Chicago's Central Park Theater, Alta Vista Terrace, and Bismarck business building featured in latest issue of Historic Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Chicago's Central Park Theater, the Alta Vista Terrace in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, and a small business building in the Vermilion County community of Bismarck are featured in the latest issue of Historic Illinois, a publication of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA).

 

            The newly-formed theater company of Balaban and Katz hired the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp to design the Central Park Theater in 1917.  The first theater in the Balaban and Katz chain, the Central Park was located in the south side neighborhood of Lawndale, reflecting the company's strategy of placing their theaters in neighborhood commercial centers with easy access to mass transit.  It was quite possibly the first mechanically air-cooled theater in the world, and advertisements of this feature drew audience members out of Chicago's sweltering summer heat to enjoy the entertainment inside.  The theater also featured cantilevered balcony and mezzanine seating that eliminated the need for supporting columns in the auditorium.  The Central Park Theater building was purchased in 1971 by a church, and has retained much of its original historical character.  The article was written by Jean Guarino Clark, an independent architectural historian who developed the National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the theater.

 

            Another article covers the Alta Vista Terrace, located two blocks north of Chicago's Wrigley Field.  The "Street of Forty Doors" is an entire city block of architecturally charming row houses built between 1900 and 1904 by real estate mogul Samuel Eberly Gross.  The street was designed so that each home's façade is different from the one next to it, but each of these homes has a mirror image diagonally opposite from it.  The architectural styles represent an eclectic mix of Classical Revival, Neoclassical, Flamboyant Gothic, Gothic Revival, Romanesque, and Queen Anne, and the street retains a remarkable degree of historical integrity today.  The article was written by Christina Balsano Wichmann.

 

            The rich history embodied in a small commercial building in the Vermilion County community of Bismarck is the subject of another article.  Local resident "Joe" Phillips constructed a gas station in 1930 at the town's commercial crossroads.  The building was a popular stop for school children with its variety of penny candy, as well as a gathering place for residents eager to swap the latest local news.  "If the ‘man of the house' was late for dinner, one of the children was sent to Joe's station to fetch him home," reads one account in a local history.  The building ceased operation as a gas station in 1981 and since then has seen a variety of commercial uses, including a barber shop, bakery, craft shop, and floral shop, but all the while retaining its original, small-town charm.  The article was written by Keith Sculle, head of Research and Education for IHPA.                   

 

Historic Illinois is a bimonthly IHPA publication that features historically significant sites in Illinois.  Subscriptions are $10 per year, which includes six issues of Historic Illinois and one full-color Historic Illinois Calendar.  For more information, call (217) 524-6045, visit www.Illinois-History.gov, or write:

 

                        Historic Illinois