Chicago Movie Palaces as Sites of Material Culture

Keywords: material culture; cultural consumption; urban landscape, neighborhood dynamics, TIF, gentrification, urban sprawl
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The materiality of a city informs how individuals see, understand, and experience that city. Capital, in many ways, determines that materiality, as well as the production of space, the local cultures of consumption, and the lived experience in that urban environment. Interaction with material culture orders urban living at different scales; from perception of the city as a whole, to the spatiality of neighborhoods, to an individual’s quotidian routines. An analysis of Chicago theater houses reveals this.
As a major economic hub, this city is a major site of cultural consumption. In 2018, cultural activity contributed $2.25 billion to the Illinois economy, which constitutes 4% of the state’s overall GDP. Nonprofit arts organizations themselves spend $1.21 billion annually while their audiences spend $989.8 million on arts-oriented services.
The findings of this study illustrate that localized material culture in the form of neighborhood theater houses is very much a part of the city’s fabric. Incorporated in 1834, the city erected its first theater in 1837. From its beginnings, the city has housed over 600 theater palaces. There are, however, few studies that focus on how these sites of material culture affect neighborhood dynamics. Currently, there are over 70 operating theater houses; most of them are in residential neighborhoods. This project focuses on these sites of material culture and how they co-produce the identity of its neighborhood and the city itself. These buildings serve as historical marker, indicator of community socioeconomic composition, and reveal municipal influence on the urban landscape.