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Source: Cinema Treasures
This unusual 60s-era movie palace, designed by the firm of Yamasaki and Associates, was built for the Wayne Amusement Company in 1966. Its steel-and-glass boxy shape was typical Modernist architecture, but inside, as its name might imply, it carried a Roman Empire theme. The original 1200-seat auditorium opened with the Doris Day comedy "The Glass Bottom Boat".
In early 1968, two tiny auditoriums opened on the second floor, which had been originally designed as a sprawling restaurant. These were called the Playhouse 1 & 2. A small restaurant and bar, called the Over 21, was also opened upstairs. An unusual feature was that while customers ate, they could wear headphones and view the movie on the screen of the nearby Algiers Drive-In through a large plate-glass window.
The Quo Vadis' owners announced in 1969 plans for a third story, which would house a "rooftop-garden" theater seating over 1000 and featuring a beer garden. However, this was never actually built. In 1970, the original main auditorium was twinned, seating about 540 each. Later in the 70s, one of these 540-seat auditoriums was itself twinned. The Over 21 restaurant was closed in the early 80s and converted into yet another auditorium.
In 1986, the Quo Vadis Entertainment Center, as it was by then renamed, was purchased by National Amusements, who continued to operate it as a multiplex. It closed in January of 2002, with "Harry Potter", "Ali" and "Vanilla Sky" the last movies on its marquee.