Norshore Theatre
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 32 comments
Demolished in December 1960.
December 15, 1960 Chicago Tribune link below.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-norshore-theater-demolis/140275134/?fbclid=IwAR24clAiYB5SUd4osDVXeSMVQP7M3HAG5sj3akn5xdMV-Jb4NLboXh_uNXA
Upon further examination this web site seems more significant than I originally thought. It was put up by the Louis Grell Foundation. Apparently Grell did the murals in many movie theaters of the time, as well as other public buildings. Here’s a link to the home page:
https://louisgrell.com/
Here’s a fantastic photo gallery of the Norshore:
https://louisgrell.com/artworks/norshore-theatre/
There are a couple of demolition photos, and my comment from some years ago is shown to be true. The building was demolished with its grand light fixtures still in place.
At the time 50’s modern style was the thing of the moment. Maybe those chandeliers were thought to be tacky leftovers from the Roaring Twenties.
A couple decades later they would have been considered quite valuable.
1926 Gala Opening photo credit Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society via Twitter.
https://twitter.com/RPWRHS/status/1360669502552363013?s=20&fbclid=IwAR2Mi83r297VWnMlhcticoYGkWjkJYsj_tZIJYLs5grqXI79uT7I6ShrYio
Additional 1926 Grand Opening print ad added courtesy Monicka Montiel-macias. Different graphic than previously posted image.
1926 photo added courtesy Rogers Park West Ridge Historical Society.
Circa 1950 photo added credit Yesterday’s Trails Historical Photos.
Mid `50’s photo added courtesy of Michael Murphy.
I went to grammar school with Mary Ure. We went to the restaurant and then to the movie. I thought that was amazing. What more could an 8th grader want? Don’t know what relative she was of yours but we graduated from grammar school in 1945. Doris O'Connor Strickland
The Norshore’s opening featured bathing beauties.
RickB- I never answered your original question on “The Ship” restaurant. It was a steak & seafood restaurant.
You really do run into interesting people when you have an interest in Chicago history! Thanks for posting, Mr. Ure.
RickB-
My grandfather Howard Ure Sr. owned “The Ship” restaurant. My great grandfather built and owned the Norshore Theatre and it was attached to the restaurant. The restaurant was originally called “The Grill” and after my grandfather bought it, he expanded the restaurant and added a package liquor store next to it some years later. He changed the name to Howard Ure’s “The Ship” restaurant. I believe the restaurant opened in 1926 or earlier. My dad Howard Ure Jr. whom is still alive and well, use to help out in the restaurant when he was a young boy. The actor Charlton Heston use to stop into The Ship, when he was going to Northwestern at the time. And you were correct, Howard Street was named after my grandfather by my great grandfather. Originally my great,great grandfather John C. Calder Ure had a farm and land which is part of Rogers park now today. He gave his son, my great grandfather a section of land to run his dairy farm which was the J.F. Ure dairy. My great grandfather then donated part of his land to the city to build roads and other means of transportation through Rogers Park and beyond. The city decided that he could name the road and he named it after his first born son Howard. Although he was originally going to call the street “Ure” street. He then thought that the Scottish last name would not be easy to pronounce, so it became Howard instead. Lots of great family history. I hope this info was helpful.
I wanted to find out what kind of buisness “The Ship” was. I learned that it was a restaurant, and that it was owned by a man involved in the development of the Norshore building. The big surprise was that he was the person for whom Howard Street was named, and he lived until 1984! This blog post tells his story.
In response to earlier comments: The Norshore Building was not on the site of the bank or the Howard Bowl. It was in between these two. The Norshore was demolished and replaced with an office building while the bank and Howard Bowl remained. The bank, office building that replaced the Norshore and the Howard Bowl were all demolished for the development now situated there.
This photo is similar to one posted previously but is in sharper focus.
June 17th, 1926 grand opening ad has been uploaded here.
Oh, that’s too bad. It was a really nice daytime picture as I recall.
It showed the white ceramic tile work on the spires, etc.
OK, David. Here ya go: View link
FYI. There’s a great b&w daytime shot of the Norshore, within that “American Classic Images” site where everyone’s pulling pictures from as of late.
It has a towering presence that must have been awe inspiring at the time.
I can’t post anything from my WebTV server except comments. So if anyone can do the honors, it would be appreciated.
Reactivate Notification Status.
Oh, I get it. It’s where the Howard Bowl ended up being built.
This theater came down, while I was just blocks away in the hospital after being born. Sorry I missed out on it’s beauty. This must be the closest two theatres were ever built next to the “L” tracks.
There is also a long time cab company in Evanston called Norshore. Their taxi’s used to line up directly across Howard Street from where this place stood. Waiting to take “L” patrons into Evanston where the “L” and buses couldn’t, and at night before the Evanston line ran 24 hours.
I found this page after checking Lost Memory’s most recent post to the Howard Theatre page. That post’s second link has a clearer picture of the above picture.
I found the same photo on another site, Warren. Since it’s a little larger, I will post it here. You’re right about the marquee.
http://tinyurl.com/ysbutg
The story I have heard several times over is that the Norshore was demolished with light fixtures still installed. Apparently you could watch the chandeliers fall to the rubble and shatter.
While drawing plans for the Norshore interior the brothers Rapp borrowed several design elements from their (1922) Akdar Theatre, Tulsa.