Piccadilly Theatre
1443 E. Hyde Park Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60615
1443 E. Hyde Park Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60615
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The caption for one of the Kilgen console pictures stating that it was the largest organ ever installed in a theatre is far from accurate. It wasn’t even the largest theatre organ Kilgen ever built. According to the late Dave Junchen’s Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 1 Kilgen’s level of quality was a few levels above that of Marr & Colton. Both builders knew just where to cut corners in order to save a dollar or two. Kilgen did glean a lot of publicity from its installation in the Picadilly Theatre.
2019 photos & description added credit Mark Ptacek, via Forgotten Chicago Discussion Group.
“I was lucky to get a peak inside the former Piccadilly Hotel built in 1926 at Blackstone and Hyde Park Blvd. These are pics of the lobby of the Piccadilly Theatre and a dance hall on the top floor. The building is now top quality apts but these spaces haven’t been used in over 50 years.”
This and many more THSA pictures of the Piccadilly can be found at Explore Chicago.
http://thepromontory.tumblr.com/post/37344895625/reclaiming-the-pic
I wish they hadn’t done that. I was hoping one day someone might come up with a solid reuse idea for the lobby.
Restaurants also fail as often as they succeed. So hopefully the ornamentation doesn’t end up in a dumpster next year.
Some of the remaining lobby ornamentation has been recently removed and is supposedly going to be reused in a new restaurant in Hyde Park.
January 24th, 1927 grand opening ad is in the photo section for this theatre.
Very interesting, thanks!
There’s a bizarre photo of the auditorium taken in the late ‘60s during construction of a mock-up of Bertrand Goldberg’s San Diego Theatre project.
See here: http://bertrandgoldberg.org/projects/san-diego-theatre/
The space at the York is definitely better. I think it’s better suited for business and cheaper to maintain. They probably got a better landlord out of it as well.
Before they found the space at the York, THSA almost set up their operations there. It’s not the most practical space.
It’s a shame they don’t do something with that lobby space. After nearly 50 years of hibernation, it’s obvious there is no motivation to do so.
I passed by this theatre and the window is painted.
Here is a March 1945 ad from the Southtown Economist:
http://tinyurl.com/y9gsgz3
Does anyone know the name of the old restaurant/bar adjacent to the Piccadilly Theatre? Any chance someone remembers the owner’s name – Ken _____________?????
Wow, BW Chicago, from the photos it is clear that this was a theatre!
Here are photos of this theatre.
Regarding the post of April 16, 2004: what do you mean when you say that there is no ornamentation left in the lobby? Is that to say that the fixtures are gone? Or have they stripped all the plater decoration off the walls as well?
I grew up in Hyde Park and the Piccadilly was just four blocks down the street. I went there a number of times. The last movie I remember seeing there was “Girls, Girls, Girls” with Elvis Presley, I guess around 1962. The same year, my cousin took me to see “13 Ghosts” and “13 West Street” with Alan Ladd. When the theater closed, I was either 8 or 9.
A photograph of the Piccadilly’s auditorium may be viewed at the website of the American Theatre Organ Society. Type http://www.atos.org/ into your address window, then click on “entrance”, click on “feature articles”, click on “theatre organs, the lesser known builders”, finally click on “Kilgen Organ Company”. You will see an illustrated article about Kilgen Organs with a photo of the Piccadilly Theatre.
The dry cleaners on the corner of Hyde Park Boulevard and Blackstone Avenue is still there, but the currency exchange, the shoe repair and the restaurant that stood nexy door to the theatre are long gone.
While the auditorium of the Piccadilly has been demolished, the lobby is still intact and used as a storage area. I was in there about four years ago, and it was still possible to walk up the staircases, but they only led to a wall. There was no ornamentation left in the lobby, and the paint was peeling off the walls. The painted sign on the east side of the building is still visible from Hyde Park Boulevard. The site on which the auditorium was built is now a parking lot.