Devon Theatre
6225 N. Broadway,
Chicago,
IL
60660
6225 N. Broadway,
Chicago,
IL
60660
6 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Essaness Theaters Corp., Lubliner & Trinz
Architects: Henry L. Newhouse
Previous Names: Knickerbocker Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Opened as the Knickerbocker Theatre by the Lubliner & Trinz circuit in 1915 in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. On December 25, 1929 the theatre was renamed the Devon Theatre, though it was more than two blocks away from W. Devon Avenue. It actually stood on North Broadway. Around the time it was renamed, the operation of the Devon Theatre was taken over by Essaness. It mostly served as a second-run house, and was quite plain.
It continued to operate through the 1970’s, and later housed a church for a time. The Devon Theatre was razed in 1996 after the block was acquired by Loyola University’s expansion into Edgewater.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft, Ray Martinez
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
My sister and I used to go to the Jerri Barrington School of ballet up above this theater in the mid 80’s.
Definitely went on a few dates there back in the day.
I still remember when they had an overnight special showing Beatles movies all night. There was thick smoke from many people toking up LOL. It was pouring rain when everyone was leaving around 6AM
My father worked as a handyman for Jim Burrows, who held leases on the Devon, Adelphi and 400 theaters. I was 11 years old, so this was around 1975. As kids, my brothers and I were free to explore the basement, projection booth, inside the false ceilings. I remember finding an organ pipe made of lead and blowing into it all day. As I recall, the building was owned by legendary Chicago slumlord, Lou Wolf, and Jim was constantly battling him to make repairs. Jim later ran the Three Penny for many years.
December 25th, 1929 grand opening ads for the Pantheon and the Devon in the photo section.
Circa 1986 photo added courtesy of Janeen Rosenberg‎.
The Devon Theatre would have been just to the right of the building in this link, The American Film Company Incorporated. Matches up with the building in the Overview photo, before it was torn down and replaced by the McDonald’s.
http://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/flying-high-with-flying-a-in-the-windy-city-the-american-film-manufacturing-company-the-chicago-silent-era-part-6/?fbclid=IwAR3z6CIEJk3BLs7H7q7c5H1I9tezrDgEyY1iXNLh94lzQ_4N2p0j7aklwJ0
Devon vertical sign can be seen in the below 1937 IDOT photo when enlarged within the site.
http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/uic_idot/id/94/
Thanks DavidZornig! Just added it to the “Photo” section for you.
Cool. The IDOT site is usually pretty finicky when it comes to downloading away from. And you were able to enlarge it too.