Old Rialto Theater

Rialto Theatre Chicago, IL 336 S. State Street , Chicago, IL 60604 United States (map) Status: Closed/Demolished Screens: Single Screen Style: Italian Renaissance

Function: Unknown Seats: 1548 Chain: Unknown

Architect: Unknown Firm: Marshall & Fox Add a photo for this theater! Opened in 1917 as a venue for vaudeville and motion pictures, near the corner of State and Van Buren Streets, the Rialto could seat over 1500.

The theater was designed by the architectural duo of Marshall & Fox, who also designed the earlier legitimate Blackstone Theatre (now the Merle Reskin), the Blackstone Hotel and, later, Chicago's famed Drake Hotel.

This mid-sized venue was located directly across the street from the neo-classical department store building that began its life as Rothschild's, then the Davis Store, then Goldblatt's and is today the Loop campus of DePaul University.

Later called the Loop End and still later, the Downtown, the Rialto was a burlesque house by the 30s and through the 50s. The theater began showing pornographic films around the 60s and was demolished around the late 70s.