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Coordinates: 41.926019° N 87.649677° W
The Biograph Theater is located at 2433-43 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Originally a movie theater, it has since been converted into a venue for live plays. However, it is most famous as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was shot by the FBI, led by Melvin Purvis, on July 22, 1934. Dillinger had just come from a showing of Manhattan Melodrama.
[edit] History
Designed by architect Samuel N. Crowen in 1914, the theater has many of the distinguishing characteristics of movie houses of the period, including a storefront-width lobby, recessed entrance, free-standing ticket booth, and canopy marquee. The building is finished with red pressed brick and white-glazed terra cotta.
The Biograph Theater is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 28, 2001.
In July 2004, after 90 years as a movie theater under various owners, Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater announced it had purchased the Biograph for use as a live venue. The theater was completely renovated by architect Daniel P. Coffey, who constructed a proscenium-thrust stage and seating for 299 people. A grand staircase, that was part of the original structure, was restored to lead up to the building's second floor, housing a studio theater seating 135 people and an adjacent rehearsal/multiple use space. The $11 million project for the new theater, styled the Victory Gardens at the Biograph, was completed in the fall of 2006. The new stage is 30 feet deep and 32 feet wide, with 16 feet of wing space on either side. There is an 8 foot trap space below the stage. There is limited fly space above the stage. There are two dressing rooms and a green room behind the stage. The lobby is wider than in the movie theater days, and the restrooms have been expanded. [1]
- ^ "A THRILL FOR VICTORY; Restored and long-awaited Biograph gives Victory Gardens room to grow," Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, October 6, 2006. Viewed 10/6/06
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