State Theatre

805 Hennepin Avenue,
Minneapolis, MN 55402

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Showing 26 - 32 of 32 comments

kbaichtal
kbaichtal on March 10, 2005 at 11:42 am

By the way the photo posted above is of the outer lobby which relatively plain by comparison. The inner lobby (or downstairs ‘mezzanine’ or whatever you’d call it… it’s a lobby but it’s only separated from the room by some curtains) is where the really eye-popping stuff is, with hundreds of paint colors, murals, dangling glass fruit, etc. Definitely worth finding a photo of somewhere.

teecee
teecee on March 10, 2005 at 11:32 am

Great link LM. Did you notice the photo link at the bottom of the modern photo? Great restoration – they probably used the older photo as a guideline.

Patsy
Patsy on March 10, 2005 at 11:23 am

Beautiful lobby and a Minneapolis gem!

Patsy
Patsy on January 14, 2005 at 4:56 pm

Can anyone tell me if this theatre perhaps or the Orpheum was the location of the recent NBC Nightly News broadcast on Thursday, Jan. 13th?

budyboy
budyboy on August 17, 2004 at 10:18 pm

Saw ‘Godspell’ there in the ‘70’s.

A palace; should never go down..

Sean Ryan
Sean Ryan on February 18, 2004 at 9:23 pm

I understand that the theater was not originally part of the developers plans (i.e. demo), what a loss that would have been. It would be great to restore that old marquee. Look’t all them lights ma!

kbaichtal
kbaichtal on February 18, 2004 at 7:25 pm

I am somewhat familiar with this theater having worked there as a backstage janitor for 10 months or so immediately after it re-opened from being remodeled. It is beautifully restored with full color plaster, murals, gold leaf, colored glass fruit hanging from the chandeliers, the whole nine yards. When it was remodeled everything else on the block was torn down except for the YMCA building on the opposite corner (also historic) and a mall was built around the theater incorporating it fully. Only the facade shows on the outside. The stage, flyloft, dressing rooms, physical plant etc. etc. are all brand new as of the 90’s. However the front of house and lobby are original and restored as faithfully as possible.

An interesting story, I did not see this with my own eyes but I was told by the T.D. that they wanted to retain the original orchestra pit too, but apparently the wrong dimension slab had been poured under it all those many years ago when the theatre was originally built. Unbeknownst to anybody the pillars supporting the pit were halfway off the back of the slab and when the back part of the building was torn down the orchestra pit fell out and collapsed. Or so I am told.

Well, if anybody wants to know anything I might be able to answer, feel free to write.