Chicago, IL

The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago

Address: 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60605 - MAP
Phone: (312) 922-2110
Web: www.auditoriumtheatre.org

The Auditorium Theatre is located on Chicago's East Congress Parkway and is part of Roosevelt University and the historic Auditorium Building. Now a National Historic Landmark and a Chicago Landmark, the venue was built in 1889 in hopes of contending with the acclaimed venues of the time like New York City's Metropolitan Opera House. It was the first building in the city to have central air conditioning and the first to be entirely lit by incandescent light bulbs.

For years the theater served as the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Civic Opera. Due to the Great Depression the theater had closed for a short time until 1941 when it became a World War II servicemen's center. After the end of the war, the building was adopted by the Roosevelt University and by 1952 it had become part of the Congress Parkway renovations. The Auditorium Theatre reopened in 1967 and became the premier venue to see rock stars like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, The Who, Queen, Eric Clapton, The Doors, Elton John, Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, and many others. The venue is an important piece of Chicago's history.