling.
In the mid 1930s the theater was purchased by a company controlled by Frank ” The Enforcer” Nitti, one of Al Capone‘s cohorts. During the 1940s, the Lawndale was used primarily as a movie theater, occasionally being rented out for various functions.
A drop ceiling was added when the theater was converted into a church.
The theater changed hands several more times before it reopened as the Rena Theatre in 1949. During the week the Rena showed films; it had stage shows on the weekends. It closed permanently in 1961 after a gang leader was shot and killed in one of the main stairwells.
The former balcony area is covered in trash.
Look at how much work went into closing off the balcony to make a main floor only auditorium area. It would have been nicer to use that money and effort to do as much restoration as possible. These places are very adaptable for many uses – there is always need for community centers, performing arts venues, and yes, even church spaces. In our current climate of “green,” adaptable use for existing buildings should be a priority over only building new with ‘stimulus’ money. Europe has always had this philosophy and it’s not unusual for there to be a 500 year old building still in use, sitting right next to new construction that is already falling down. Come on people, this hypocrisy of wanting to save and use renewable energy but having to always build ‘new’ to do it must be challenged.
Not to mention the huge contrast in the (frankly awful) design of the adaptation, versus the majesty of the original construction. You can still see the fantastic lines in the balcony level pictures, and yet the dropped ceiling church area below has no character or style, beyond “generic church”
It makes me so sad to see all of these incredibly beautiful designs that are just left to disrepair and ruin, instead of repurposing. If we don’t have events to fill them, we need to FIND events to fill places like this, whether it’s high-school graduations, or student film festivals. We need to bring back our focus on the arts as something special and unique, something individual, not mass produced. Personally, I would love to see a space like this turned into a low-cost, classic film venue. There are so many films I am just too young to have seen in the theatres, or some films from my teen years that I think are more enjoyable in the big screen. As you said, we don’t always have to focus on new, new new.. I’m sure there’s a decent size market that would love to, for example, take their kids to see Mary Poppins in the big screen for $20 in a venue like this, versus spending $60 to take the whole family to a new release.
Is this closed to the public? If so, how would we go about getting permission to shoot a video here? any information at all about this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Yes, the building is closed to the public. You’d have to contact the owners, but I don’t know if they are letting anyone inside the building.
Beautiful work Matt!
I WENT TO LAWNDALE THEATER Mny tomes when i was growing up in the neighborhood.
shame to let these treasures fall down.
I used to go to shows here when it was a theater, and I attended a few church services here as well. It’s sad to see it this way.
Pleasing you should think of something like that
if there’s an enormous old neighborhood movie palace–and this one’s a palace IMO–that’s teetering on the brink of sheer collapse due to criminal neglect, well, the old Lawndale / Rena certainly is it. i go past it these days driving down roosevelt rd and continue to be amazed it still physically stands. i so hate to sound negative, i went to see a film or 2 there as a kid circa 1959-60. a couple years ago or so there was talk of reconstruction/renovation but any work done must’ve been given up on. so many would love to take a peek inside even as it is but that’ll never happen with with such liability
I would love to hear from any of you who have been to this theater in its heydays. I am trying to figure out how to save this amazing theater, but information about the theater is very sporadic, and usually is just the same info in a different format. please contact me if you have any experiences to share. DioBacch@gmail.com