12 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Thalia Hall
At the corner of 18th and Allport Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, there is a large, imposing building. It was built in 1892 by a saloonkeeper named John Dusek (pronounced “DOO-sheck”). The building has changed hands many times over the past 120 years, and witnessed a significant change in the surrounding community as its demographics shifted from Bohemian to Mexican-American. The sturdy building has miraculously remained...
Adaptive reuse goes Bohemian at Thalia Hall
John Dušek knew a thing or two about bringing the community together. In the early 1890s, Dusek developed a grand, massive public space to do just that. The building—known as Thalia Hall—sits at 1807 South Allport Street at 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood. And, in a fitting tribute to the theater on the upper level, Thalia Hall is now enjoying a second act. The building was an early example of a mixed-use development. It was...