The Chateau Theatre was one of Rochester's first air-conditioned buildings, presenting plays, concerts, operas, silent and later talking movies, and vaudeville.

Chateau headliners over the years included actresses Ethel Barrymore and Tallulah Bankhead, the husband-wife acting team of Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, cinema cowboy Tom Mix, Mary, the rhinoceros from Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan, and bandleader Paul Whiteman ("The King of Jazz").

The original film projection booth sits above the second floor balcony, hidden behind the giant Barnes & Noble mural.

The constellations, which once twinkled as dramatic scenes gradually changed from day to night, are still visible although difficult to see because of the larger spotlights later installed by Barnes & Noble.

The proscenium arch at the top of the escalator rises above the Chateau Theatre's former stage, which measured 33 feet (10 m) across and along with the organ rose to audience eye level at the start of each performance.

Although the theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, it closed on October 2, 1983, with the 1934 movie classic It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.