Paramount Theatre
1621 Glenarm Place,
Denver,
CO
80202
1621 Glenarm Place,
Denver,
CO
80202
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 62 comments found
When i stood in the auditorium the stage curtain was up and the stage was very shallow indeed. Theres no way it could hold major musicals etc. I guess its just luck its still standing and in such good condition playing the concerts it does. As i mention now the condition its in i just took a look at the official Paramount website and the photos of the auditorium show that work has been done on the auditorium very recently. It does look strange tho as you look down the street and if you know that theres a theatre theres no fly house!
Ian, thanks for your post. I wondered earlier if the narrow proscenium indicated that it was built only to show movies. Your note about the lack of a stage house further suggests that.
When in Denver last year i walked to the Paramount and found it a very beautiful building stretching a good way down the street, quit impressive tho i found it strange not to see a fly house at the stage area. The theatre was open as there was a concert of something there that night, i approached a young girl who was cleaning the foyer area. I asked if i could possibly take a quick look at the auditorium. After i told i used to work in the cinema industry she walked me in. A very long and narrow auditorium leading up to a not too exciting prosenium arch. Reminded me a little of the Waner Grand in San pedro L.A.The decor was in very good condition. The girl told me that Denver was very proud of the Paramount and in the future a large amount of money was due to be spent on renovation.
Well the size of movie screens were not that big in the 1930’s. In the early 50’s Cinerama and CinemaScope and Todd-AO expanded the size of the movie screen.
The stage/proscenium seems unusually narrow. Is that true? If so, what’s the reason—built only to show movies, perhaps?
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980
Paramount Theater (added 1980 – Building – #80000893)
519 16th St., Denver
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Buell,Temple H.
Architectural Style: Art Deco
Area of Significance: Architecture, Art
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater
This is the website for the Paramount Theater. Current seating is 1,870. Click on the “Photo Gallery” for some nice interior views of this theater.
I’m till trying to find information about the Towne Theater in Denver. It was around in the 60s. I went to a Beatles' movie premiere there. Sally
I’m till trying to find information about the Towne Theater in Denver. It was around in the 60s. I went to a Beatles' movie premiere there. Sally
The 1942 Film Daily Year Book lists these theatres for Denver. The number after the name is seating capacity. I can not guarantee the accuracy of this information:
Aladdin, 1400
Alameda, 450
Alpine, 506
Bluebird, 561
Broadway, 1031
Cameron, 728
Colorado, 350
Comet, 350
Denham, 1392
Denver, 2525
Egyptian, 669
Federal, 800
Gem, 500
Granada, 516
Hiawatha, 785
Isis, 1811
Jewell, 575
Kiva, 450
Lincoln, 400
Mayan, 966
Mexico, 394
Mission, 590
Navajo, 380
New Victory, 1100
Ogden, 1221
Oriental, 992
Orpheum, 2600
Palace, 417
Palm, 360
Paramount, 2096
Park, 450
Plaza, 938
Rex, 480
Rialto, 878
Rivoli, 1700
Roxy, 561
Santa Fe, 894
Senate, 540
State, 1000
Sun, na
Tabor, 2269
Tivoli, na
Webber, 910
Architect Temple H Buell is credited for the Facade and entry on Glenarm Place. It is in a mix of Gothic Revival & Art Deco styles carried out in white terra cotta.
The remainder of the building was by Chicago based architects Rapp & Rapp. Styled in a mix of Art Deco & French Renaissance which is similar to the treatment they applied to the Paramount Aurora, IL the following year (1931).
During that time many of the chains were unloading under performing locations and selling properties as leases were up. So if you where a chain that operated a good number of large theatres in the downtown area of the city. You can’t keep all of them operating like the good old days before people all moved to the burbs. When I was based in Los Angeles. I went & worked many times along the Broadway area theatres. During the mid 80’s all those theatres ran full Fri. thru Sun., I’m talking about over 1500 people a show for 5 shows daily. The chain made lots of money on those days, so Mon thru Thur did fair. Those others kept those theatres open for a few more years. But just two years after that Fri thru Sun, the theatres where only pulling in 50 to 100 a show. And during the week you where lucky to get 10 people for a show with a theatre that seats 2000 people. So as a business you can’t keep operating these large houses at that type of a loss. So you slow down the maintenace on the houses and that happened on many of them. During that time frame NGC sold many theatres from the chain. When MANN Theatre bought the chain a few years later. They cut more theatres that where under performing or leases that where up. Look at the Vogue and Hollywood and Fox Theatre in Hollywood are now. Mann Theatres put in some of the sales agreements that the theatres could not operate as movie theatres for a set number of years. The Denver was lucky to operated afew more years. For a theatre at that time that seated over 2000 people, there was not enough good films to keep it a profit making house.
/theaters/15683/
William: I would have bet that would have been the answer and reading the word….DEMOLISHED! My next question is….why? Must look to see if the former DENVER is listed with CT.
It was demolished.
What happened to the theatre with the DENVER marquee?
ken mc: Your b/w photos posted on Sept. 13 were wonderful to see with 2 vertical marquees across the street in downtown Denver!
Does anyone remember where the Towne Theater was located? I suppose it is gone now. Sally
Cool photo. You got two theatres for the price of one. haha
Here is a 1938 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/jb87q
House of Blues is gone. Wonder what’s happening these days.
And what other theatres was Temple Buell, architect involved with?
What is the current status of this theatre in the mile high city….Denver?
Unique B&W photo of the Paramount vertical.
http://snipurl.com/oby1
There was a discussion further up the page about the theaters in downtown Denver. The Denver theater has not yet been listed in CT, and someone had a question about it.
Why was the Denver Theatre Posted on the Paramount page?