The Fine Arts Building, formerly known as the Studebaker Building, is a 10-story edifice at 410 S Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in the Chicago Landmark

Historic Michigan Boulevard District The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas in Chicago, community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue be ...

. It was built for the

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

company in 1884–1885 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled in 1898, when Beman removed the building's eighth (top) story and added three new stories. Studebaker constructed the building as a carriage sales and service operation with manufacturing on upper floors. The two granite columns at the main entrance, in diameter and high, were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country. The interior features

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

motifs and murals by artists such as Martha Susan Baker, Frederic Clay Bartlett, Oliver Dennett Grover, Frank Xavier Leyendecker, and Bertha Sophia Menzler-Peyton dating from the 1898 renovation. In the early 20th century, the Kalo Shop and Wilro Shop, firms owned by women and specializing in Arts and Crafts items, were established in the renamed Fine Arts Building. True to its name, it houses artists' lofts, art galleries, theatre, dance and recording studios, interior and web design firms, musical instrument makers, and other businesses associated with the arts. It also holds offices of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. The Fine Arts Building was designated a Chicago Landmark on June 7, 1978. , the Fine Arts Building had Chicago's last remaining manually operated elevators, which were being replaced through 2026.

Studebaker Theater

The Fine Arts Building houses the Studebaker Theater, also known as Studebaker Hall, dedicated in 1898. In 1917, the theater underwent its first major renovation under the direction of architect Andrew Rebori. The theater still looks much the same as it did after that renovation, retaining the original ceiling from 1898. The Studebaker was the site of David Bispham's 1901 recital exclusively featuring the songs of Carrie Jacobs-Bond.

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

and his orchestra gave the first public performance of the ''

Grand Canyon Suite The ''Grand Canyon Suite'' is a suite for orchestra by Ferde Grofé, composed between 1929 and 1931. It was initially titled ''Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon''. It consists of five movements, each an evocation in tone of a particular scen ...

'' here on November 22, 1931. The venue also hosted some of the earliest

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching vide ...

shows including

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...

's '' Cavalcade of Stars'' hosted by comedian Jack Carter and '' Hawkins Falls, Population 6200''. In the 1970s the theater was partitioned into a

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

movie theater. Renovations to return to live theater were begun in 2015, and the theater was reopened in 2016 with a capacity of 740. A larger multimillion-dollar renovation began in 2021, updating many of the Studebaker's technical capacities. Following the renovation, the Studebaker Theater became home to NPR's '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!''

Chicago Little Theatre

From 1912 to 1917, the Fine Arts Building housed the Chicago Little Theatre, an art theater credited with beginning the

Little Theatre Movement As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theater as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912. The Little Theatre Movement served to provide experimental centers for the ...

in the United States. Not being able to afford rental on the building's 500-seat auditorium, co-producers Maurice Browne and Ellen Van Volkenburg rented a large storage space on the fourth floor at the back and built it out into a 91-seat house. The group specialized in training actors and producing contemporary plays in their small 99-seat theater on the 4th floor, including performances of Shaw, Strindberg, Ibsen, Wilde, and Yeats. Though short-lived, the Chicago Little Theatre was a monumental influence on American theatre, spreading the Little Theatre practice across the nation and laying the groundwork for the Chicago storefront theater movement. The Chicago Little Theatre space is now occupied by the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, whose founder chose the space because Van Volkenburg used puppets and coined the word "puppeteer."

Prominent Historic Tenants

Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Part of the American Renaissance movement, his monumental pieces include, ''Fountain of Time'', ''Spirit of the Great Lakes'', and ''The ...

, sculptor * William W. Denslow, Wizard of Oz illustrator *

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

, architect * John T. McCutcheon, political cartoonist * George Barr McCutcheon, author * Ralph Fletcher Seymour, publisher and etcher * Anna Morgan, acting teacher * J.C. Leyendecker and F.X. Leyendecker, illustrators * Oliver Dennett Grover, artist * Frederic Clay Bartlett, artist * Irving K. Pond, architect * Caxton Club, literary club *

The Little Review ''The Little Review'' was an American avant-garde literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound ...

, literary journal edited by Margaret Anderson * Chicago Woman's Club * Fortnightly of Chicago * Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, led by President Grace Wilbur Trout * Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras * George Ade, humorist * Henry Blake Fuller, novelist * Kalo Shop, silversmithing shop * Chicago Little Theatre, founded by Maurice Browne and Ellen Van Volkenburg * The Dial, literary journal edited by Francis Fisher Browne *

Chicago Musical College Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois, United States. History Founding Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicag ...

* Alliance Francaise * George Hamlin, tenor *

Arnold Jacobs Arnold Maurice Jacobs (June 11, 1915 – October 7, 1998) was an American tubist who spent most of his career with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He held that position from 1944 until his retirement in 1988. Jacobs was considered one of the f ...

, tubist * George Perlman, violinist and composer * Harrington Institute of Interior Design * Studebaker Theatre Company (1956–1957), founded by Bernard Sahlins * Jazz Institute of Chicago * Chicago Opera Theater * Gillian Flynn, novelist

References

Notes

External links

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Fine Arts BuildingAfter the Final Curtain (Pre-renovation photographs of the Studebaker Theatre)Studebaker Theater
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