Businessman Jokūbas Maskoliūnas, one of the many Lithuanian immigrants who settled in Bridgeport in the early twentieth century, built the theater in 1929.

The theater opened with 1,300 seats, making it the largest in the neighborhood, and was built with a commercial block and apartments in the same building.

Nathan's design included elements of Neoclassical and Spanish Revival architecture, such as extensive terra cotta ornamentation, a frieze spanning the length of the building, and plaster detailing on the interior.

[1] Landmarks Illinois named the theater one of four recipients of the 2024 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards.

Together with 55 partners and 49 investors, including Chicago natives Quincy Jones, Jennifer Hudson and Chance the Rapper, he undertook an extensive renovation, resulting in a live music space along with a craft brewery and a restaurant and beer garden, that held a grand reopening event on December 31, 2023.