{"nrhp_refnum":"84000934","name":"Biograph Theater Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2433 N. Lincoln Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.926388288000055,"lon":-87.64926937199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-05-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Performing Arts","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial and theater building at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, Illinois, completed in 1915 to designs by Samuel N. Crowen.","why_significant":"It is an early example of a building designed specifically for showing motion pictures, combining a theater with storefronts. Its main claim to fame is that John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents in the alley beside it on July 22, 1934, after attending a film there. The form ties this event to Chicago's history of criminal notoriety.","narrative":"Built in 1915 on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, the Biograph Theater is a two-story brick building that combines ground-floor shops with an auditorium designed specifically for motion pictures. Architect Samuel N. Crowen gave it a neo-classical exterior, with palladian windows above the marquee and white terra-cotta pilasters and belt course. The entrance was remodeled in an Art Deco style around 1930, and the terrazzo floor and cove lighting from that work survive, as do the original seat frames and the steel-trussed, column-free auditorium. As an early purpose-built movie house, it reflects a time when the new medium was still seen as a risky investment, so commercial space was included. Its lasting fame comes from July 22, 1934, when bank robber John Dillinger left a showing of Manhattan Melodrama and was shot by FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis in the alley south of the entrance. The site remains a visitor draw tied to Chicago's criminal lore.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Samuel N. Crowen","architectural_style":"Neo-classical exterior with Art Deco entrance remodeling from the late 1920s or early 1930s","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a theater; condition rated good and altered, with the original marquee largely intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.21173-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/8926/28892669/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/84000934.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000934/1b657bacf3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000934/1b657bacf3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Amerique","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victory_Gardens_Theatre.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Amerique</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victory_Gardens_Theatre.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892669","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biograph_Theater","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4914863"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/biograph-theater-building-84000934/"}