Home State Theatre
222 NW 6th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73102
222 NW 6th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73102
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: RKO, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Architects: Truett Harry Coston, William Wallace Frankfurt
Firms: Coston & Frankfurt, Layton, Smith, Forsyth
Functions: Office Space
Styles: Neo-Classical, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Shriners Auditorium, Warner's Auditorium
Nearby Theaters
Originally the Shriner’s Auditorium. It converted to a movie theatre in 1923. It was equipped with a Kimball 3 manual 38 ranks organ, which had 3-consoles. In 1930 it was taken over by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. and was renamed Warner’s Auditorium. This theatre originally had a Neo-Classical style exterior and a Byzantine style interior, which was remodeled into a Streamline Moderne design in early-1947 to the plans of local architectural firm Coston & Frankfurt. It was renamed Home State Theatre and was operated by the Barton Theatre circuit. The theatre was closed in 1951.
It is currently used as office space.
Contributed by
Lauren Grubb
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
It is located in what became the Journal-Record Building, which was heavily damaged in the OKC bombing on 19 April 1995. The building now houses the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum, which has its puvlic entrance on the west side. The north side of the building looks much like it did when the Home State Theatre was located there, minus the marquee. View link
As late as 1947 the Home State Theatre featured an organist during intermissions.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039958/
Interactive map of downtown Oklahoma City
View link
1947 photo of Home State Theater added to this site showing “The Vigilantes Return”. Theater was removed from the Home State building sometime in 50’s. Part of the building was used as a Military processing / induction center during the Viet Nam era 60’s – 70’s while also housing other commercial offices as well as a coffee shop. I never experienced the Theater but, did experience the good ole Army processing, induction in the early 60’s at this location along with several hundred other guys.
Daytime view pic of Home State Theatre, Oklahoma City, added to Photo Section.
Pic of Home State Life Bldg. with view of Home State Theatre on North side of Bldg. added to Photo Section.
Home State Theatre, Oklahoma City, Pic from 1947 added to Photo Section.
1947 Ad, Johnny O'Clock added to Photo Section.
The home theatre did not place any ads until February 24th, 1947.
The Streamline remodeling this house underwent prior to reopening in early 1947 was designed by the local architectural firm Coston & Frankfurt (Truett Harry Coston and William Wallace Frankfurt.) The January 3, 1948 issue of Boxoffice featured an article about the Home State Theatre, revealing that the original lessee, R. Lewis Barton, had recently sold his interest in the house to H. T. Braucht and Robert D. Curran, who had been handling the live events at the house throughout Barton’s tenure.
About $10,000 of the $250,000 renovation budget was expended on improvements for the stage, which was 45 feet deep and featured a 60 foot wide proscenium. Both major road shows and local civic events were presented on the stage. The article also revealed that the 2,200 capacity of the house was actually 2,000 seats and room for 200 standees.