 Abe and Barney Balaban , together with Sam and Morris Katz — founders of the Balaban and Katz theater chain , built the Chicago Theatre in 1921 as one of a large chain of opulent motion picture houses . The theater would become the flagship for 28 theaters in the city and over 100 others in the Midwestern United States that B & K operated in conjunction with the Paramount Publix chain . Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp were primary architects and the final construction cost was $ 4 million ( $ 53 @.@ 1 million in 2016 dollars ) . The Rapp brothers also designed many other B & K properties in Chicago , including the Oriental and Uptown Theatres . Preceded by the now @-@ demolished Tivoli Theatre of Chicago and Capitol Theatre of New York City , the Chicago Theatre was the " ... largest , most costly and grandest of the super deluxe movie palaces " built up to that date and thus now the oldest surviving grand movie palace . The Chicago Theatre was among the earliest theaters in the nation to be built in Rapp and Rapp 's signature Neo @-@ Baroque French @-@ revival style . It is the oldest surviving example of this style in Chicago . 
