Academy of Music (Chicago)

[5] The construction of the first Academy of Music was spearheaded by Chicago theatre manager Charles R. Gardiner in 1871.

[6][7] Gardiner was the manager of the Academy of Music,[8] and was a powerful booking agent not only in the city of Chicago but on the national stage during the 1870s and 1880s.

[9] The theatre was built just after the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 destroyed many of the city's entertainment venues, and it was the first theatre built in the city after the great fire.

[6] The Academy of Music was designed by architect Stephen Vaughn Shipman (1825–1905).

It opened with a production of T. W. Robertson's comedy Ours with a cast led by the actor Charles Wyndham.

[11] The building of the second Academy of Music was done at the behest of W. B. Clapp who owned the property on Halsted Street.