Looking West On W. Church Street Showing The Art Theater, Champaign, Illinois
Image by myoldpostcards
A 2015 view of the Art Theatre on W. Church St. in downtown Champaign. The south side of old post office shown in my previous post can be seen past the stoplight.
The Art Theater is where film critic and Urbana-native Roger Ebert "learned about the art of film." Designed by Chicago architect Lewis E. Russell in early twentieth century commercial style, the Art Theater opened in 1913 as the Park Theater. The Art Theater was designed specifically as a movie house, and is a single screen, 575-seat theater.
In 1958, the theater was renamed the Art, and its new owners changed the focus to foreign, classic and underground movies. This focus lasted until around 1970 when, in an effort to distinguish itself in the local market, the Art became an "adult" movie house.
New ownership in 1987 brought a new name, the New Art Theater, and a refocusing on Art films. The New Art Theater closed in 2003, but would reopened showing foreign and industrial films.
At the time I took this photo, the theater had become known as the Art Theater Co-op, and was the first cooperatively owned and operated art movie house in the country. The theater paid tribute to the late Roger Ebert throughout the year by showing films on the late critics "Great Movies" list. Sadly, the theater closed its doors permanently on October 31, 2019.
Located in Champaign County in east central Illinois, the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana are the home of the University of Illinois. The population of the City of Champaign at the 2020 census was 88,302, while Champaign County had a population of 205,865.
