One of Chicago’s most beloved neighborhood theaters, spared the wrecking ball several times over its 100-year history, is set to finally reopen after a comprehensive renovation and preservation project lasting nearly a year.

photo by ejojola / CC BY

The Davis Theater in Chicago’s quaint Lincoln Square neighborhood, has announced a grand re-opening night set for December 15, just in time for some of the year’s most anticipated films. This comes after a year in which the theater underwent an extensive rehab with a keen eye towards maintaining the historic feel of the theater while bringing it into the 21st century. Owing to the Davis’ architectural and historic significance, the theater was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in March of this year.

Situated along Lincoln Avenue running through the heart of Lincoln Square, the Davis Theater has been an integral part of the community for about as long as the neighborhood has been around. The theater opened as The Pershing in 1918 and featured live vaudeville acts and silent movies. In 1930, as the theater changed hands and was upgraded to “talkies”, the name also changed to the familiar Davis.

Lincoln Square has maintained a strong German-American identity since the area was settled by German farmers in the 1840s. With a wave of newly arrived Germans immigrants settling in the neighborhood in the 1950s, the theater began showing exclusively German films to audiences eager for a familiar reminder of home.

As the neighborhood and audiences’ tastes changed, the theater changed formats and ownership several times over the following decades. Everything from puppet shows to song and dance productions have played alongside popular films of the day. Film festivals and revivals championed by legendary Chicago film critic Gene Siskel sustained the theater through these rough years, years when the theater’s future was often tenuous and uncertain. In the late 1990s the theater was showing primarily second-run films as a new owner was sought to redevelop the theater into a shopping mall. In a remarkable show of neighborhood unity and grassroots organizing, a “Save the Davis” campaign was started to convince developers and city officials to preserve the charming neighborhood theater.

When asked for comment, neighborhood resident and former Alderman Eugene Shulter told the Chicago Reader:

“I love the Davis. I go there myself. My kids go there. All the neighborhood kids go there. It's a neighborhood institution”.

Hundreds of people turned out to a public forum on potential redevelopment at the local library, completely filling the meeting room and spilling into the hallways demanding that their neighborhood theater be saved. The theater was eventually purchased by owners committed to preserving the theater for years to come.

Fast forward to 2015 and the beloved theater was beginning to show its age and the effects of nearly 100 years of ad hoc modifications and piecemeal renovation. Despite a recent upgrade to digital projectors, current owner Tom Fencl saw the need to restore the Davis to its former glory. A complete overhaul was planned, including knocking down walls that divided the large main theater, renovating the famously shabby restrooms, and adding a restaurant and bar to the lobby.

"I just feel like I'm a custodian," Fencl told DNAInfo "If you ask anybody about Lincoln Square, they mention the Davis. In small towns, movie theaters are a cornerstone. We're part of what gives Lincoln Square its hometown feel."

But as anyone who has undertaken home renovations can attest to, there were surprises along the way. As construction crews peeled back decades of additions and modifications, the workers and Davis staff were shocked to discover architectural and ornamental features of the structure previously thought to have been lost to time.

These joyful discoveries forced the Davis management and the project architects to quite literally go back to the drawing board to incorporate and preserve these original design elements. These discoveries also pushed back a slated summer opening for the theater, but proper preservation was deemed more important than a speedy reopening.

During this year-long project, the Davis still found a way to be involved in the world of film and television despite being unable to show films. Neighborhood resident and celebrated indie-filmmaker Joe Swanberg featured the theater mid-renovation, incorporating it into an episode (“Utopia”) of his highly regarded Netflix series, Easy.

With the reopening of the Davis Theater, it now rejoins the ranks of The Music Box in Lakeview, The Logan Theater in Logan Square, the New 400 in Rogers Park, and the Harper Theater in Hyde Park as fine examples of Chicago’s rich tradition of small, neighborhood theaters. While at one point numbering in the hundreds (with five alone in Lincoln Square and the adjacent neighborhoods of Ravenswood and North Center in the early 20th century) neighborhood theaters are becoming a “rare bird” in all but the largest cities.

There’s of course more than just the Davis to visit when considering a weekend afternoon with the family or night out in Lincoln Square. The neighborhood continues to maintain its Old World charm with traditional European restaurants, German taverns, and the 126 year-old Merz Apothecary.

For those looking for a more modern experience, Lincoln Square is a hotspot in Chicago for foodies with two Michelin-starred restaurants within a short walk of the theater, not to mention the theater’s own restaurant and several other new entries to the food scene. Just to the south along Lincoln Avenue, those who want a drink or two before the show can discover The Northman cider bar and local craft-brewing stalwart Half Acre among many others.

During warmer months there are weekly farmers markets and smaller-scale street fairs with food and music that the whole family can enjoy. Families congregate year-round at Giddings Plaza just two blocks from the theater. Residents also venture to the heart of the neighborhood for a bite to eat at one of the adjacent restaurants or to just let the children play and burn off a bit of energy.

Though ambitious, this soon to-be-completed restoration project undertaken by the Davis Theater will ensure that the charm of this small, neighborhood theater will be enjoyed by generations of Lincoln Square residents and visitors for years to come.

The Davis Theater is located at 4614 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625