The Medinah Temple is a

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...

building in

Chicago, Illinois 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 ...

, United States. It is located on the Near North Side at 600 N. Wabash Avenue, extending from Ohio Street to Ontario Street. It was designated a

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artist ...

in 2000. The Medinah Temple was built by the

Shriners Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic body, Masonic society. Founded in 1872 in New York City, it is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and has over ...

architects Huehl & Schmid in 1912 as a home for the Medinah Shriners with a large auditorium and meeting spaces. it is the temporary home of Bally's Chicago

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, while the $1.7B permanent location is being constructed nearby.

History

Auditorium

The building originally housed an ornate auditorium, seating approximately 4,200 people, on three levels. The stage floor extended a considerable distance into the auditorium, and the seating was arranged in a U-shape around it. The auditorium contained an

Austin Organ Company Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

(opus no. 558), installed in 1915, with 92 ranks, a 5-manual fixed console and a 4-manual movable console (added in 1931). Among the many events that took place in this venue was the annual

Shrine Circus The Shrine Circus is a circus founded in Detroit, Michigan on Woodward Avenue in 1906. It travels to roughly 120 cities per year in the United States and a separate unit travels to about 40 in Canada. It is affiliated with the former Ancient Ara ...

. Additionally,

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

used the Medinah Temple for "The

Bozo Bozo or bozo may refer to: People *Bozo people, a fishing people of the central Niger delta in Mali **Bozo language, languages of the Bozo people *Frédéric Bozo, history professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle *Bozo Miller ( ...

25th Anniversary Special" (telecast live September 7, 1986). The fine acoustics of the Medinah Temple's auditorium made it a favorite site for recording. Many of the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

's most famous recordings from the late 1960s (for

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

with then-music director

Jean Martinon Jean Francisque-Étienne Martinon (also known as Jean Martinon (); 10 January 19101 March 1976) was a French conductor and composer. Biography Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire de Paris to ...

) through the 1980s (for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

with then-music director Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

) were recorded there. The music to ''

Fantasia 2000 ''Fantasia 2000'' is a 1999 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Produced by Roy E. Disney and Donald W. Ernst, it is the sequel to Disney's 1940 animated feature film '' Fantasia''. Like its p ...

'' was recorded at the Medinah Temple auditorium from 1994 to 1996. The auditorium also contained a five-manual, 92 rank pipe organ,

Austin Organs Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...

Opus 558, installed in 1915. The instrument was the first five-manual instrument built by the firm and one of the largest in the city. It was controlled by a five-manual gallery console and a movable four-manual console. In March 2001 the City Council approved funding to remove the organ for eventual donation to a non-profit organization. It was donated to a church in Old Mill Creek, Illinois, but was never installed due to the prohibitively high cost of re-assembly. According to the Organ Historical Society database the instrument is no longer extant.

Retail store

In late 2000, the Medinah Shriners left the building. The exterior was restored, while the interior was gutted and rebuilt. as

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

Home and Furniture Store, which opened in 2003. In June 2019, Bloomingdale's parent company,

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

, sold the building to Chicago developer Al Friedman. The store closed in September 2020 for redevelopment. The building was designated a

on June 27, 2001.

Casino

On May 5, 2022, it was reported that the Medinah Temple would be renovated as a temporary home for Bally's Chicago casino, which had been approved by Chicago Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the mayor of Chicago#List of mayors, 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she ...

. The proposal was approved by the Chicago City Council in December 2022 and the Illinois Gaming Board in September 2023. The temporary casino opened on September 9, 2023. It is expected to remain at Medinah Temple until the casino's permanent location in the River West neighborhood is completed in 2026. In its first two years of operation, the casino's revenue was far below expectations, with 2023 bringing 25% of the expected revenue and 2024 bringing in 47% of expected revenue.

References

External links

Conversion of the Medinah Temple from auditorium to retail space

Property owner's webpage for Medinah Temple

Medinah Shriners
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Chicago Former Masonic buildings in Illinois Chicago Landmarks Moorish Revival architecture in Illinois Theatres completed in 1912 1912 establishments in Illinois Shriners