Tracy O'Brien grew up in Barrington and remembers exactly what it cost to get into the Catlow as a teenager. "In my teen years, it was five bucks to get in," she said after touring the theater on a Tuesday in late July, one of a group of residents and donors walking through the building's peeling plaster and half-finished lobby. She liked what she saw, and she liked what she didn't see just as much. "I like that it's going to remain quaint and historic, and they're going to take the time to make it what it should be."
Most people who drive past the Catlow on Main Street have absorbed the broad strokes of that story by now. Theater closes in 2020. Local couple buys it in 2022. Nonprofit forms, fundraising begins, scaffolding goes up. The assumption that tends to follow is a simple one: once the outside looks finished, the doors open. That assumption is wrong, and the gap between those two things is worth understanding if you live anywhere near downtown Barrington.
The Exterior Finish Line Isn't the Whole Story
According to an August 3, 2026 report in the Daily Herald, the Catlow's exterior will be completely finished by this fall. That part of the timeline is holding. What isn't finished, and what the same report makes clear still needs funding, is the interior: electrical work, plumbing, and everything else that determines whether the building can legally hold an audience.
Brian Long, who bought the theater with his wife Julianne in 2022 and now runs the Catlow 1927 Foundation, has been careful not to promise a date he can't back up.
"It's not if, it's when," Long said. "We're not going to sign contracts that we can't afford. It will be done."
That caution is worth sitting with. A finished facade is the most visible kind of progress, so it's the version of the story that spreads fastest. But brick, windows, and a restored marquee don't need a functioning electrical panel behind them. The interior does. So when the scaffolding comes down this fall, what you'll be looking at is a beautifully restored shell, not a theater that's ready to seat anyone.
What Three Million Dollars Actually Bought
The foundation's fundraising has a pace worth tracking, because the pace tells you more than the total does. In October 2024, the group had raised close to $1.5 million toward its $6 million goal. By December 2025, that figure had grown to about $2.2 million. As of the August 2026 report, the foundation had reached roughly half of its $6 million target, putting the total somewhere near $3 million.
Run the math and something shifts. The first jump, from $1.5 million to $2.2 million, took about fourteen months. The second jump, from $2.2 million to roughly $3 million, took about eight. Fundraising sped up, not slowed down, which is unusual for a capital campaign this far into its life. Part of that acceleration traces to a matching campaign the foundation launched last month, in which an anonymous donor is matching every contribution dollar for dollar. Every dollar given right now counts twice.
Here's roughly where that money has and hasn't landed, based on what the foundation and its restoration partner have described publicly:
Funded and visible this year
- Exterior masonry, windows, and the marquee, on track for completion this fall
- Restoration of hand-painted plaster and the proscenium arch, handled by Daprato Rigali Studios, a restoration firm tracing its roots to 1860 with a long record of Chicago theater work
- Removal of a third generation of moldy seats, with replacements modeled on the theater's original 1920s design
Still needing funding
- Interior electrical and plumbing systems
- ADA-accessible ramps, lifts, and restrooms
- The catering kitchen and lounge planned for the two storefronts flanking the lobby entrance
None of this is a criticism of the pace. It's a picture of where the money actually goes on a project like this, and why a finished exterior this fall is a milestone, not a grand opening.
A Corridor, Not Just a Marquee
The more interesting part of the Daily Herald's reporting isn't the Catlow at all. It's what one of the people interviewed, identified only as Coyle, said about where the Catlow fits into downtown Barrington's bigger picture. Coyle described a developing arts corridor that already includes Barrington's White House, the Parker Players Theater Company, and Barrington High School's new auditorium.
That framing changes what the Catlow's restoration actually means for someone who already lives in Barrington. A single reopened theater is a nice amenity. A cluster of four cultural venues within a few walkable blocks is a different kind of asset entirely, one where a Friday night could plausibly include a play at Parker Players, a stop for dinner, and eventually a concert or film at the Catlow, all without moving your car. Long has said as much himself, predicting that moviegoers will spend some of their disposable income on food and drink in the village once the theater reopens. That's the kind of foot traffic that a downtown built around a single anchor rarely gets, and it's happening in the same stretch of blocks where the village has spent the past several months rebuilding Cook and Station streets with wider sidewalks and expanded outdoor dining space.
What You Can Actually Do This Week
You don't have to wait for a grand opening to be part of any of this.
- Stop by Catlow East at 107 E. Main St. It's the foundation's pop-up museum, gift shop, and event space, stocked with historical artifacts, old chalkboards from the theater's original snack shop, and merchandise whose proceeds go straight toward the restoration.
- Show up to National Night Out tonight, August 6, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in downtown Barrington. It's a village-sponsored event and a good excuse to walk the same blocks that make up the emerging arts corridor.
- Watch for the exterior to wrap this fall, then hold off on assuming that means the marquee lights up the same week. The interior timeline depends on funding that's still coming in.
The Long Game
The Catlow was built by a local businessman named Wright Catlow, following his father's earlier work building a community gathering hall on West Station Street, and it opened on May 28, 1927, with a screening of "Slide, Kelly, Slide." Its interior design came from Alfonso Iannelli, a sculptor who also collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright, and his "Fountain Girl" statue has stood in the foyer since opening night. It's still there now, one of the few things in the building that hasn't needed restoring.
The 100th anniversary lands on the same date in 2027, and the foundation is working toward it. Whatever the ticket price ends up being, it likely won't be five dollars again. But the impulse behind Tracy O'Brien's excitement, the idea that a place holding a century of collective memory is worth doing right rather than doing fast, seems to be exactly what's guiding this project. If you've been wondering why the scaffolding has been up so long, that's the answer. It's not stalling. It's the difference between a building that looks done and one that's actually ready.
If you're curious about what else is shaping downtown Barrington and the surrounding neighborhoods this year, from streetscape work to the market itself, the team at Renee Clark Homes keeps a close eye on both. Explore our Barrington neighborhood guide or reach out anytime. Let's Connect.
