Century Centre Cinema

Opened as the 3,080-seat Diversey Theatre on July 30, 1925 at the busy intersection of N. Clark Street and W. Diversey Street in the Lake View neighborhood. the opening program featured on the screen Douglas MacLean in “Introduce Me” & on the stage 5 acts of vaudeville. It was designed in Spanish Baroque style by architect Edward Eichenbaum of the firm of Levy & Klein, whose work also included the Granada Theatre in Rogers Park and the Marbro Theatre in Garfield Park. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3 manual 15 ranks organ.

The interior of the theatre was remodeled by Publix Theatres in the Art Deco style, reopening February 7, 1930 with Jack Holt in “Flight”. The Wurlitzer organ was retained and was played by organist Henri A. Keates. It was renamed the Century Theatre, in honor of the Century of Progress World’s Fair that was held in Chicago during 1933 and 1934.

In 1973, the Century Theatre was closed, the interior was completely gutted, and the theatre was rebuilt as the Century Shopping Centre, a multi-level shopping mall.

On March 31, 2000, the struggling mall gave its uppermost levels over, ironically, to a new 1,116-seat seven-screen art house cinema, operated by the Landmark Theatres chain. The small auditoriums were decorated in a neo-Art Deco style, and the ornate Baroque terra-cotta façade was cleaned and restored and given new signage.

Recent comments (view all 46 comments)

RickB on May 16, 2013 at 3:42 pm

The historic facade of the Century is in jeopardy, as the owners want to remove it and replace it with windows. It isn’t landmarked. DNAInfo story here.

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on May 17, 2013 at 6:22 am

Look at the photos! How many more windows does it need?Seems to me it already has plenty of windows?

moviefanaticfan on September 4, 2014 at 7:47 am

I remember going to the Century Center back in the late 1980’s. The Theater sits on what use to be a Bally Total Fitness center. It had a 75' long swimming pool and the biggest Whirlpool. It could fit 25 people. I always thought it was cool to see a place like that on the 6th floor of a mall. Now the fitness center is all on the first floor. I’m gonna have to pay this theater a visit.

Comfortably Cool on January 24, 2016 at 10:41 am

Lubliner & Trinz built the Diversey Theatre, which first opened on July 30th, 1925, with stage and screen presentations of “Loop” quality. In December, 1929, Balaban & Katz took a six-year lease, at an annual rental of $56,000. After spending $50,000 on renovations, B&K re-opened the theatre with movies only, under the new name of Century, on February 7th, 1930.

rivest266 on November 10, 2016 at 2:29 pm

March 31st, 2000 grand opening ad as Landmark Century Centre Cinema can be found in the photo section.

JRH500 on May 11, 2017 at 1:48 pm

Comfortable Cool- I know this is an old post so if you by chance stumble upon this comment as I did this site looking for a pic of one of my great grandmothers theatres, she was a Lubiner. Are you related to the family or just know a lot about the history of old cinemas/theatres given the site? Very cool to stumble upon your comment scrolling the page and also accurate. :)

DavidZornig on June 21, 2019 at 5:29 am

Saul Smaizys circa 1970 photo of the Balaban & Katz marquee on Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ceebop/24242354451/in/album-72157662523920010/

ridethectrain on December 15, 2022 at 7:12 pm

Plese update, total seats 1116 based on Landmrk RSVP ticketing site. This location just went reserve seating

DavidZornig on December 16, 2022 at 8:49 am

Not sure why they are switching to reserved seating. I have been there often over the last 6 years, and there is rarely more than 20 people in any given theatre at any time. Even less at the early shows.

m00se1111 on December 16, 2022 at 9:28 am

Shame one of the uploaded photos can’t replace the main. Elevator shafts??