Village Art Theatre

In the 1982 photo, the double feature is On Golden Pond and Victor, Victoria. I went to The Village to see that double bill. I think it cost $1.75 and eventually went up to $2.50. At that time, the theater was very crowded on weekends, but the admission price was great. The audience was also polite.

I probably went to that theater for about five years, when it was still a single screen. Off-hand, I also remember seeing Shoot the Moon, Electric Cowboy, Thief of Hearts, The Verdict, Absence of Malice, An Officer and a Gentleman, Falling in Love, Hair, Altered States, Body Heat, Used cars, Foxes, The World According to Garp and possibly Apocalypse Now.

I think Jerry Usher may have been the manager during part of that period. I remember seeing him at the concession counter. I also remember when he was the manager of The Cinema on Chicago Avenue.

this is my rant – warning

shuttered theatres, VILLAGE certainly included
not to (fail to) mention the
PATIO
COLONY
UPTOWN

(plus whichever I’m forgetting right now, please put your 2 cents in)

just sit there
and mock you and me
they’ve not (yet) even been converted to another useage
just another agonizing prospect

this sort of thing goes on for years
I ask rhetorically why
no other type of commercial property seems to behave this way IMO

Exactly, who knew it was gutted? But more importantly-when? If it closed as a theater, and was still built out as one inside, who pulled permits to gut it out, and how soon after the closure?
In a perfect world, any permit that was applied for at that address should have raised a red flag to the Alderman. Who in turn would hopefully then make a trip over there to see what’s going on. If for not other reason than to see if possibly any ornementation from the original theater had only been covered over during the muliplexing.

Then possibly there could have been a limit applied to the extent of the gutting. I’m fine with the use of it not as a theater is what its future holds. But if any aspects of it’s former interior could have been preserved to just showcase in the new usage, that ship has no sailed.

I do understand about the hesitancy for Landmarking to not be as strict on the protection of interiors. But I think that when it comes specifically to old theaters, there should be an extra effort made by municipalities to protect whatever may still exist of any original ornamentation.

Otherwise developers will just cointinue to gut to the brick, and that’s it. Gone forever.

I know the Village was multiplexed quite some time back. But very often when that was done to small theaters, they just dropped the ceilings and the old interiors remained up in newly created catacombs.

In this instance, and again a perfect scenario, there might have been a chance to see what was left of the original theater. And moniter the gut job accordingly. I just have a sense that it went forward unwatched because so much time had passed. And with the surprise win of a new Alderman, the decisions may have been even more hasty.

In theory, when any new interior buildout moves forward and the gut was under the radar, the permits department would say: “Wait a minute, what happened to the existing interior that was on file?”

I have always thought that this state of affairs is a compromise between preservationists and property owners, spoken or unspoken. Landmark designation is a pain for a property owner. But it is much easier to reuse a building when you can gut it, as opposed to working within the existing interior. So lawmakers give something to the preservationists with the exterior and still leave the property owner with options. Then if we are talking about a big-time historical site the interior might come along for the ride. It makes sense, much as we may not like to see the Village Theatre destroyed.

It would be interesting to know what the time frame was on the tear out. And if it was done legally via proper building permits.

If it was after the Landmarking process had been started by the new Alderman, and the city somehow wasn’t informed I would imagine there could be hefty fines to be paid that could affect any sale of the building.

I would think the Alderman would have at least toured it once when making the case to Landmark the property.

There could also be a gray area over whether any of the original theater interior ornamentation (ceiling etc) was removed in the most recent tear out. Ornamentation that may have previously been only encapsulated, when it was multiplexed.

Though Chicago Landmarking does seem kind of loose as to interior preservatons.

In any event, it sound as if it is much further from becoming a theater again than anything else. Since it’s not turnkey anymore as they say.

Hey Tim, that’s my dream. I just wish I had the money. Are there any investors out there that want to cough up some big bucks so I can restore this beauty and fulfill my dream? (I really wish I had rich friends or family).

There’s a hardware store around the corner. Maybe they’re just advertising their Weber grills for sale. Oh, and to Cinema Treasures: Thank you for straigtening out the huge gap from the comment that I had posted earlier. I had a little accident with my space bar on the keyboard.

FYI. Michael’s (formerly Mitchell’s), the restaurant next door now appears closed down as well. I couldn’t stop to read the sign taped to the window.
But I asked some friends and they thought it was permanent.

Fortunately the recent landmarking of the Village, can prevent any developer argument of even more dead space as a reason to demolish.

If you look inside the lobby of the theater now, it looks like they are prepping it for something new. They have stripped the walls, exposing one of the original doorframes which used to lead into the auditorium before they cut it into 4.

Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d2kjfo

Forgot to check the box again…Doh!

View link – Better copy of 1970 photo

There was this in the Chicago Journal: It was declared a Chicago Landmark.

View link