Terrace Theatre

I worked as an usher at the original Terrace before it was twinned and the auditorium was round with a 180 degree ultravision screen, quite impressive, it was ruined when they twinned it.

What was the name of the 60s/70s twin behind Asheville Mall? It had a cool design, with two oval auditoriums. Torn down in the early 90s? Or late 80s?

The Terrace Theatre opened as a single-screen house sometime in 1966 or 1967. Plans to build it were announced in the January 31, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, and an article in Boxoffice's issue of April 22, 1968, about Ultra-Vision, said that the system had been tested in the Terrace "...since last June."

The Terrace was operated by North Carolina Theatres, and was designed by the Asheville architectural firm Six Associates, headed by William B. McGehee. Six Associates designed several other theatres that are mentioned in various issues of Boxoffice between 1948 and 1972. Among them were the 750-seat Merrimon Twins on Merrimon Avenue, which I believe might now be one of the locations of the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, which shows movies at its Merrimon Avenue restaurant.

Well, I don't think that's the theater I was discussing. The one behind Asheville Mall started out as a twin, as it had two distinct oval auditoriums. Is that not correct? And I don't recall the name "Terrace".

ARE YOU SURE THE TERRACE WAS A NORTH CAROLINA THEARE? I THOUGHT IT WAS AN ABC THEATRE LIKE THE MALL 1 AND 2.

The Terrace became an ABC house within a few years of its opening. Boxoffice reported the Terrace as being owned and operated by North Carolina Theatres in 1968. The earliest reference I've found to the Terrace being operated by ABC was in the July 19, 1971, issue.

This doesn't answer my question.

John Mackey started there in the theatre business then transferred to National Hills theatre.Then to the Gaston Mall Theatre.He would end his trek in Charlotte at the Tryon Mall 1 and 2 theatres, All ABC THEATRES.

The demolished theater behind the Asheville Mall was originally called the Ultra-Vision Mall Twin Theatre - the one with the oval theaters. It was demolished in the late 80s, to make room for mall expansion.

After reading many more Boxoffice items it has dawned on me that North Carolina Theatres was a subsidiary of Wilby-Kincey. As Wilby-Kincey was the regional affiliate of Paramount Theatres, and Paramount eventually came under the control of ABC, in a way this was always an ABC house. The company just didn't use the ABC Theatres name until some time after the Terrace opened.

As I noted in my April 25 comment last year, the Terrace was the theater at which Wil-Kin tested its Ultra-Vision system before rolling it out to other theaters under its control. I've been unable to find anything in Boxoffice about a twin with the name Ultra-Vision in Asheville, but such a theater would most likely have been designed by William B. McGehee of Six Associates, the same architect and firm credited with designing the Terrace, as well as the Ultra-Vision theaters in several other cities. McGehee's early Ultra-Vision theater designs apparently all featured oval auditoriums.

One of the founding partners of Six Associates, by the way, was Erle G. Stillwell, who was the principal designer of theaters for the Wilby-Kincey circuit during the 1930s. He continued in that role for many years after joining the Six Associates.

It was called The Mall Twin by the time I went there, in the late 70s, through the late 80s. It actually lasted less than twenty years, due to mall expansion. It was a GREAT theater - absolutely beautiful in design. I never went to the Terrace Theater, which was apparently very close by? The Dreamland Drive-Inn was just below what became the mall.

I had forgotten about the Merrimon Twin! i guess the last film that I saw there was "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980.

Vogel - I also grew up in Miami, and the Sunny Isles Twin was a spectacular theater. Amazing architecture - even a step above the Ultra-Vision Theaters. The tile work, and color themes....WOW!