Majestic
Majestic. It's a great descriptive word and was used to name this building and the theater
tucked inside its lower floors.
Designed by Edmund Krause in 1906 the upper stories were built for office workers and
the theater was built for the management of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Krause along with the Rapp brothers, wanted the Majestic to visually soar above the standards of the typical vaudeville house and created an explosion of decoration inspired by French Renaissance, to give the public audience something beautiful to look at.
The Majestic Theater lasted until the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was closed for 15
years before the Shubert Brothers, the New York-based theater impresarios, took over the space in 1945. The Shubert lasted into the 1990s before it became the La Salle Bank Theatre, which today is called the Bank of America Theatre. BofA swallowed up La Salle a couple of years ago, so I guess they got the theater name by default. The building itself no longer has office workers and instead houses a Hampton Inn hotel. And while the Majestic name is peeling away on one side of the building, and the theater has gone through several name changes, the Majestic sign board has somehow survived and shines as majestically as did 104 years ago.
Posted by designslinger at 3/2/2010 1:55 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago Majestic Theatre Edmund Krause vaudeville theaters theater design Rapp Brothers
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago Majestic Theatre Edmund Krause vaudeville theaters theater design Rapp Brothers
This building really fell into disrepair until it was renovated a few years back. I remember going to Dean Optical here (I believe it was on the 2nd floor) back in the 70's and being "creeped out" by how run-down the building was. (Of course I was around 20 or 21 back then, so it didn't take much for me to be creeped out.) I am so glad they are renovating these old buildings and not just tearing them down! Sometimes I think about the women that worked in the little offices in these buildings in the 30's and 40's. Having to get dressed up and wearing gloves and a hat to come downtown. Then sitting in a stifling hot office in a dress and stockings, typing and taking dictation all day...getting coffee for their boss. Things certainly have changed!
In the early 80s, I went to the Shubert to see Katharine Hepburn in West Side Waltz and remember the glamor of the event didn't match the surroundings. When I left Chicago years ago, the building was looking even worse for wear. Nice to come back and find it all polished up, though the bank name over the marquee seems kind of weird. As you say, things have certainly changed!