The renovation of Chicago’s Ramova Theater, a 36,000-sf building in the Bridgeport Neighborhood, has begun. The project includes restoring the theater and building out adjacent space for a new brewery and restaurant at 3510-3520 S. Halsted. The building was originally built in 1929 and has been vacant since 1985.
Upon completion, the renovated Ramova Theater will include a 1,600-seat auditorium at ground level and a separate balcony-level theater that can accommodate 200 people. The venue will be able to host concerts and events for local schools and community groups.
Adjacent to the theater, a separate entrance will lead patrons to a new 4,000-sf brewery and tap room fronting Halsted Street. Brewery operations will extend into the basement that will be within view of the dining and bar area. A 200-person space on the second floor above the brewery and taproom will be able to host private events and intimate musical performances. Additionally, the project will feature the revived 800-sf, 30-seat Ramova Grill restaurant.
The project will also return the lobby and auditorium to its original Spanish courtyard style and restore the existing marquis, the theater’s plaster ceiling and other decorative plaster elements, the ticket booth, and the interior’s faux-marble and gilded plasterwork. The historic brick and terracotta facade along the east face of the building that houses the brewery and restaurant will also be restored.
“We will be restoring numerous architectural details in adherence to National Landmark restoration guidelines,” Andy Totten, McHugh Construction Vice President and Project Executive said, in a release. “Working closely with Baum Revision and the design team’s historic preservation specialists, we will revive the historic features of the building while reinforcing the structure’s infrastructure and bringing the building up to code.”
O’Riley Office is designing the project with McHugh Construction as the general contractor. The restoration project is slated for completion in late 2022.
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
| Oct 12, 2010
From ‘Plain Box’ to Community Asset
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps provide 55,000 meals a day to the hungry. Who would guess that it was once a nondescript mattress factory?
| Oct 8, 2010
Union Bank’S San Diego HQ awarded LEED Gold
Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building located at 530 B Street has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the Green Building Certification Institute under the standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold status was awarded to six buildings across the United States in the most recent certification and Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building is one of only two in California.
| Oct 6, 2010
From grocery store to culinary school
A former West Philadelphia supermarket is moving up the food chain, transitioning from grocery store to the Center for Culinary Enterprise, a business culinary training school.
