By Bob Pratt, Class of 2019
Six miles north of the Loop, the Uptown neighborhood around the intersection of Broadway and Lawrence has had its ups and downs. But in the 1920s it reached its crescendo as a thriving entertainment and commercial center. Theaters, ballrooms and speakeasies fueled the area’s growth and attracted retail and other commercial activity.
The theaters and ballrooms were spectacular. The Uptown Theater, a Spanish Baroque movie palace, opened as the largest theater in the world in 1925. The Moorish-style Aragon Ballroom followed in 1926. Both followed the pioneering Riviera Theater (1917).
Just down the street at 4703-4713 N. Broadway, on a narrow, triangular lot backing onto elevated tracks, Chicago architect Walter Ahlschlager was designing a three-story office building for doctors and dentists. But this would be no ordinary office building. Ahlschlager, who was at the same time working on a New York theater that would replace the Uptown as the world’s largest, was not about to be outshone in his own city, on the Uptown stage.
The Uptown Broadway Building, completed in 1926, is all about its wonderfully excessive, Spanish Baroque facade. While the ground floor windows are framed by dark cast-iron, everything else including the center entryway is a demonstration of the infinite design possibilities of a fired-clay building material known as terra cotta.
Immediately above the first floor is a row of many elaborate pointed arches, visually separating the first floor from the colorful fantasy above. Blue, yellow, and cream-colored terra cotta is shaped into spiraling and blue-fluted decorative columns, mini-balconies under the second-floor windows, and large urns along the roofline atop each column. Look closely and you’ll find rams’ heads, shields, musical instruments, cornucopias, and cartouches. Keep looking and you’ll see faces, called mascarons, looking back at you.
Fifteen years ago, Uptown Broadway’s exterior was restored, and its interior gutted and modernized, in a $4 million project partially funded by city development money. It is a protected city landmark as part of the Uptown Square District.
Ahlschlager’s fantasy lives on as a star on Broadway!
Bob, thanks for this informative article. I didn’t know about this gem in Uptown. Photos are fantastic in that the light selected makes the building dazzle.. Who gets credit for taking the photos?
Thanks, Russ. I took the photos, on a sunny June afternoon.
As a south sider, I was not so familiar with this building. I’ve driven past it over the years in my travels but have never made the time to slow down and admire it. Your awesome pics really bring out the beauty (you picked a great day for lighting). This piece has inspired me to park the car next time and get out to show proper appreciation for this ornate gem. Bob, what a great article. Thank you for sharing.