The Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre at 4 West Randolph Street in the heart of the Theater District in Chicago, IL has had a long history, from replacing the Iroquois Theatre to playing home to the immensely possible production of Wicked the Musical.
The Ford Center for the Performing Arts was built by the Rapp Brothers on the former site of the Iroquois Theatre that was destroyed in a disastrous 1903 fire, which was the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, claiming 571 lives in 20 minutes. Originally the building was designed with an emphasis on late Gothic Revival and Art Deco design as a movie palace.
Tickets to the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre have varied through the years, from movies at first to theater productions, to exploitation films in the 1970s after the patronage had sharply declined. By 1981 the venue had closed and sat empty, unused for a decade.
Now the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre has been restored and reborn into the epicenter of the Theater district and has inspired the restoration of the surrounding theaters as well.
Ford Center for the Performing Arts Address:
24 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60601
