Seminole Theatre

Homestead, FL

25 West Mowry Drive

, Homestead, FL 33030 United States

(map)

Status:	Closed/Renovating/Restoring
Screens:	Single Screen
Style:	Art Moderne

Function:	Unknown
Seats:	500
Chain:	Unknown

Architect:	Roy A. Benjamin
Firm:	Unknown

Originally opened in 1921, the 500-seat Seminole on Krome Avenue was built for Henry Booker, Sr. and James Washington English for movies and live entertainment. The theater was heavily damaged in a 1940 fire, leaving little more than a blackened shell.

Prolific theater architect Roy A. Benjamin was hired to rebuild the Seminole, which he designed in Streamline Moderne style. The cost of the movie theater's reconstruction was around $50,000. It reopened in fall of 1940. In addition to movies, the Seminole continued to host live entertainment, as well as beauty contests and cooking demonstrations. In the early 70s, the Seminole was renamed the Premier Theatre and began to show Spanish-language movies. It closed in 1979 due to declining attendance.

For years, the theater sat vacant and fell into disrepair. In 1992, when Hurricane Andrew hit the Homestead area, the Seminole was not spared, and though its walls stood, the roof was torn off and the theater's interior suffered serious damage. In 1993, the Seminole Theater's owners donated the battered theater to the city, which designed it a local historic site two years later, the sole remaining example of Art Moderne style in all Dade County.

The Seminole Theater Group was organized in 1997 with the intention of restoring the theater as a performing arts venue serving the Homestead and Dade County region. It is expected to cost about $4.2 million to bring the old Seminole back to life.

Contributed by Bryan

YOUR COMMENTS

Homepage:
http://www.seminoletheatre.com/

posted by TC on Feb 25, 2005 at 10:06am

nice recent photo:
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/1/seminole.jpg

posted by TC on May 10, 2005 at 10:26am

Here is a close-up view of the Seminole sign.

posted by Lost Memory on Aug 8, 2007 at 6:49pm

This is a 2008 photo.

posted by Lost Memory on May 26, 2008 at 7:09pm

Seminole Theater
25 West Mowry Drive
Homestead, FL 33030

That address matches the one given on the website that TC linked to on Feb 25, 2005 at 10:06am.

posted by Lost Memory on Jul 13, 2008 at 5:43pm

As the Premier, this location was open by 1964 and was closed by 1976. The address a that time was 22 N. Krome Avenue.

posted by AlAlvarez on Mar 15, 2009 at 2:39pm

Here is a nice 2009 photo of the Seminole.

posted by Lost Memory on Apr 9, 2009 at 8:23pm

Here is the Premier, circa 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/y86by36

posted by ken mc on Oct 30, 2009 at 7:11pm

Another 2009 photo is here.

posted by Lost Memory on Nov 11, 2009 at 7:09pm

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Seminole Theatre

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