Civic Opera House (Chicago)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Civic Opera House)
Jump to: navigation, search

Coordinates: 41.882506° N 87.637475° W

Exterior of the Civic Opera House
Exterior of the Civic Opera House

The Civic Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. It is part of a building which contains a 45-story office tower and two 22-story wings. This structure opened on November 4, 1929 and has an Art Deco and Art Nouveau interior.

Its opera house has 3,563-seats, making it the second-largest opera auditorium in North America. While built for the Chicago Civic Opera, it was purchased by and is the permanent home of the Chicago Lyric Opera.

Samuel Insull envisioned and hired the design team for building a new opera house to serve as the home for the Chicago Civic Opera. The building has been seen as being shaped like a huge chair and is sometimes referred to as "Insull's Throne." It has been rumored that Insull designed the building in the shape of a throne upon which his daughter could figuratively sit as star of the opera. Having been rejected by the New York Metropolitan Opera, she could sit with her back facing eastward toward New York City.

sculpture by Henry Hering
sculpture by Henry Hering

He selected the architecture firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White who were responsible for several other buildings in downtown the Chicago Loop. As they did on other occasions, the architects commissioned Henry Hering to produce architectural sculpture for the building.

Front Sign of the Civic Opera House
Front Sign of the Civic Opera House

The opera house underwent a major renovation in 1993 when it was purchased by the Chicago Lyric Opera, which had previously rented the space. The chairs were repainted and reupholstered, the carpeting replaced, and the gilt paint completely re-stenciled, finishing this massive project in 1996.

This opera house was the inspiration for the one featured in Orson Welles's film, Citizen Kane. In order for his aspiring opera singer wife to perform, Charles Foster Kane builds an opera house for her, but the quality of her singing reveals her ineptitude. In reality, Samual Insull built this opera house for his daughter, who was not hired by New York's Metropolitan Opera.

  • Chappell, Sally Kitt, Transforming Tradition: Architecture and Planning of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, 1912 – 1936, Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press, 1992
  • Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript

 This United States theater-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This article about a building or structure in Illinois is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This Chicago-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This article on a music performance venue is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
v • d • e
City of Chicago
History · Neighborhoods · Places and Landmarks · Parks · Architecture · Culture · Theatre · Sports · Media · Colleges and Universities · Flag · Public Schools · Economy · Government · Geography · Climate · Metropolitan Area · Hip hop Scene Flag of Chicago
v • d • e
Chicago Skyscrapers
Supertall Downtown Towers Sears Tower • Aon Center • John Hancock Center • AT&T Corporate Center • Two Prudential Plaza
Selected Downtown Towers
with 20 or more Floors		 111 South Wacker Drive • 1700 East 56th Street • 181 West Madison Street • 311 South Wacker Drive • 330 North Wabash • 333 North Michigan • 333 Wacker Drive • 35 East Wacker • 55 East Erie Street • 7 South Dearborn • 77 West Wacker Drive • 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments • 900 North Michigan • ABN AMRO Plaza • Allerton Hotel • Blackstone Hotel • Boeing International Headquarters • Carbide & Carbon Building • Chase Tower • Chicago Place • Chicago Board of Trade Building • Chicago Title & Trust Center • Citicorp Center • City Hall Square Building • Civic Opera House • CNA Plaza • Dirksen Federal Building • Fisher Building • Harbor Point • Home Insurance Building • Hyatt Center • James R. Thompson Center • Kluczynski Federal Building • Lake Point Tower • LaSalle Bank Building • LaSalle-Wacker Building • Leo Burnett Building • London Guarantee Building • Marina City • Masonic Temple • Mather Tower • Metropolitan Tower • Montauk Building • NBC Tower • Old Dearborn Bank Building • Olympia Centre • One Magnificent Mile • One North LaSalle • One Prudential Plaza • Palmolive Building • Park Tower • Pittsfield Building • Powhatan Apartments • Regents Park • Richard J. Daley Center • River East Center • Skybridge • Smurfit-Stone Building • Chicago Temple Building • The Fordham • Four Seasons Hotel Chicago • The Heritage at Millennium Park • The Pinnacle • Three First National Plaza • Time-Life Building • Tribune Tower • UBS Tower • Water Tower Place • Wrigley Building
Chicago Landmark skyscrapers
Towers With 12 or More Floors		 Auditorium Building • Brooks Building • Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel • Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building • Chicago Building • Gage Group Buildings • Heyworth Building • Inland Steel Building • Manhattan Building • Marquette Building • Monadnock Building • Old Colony Building • Reliance Building • Rookery Building
See Also List of tallest buildings in Chicago • Art Deco • Chicago School • Chicago architecture • Chicago City Hall • Future Chicago Skyscrapers
v • d • e
Chicago Landmark skyscrapers (Towers With 12 or More Floors)
National Historic Landmark,
National Register of Historic Places,
Chicago Landmark		 Auditorium Building • Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building • Chicago Board of Trade Building • Marquette Building • Reliance Building • Rookery Building
National Register of Historic Places,
Chicago Landmark		 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments • Blackstone Hotel • Fisher Building • Gage Group Buildings • Manhattan Building • Monadnock Building • Old Colony Building • One North LaSalle • Palmolive Building
Chicago Landmark 333 North Michigan • 35 East Wacker • Allerton Hotel • Brooks Building • Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel • Carbide & Carbon Building • Chicago Building • Civic Opera House • Heyworth Building • Inland Steel Building • London Guarantee Building • Mather Tower • Old Dearborn Bank Building • Powhatan Apartments • Pittsfield Building • Richard J. Daley Center • Tribune Tower
Apartments • Culture • Historic Districts • Houses • Memorials and Monuments • Municipal • Schools • Skyscrapers • Transportation • Worship
v • d • e
Chicago Landmark cultural venues
National Historic Landmark,
National Register of Historic Places,
Chicago Landmark		 Auditorium Building
National Historic Landmark,
National Register of Historic Places		 Adler Planetarium • Orchestra Hall • Shedd Aquarium
National Register of Historic Places,
Chicago Landmark		 Biograph Theater • Chicago Cultural Center • Chicago Theatre • Fine Arts Building • Former Chicago Historical Society Building • Uptown Theatre
Chicago Landmark Civic Opera Building • Congress Theater • Harris and Selwyn Theaters • Museum of Science and Industry • Navy Pier Headhouse and Auditorium • New Regal Theater • South Side Community Art Center • Sunset Cafe • Thalia Hall • Yondorf Block and Hall
Apartments • Culture • Historic Districts • Houses • Memorials and Monuments • Municipal • Schools • Skyscrapers • Transportation • Worship
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Opera_House_%28Chicago%29"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.