Monroe Theatre
57 W. Monroe Street,
Chicago,
IL
60603
57 W. Monroe Street,
Chicago,
IL
60603
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox Circuit, Lubliner & Trinz
Architects: John B. Fischer, David E. Postle, William Carbys Zimmerman
Firms: Postle & Fischer
Styles: Art Deco, Neo-Classical
Previous Names: Barbee's Loop Theatre, Barbee's Theatre
Nearby Theaters
One of the more modestly-sized Loop theatres, seating 950, the Monroe Theatre’s history goes back to 1900 when the Inter-Ocean Building was constructed on the site of the Columbia Theatre, which had been destroyed in a fire. In 1919, the Inter-Ocean Building was converted into a theatre, which was originally operated by showman William S. Barbee and called Barbee’s Loop Theatre, also known as just Barbee’s Theatre, which opened on April 10, 1920.
When Barbee tried to have a stage built in the theatre, the city prevented it, because of the lack of enough emergency exits.
On September 1, 1923, the theatre was reopened by William Fox as the Monroe Theatre. In the 1930’s or 1940’s, the entrance and interior to the building was given an Art Deco style makeover.
By the 1950’s, it was showing B-grade sci-fi and horror films. In the early-1960’s, the theatre started to add adult films to its mix of programming.
The Monroe Theatre closed in May 1977 and was demolished in July 1977. Part of the Xerox Center (today known as 55W Monroe Building) is located on the site of the Monroe Theatre today.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft, Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 33 comments)
Yes,Bryan.thanks for taking the Time.
Here is an item about this theater from the March 8, 1919, issue of Chicago’s regional business magazine, The Economist:
The name Fischer is currently misspelled in the architect field.
John B. Fischer was for a time the chief designer of the Chicago office of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, the Boston firm that succeeded the practice of Henry Hobson Richardson. Fisher continued to practice architecture in Chicago after the firm of Postle & Fischer was dissolved in 1920 or 1921.
According to an item in the August 10, 1921, issue of Engineering and Contracting, architect David E. Postle had recently moved to Los Angeles. He practiced architecture in Southern California for several more years, mostly in partnership with his son George R. Postle. They were especially active in the Glendale and Pasadena areas.
As the original facade of the Inter-Ocean Building was retained in the rebuilding, i’s original architect should also be credited. This blog post about the building (which includes two nice photos) gives his name as W. Carbys Zimmerman.
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!
The Monroe is seen at 2:25-3:17 in this Vivian Maier film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXASDjCwxsE&feature=youtu.be
This opened on September 1st, 1923. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Before Barbee, Ascher Brothers had intended to build a 3000 seat theater in the building June 1918, which would have been the first very large purpose-built movie theater in the Loop. This obviously fell through.
FYI, I have a blog about the Clark Theater, and a 1938 flyer I found for that venue also advertises the Monroe. This suggests that, at least in 1938, the Monroe was part of the Lubliner & Trinz chain. If you want to see what was playing there (second run and B-pictures), go here: https://theclarktheater.wordpress.com/
Circa 1976 photo added credit Allan Zirlin. Both “Stateline Motel” and “Teenage Hitchhiker” had later U.S. releases than when originally released.
The Barbee’s Loop Theater opened on April 10th, 1920 and became the Monroe theatre on September 1st, 1923. Grand opening ads posted.