uncovering the past at chicago's roaring twenties atmospheric patio theater

in a happy chain of events, my documentation of the congress theater led to unabridged access of another historic chicago theater, once owned by the same developer. the patio theater opened in january of 1927 in the portage park neighborhood, and it remains today a moderately-sized and largely unaltered atmospheric style movie palace at the intersection of austin and irving park. unlike most theaters at the time, which were opened and operated by major chains, the patio was the vision of three greek brothers- john, george and william michelopoulos (who later changed their surname to mitchell), and was designed by rudolph g. wolff.

the theater was unused from the early 1980’s until 2001 but restoration efforts commenced in summer 2010 that allowed it to reopen a year later. even though the building has closed and reopened multiple times, and changed hands in recent years, it is luckily still functioning in its original capacity as a single-screen neighborhood theater and is listed as an official chicago landmark. it is a dwindling type of building, and one of the few classic neighborhood movie houses not to have been subdivided to accommodate multiple screens. i was able to spend the greater part of an afternoon exploring and photographing its many spaces, including the basement, lobby, auditorium, projector booth, and stage.

unlike the congress theater, the patio’s auditorium has an atmospheric style effect, with twinkling “stars” and drifting clouds in the night sky. it is an atmospheric theater, like the nortown, which was one of the first theaters i salvaged before its demolition in 2007. the space was meant to transport the audience, with lighting techniques and scenic painting employed to evoke an exotic european courtyard, a seaside town or a garden the patio theater lobby is described as neo-pompeiien, while the exterior and overall building is in the spanish renaissance style, so the atmosphere is a hybrid of italian and spanish architectural details.

c. 1927 major equipment electric patio theater atmospheric ceiling "star" with condulet box and cold-rolled galvanized steel cylindrical-shaped "can." image courtesy of bld. 51 museum photo archive.

c. 1931 major equipment electric nortown theater atmospheric ceiling "star" with condulet box and cold-rolled galvanized steel conical-shaped "can." image courtesy of bld. 51 museum photo archive.

unlike traditional heavily ornamented domed ceilings, atmospherics typically had cerulean skies devoid of ornament, outfitted with low-wattage incandescent lights to mimic twinkling constellations. this type of theater was often equipped with carbon arc brenographs (and/or spotlights outfitted with detachable drums containing rotating lenses) designed to project floating clouds and other effects overhead. both the nortown and patio theaters were equipped with such "effects" devices, and in fact, the patio's "cloud machine" is still in use to this day. sadly, the electrified star "lights" are extant, but not operational as the pinhole openings in the plaster ceiling were plugged long ago.

major electric company patio ceiling electric "twinkling star" in situ. the specialized light is comprised of a condulet box affixed to a cylindrical-shaped galvanized steel can designed to focus light against a pinhole opening in the ceiling. a specialized flasher unit (with socket) made the light source blink on and off at a predetermined cycle.

the images contained within this entry represents my first impressions, and a few of the most appealing finds from my first several explorations. i hope to devote a future post to research and documentation of the original and completely functioning major equipment lighting pilot switchboard, and to the rare barton organ. as usual, buildings this rich in historic character deserve to be returned to time and again, to have their specific merits and particularities drawn out and documented. finally, i felt it was necessary to create a separate entry that focused on the theater's tradesmen through what they left behind. several parallels can be drawn from what i'm finding at the patio and congress theater. in fact, ongoing searches at the latter has inspired me to develop a book that tells the story of congress theater's tradesmen by the many objects they left behind while working feverishly to complete the attic's "iront tent" before opening day.

the theater's cover, stage, and "star" lighting was designed and installed by the major electric company, chicago, ills. remarkably, the original open-ended pilot switchboard, with automated controls, levers, dimmer switches, faceted colored glass indicator lights, and riveted joint copper identification panel plaques remains largely intact and operational.

rare original and intact cobalt blue deeply etched major electric equipment flash glass illuminated sign mounted above the patio theater's original and fully functional open-ended pilot switchboard. image courtesy of the bldg. 51 photo-archive.

original and largely intact barton pipe organ: