thumb|Site of the Unique Theater just prior to its construction (1903) The '''Unique Theater''' was an 830-seat vaudeville theater, built in 1904 on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was built in the Renaissance Revival style, and situated between the Hennepin Center for the Arts and the West Hotel.
The hotel catered to a family audience with daily performances priced at ten or twenty cents.<ref name=HCA>{{cite book|title=The History of Hennepin Center for the Arts|last=Balcom|first=Thomas|publisher=Mill City History Associates|year=1989|pages=5|location=Minneapolis, Minnesota}}</ref>
==History== The theatre was used as a morgue after the West Hotel caught on fire next door.<ref name="demo"/>
Charlie Chaplin performed at the Unique very early in his career.<ref name=Treasure>{{cite web|url=https://cinematreasures.org/theater/4635/|title=Unique Theater|last=Krefft|first=Bryan|publisher=Cinema Treasures|access-date=2007-12-22}}</ref>
When vaudeville declined in the 1920s, however, the theater became a single-screen movie theater, built in the Renaissance Revival style.<ref name=Treasure />
The theatre was torn down in 1943 after being called a "menace to the public" due to poor structural integrity.<ref name="demo">{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/182693429/|title=It's the 'Last Curtain' for Unique Theater|first=Joe|last=McDermott|date=July 18, 1943|publisher=Minneapolis Star-Tribune}}</ref> Following demolition, the lot it had occupied was repurposed as a parking lot.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mndance.org/contact/map_directions.html|title=Map & Directions|publisher=Minnesota Dance Theatre & The Dance Institute|access-date=2007-12-22|archive-date=2008-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413105301/http://www.mndance.org/contact/map_directions.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> (This was planned to be occupied by part of a Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center,<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.mnshubert.org/Release.html |title=Minnesota Shubert Center receives $11 million from Legislature |date=2007-05-22 |access-date=2007-12-23 |publisher=Minnesota Schubert Performing Arts and Education Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120180524/http://www.mnshubert.org/Release.html |archive-date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref> which was realized near the ''end'' of that century—though that eventual result entailed construction of a new building, which was—years later, without having opened to the public—raised from its foundation, and moved several blocks away, by extraordinary measures.<!-- I hope I've restated these extraordinary details faithfully, before saving, but I will have to come back and check, in order to be sure -->
==References== {{reflist}} {{Movie theaters in Minneapolis}} {{Coord|44|58|45.5|N|93|16|25|W|display=title}}
Category:Theatre in Minneapolis Category:Cinemas and movie theaters in Minnesota Category:Former cinemas and movie theaters in the United States Category:Theatres completed in 1904 Category:Demolished theatres in the United States Category:1904 establishments in Minnesota Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1943 Category:1943 disestablishments in Minnesota Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Minneapolis