Anthony Theater

Thanks to Keith Wondra for the excellent photos of this splendid survivor.

Since my previous comments about him, a bit more information about the architect has appeared on the Internet, most notably in a publication from the City of Wichita’s Historic Preservation Office that indludes a brief biography (PDF file here.)

Samuel Siegfried Voigt was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1885. His family moved to Wichita in 1896. He studied architecture and engineering through the International Correspondence Schools, earning a degree in 1909. He became a draftsman in the office of Wichita architect Fred G. McCune, and established his own practice in 1913. Voigt appears to have specialized mostly in institutional projects, as by 1929 he had designed over 400 schools and 200 churches, completing projects in four states according to that year’s edition of Who’s Who in Wichita. He died in 1937, so the Anthony Theatre was a fairly late project.

I still haven’t been able to discover if Voigt designed any theaters other than the Anthony.

Undated night photo of the Anthony Theatre.
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This is a 2009 marquee photo.

It’s unfortunate that the nomination doesn’t include any information about S.S. Voigt. There are only a few references to him on the Internet, leading to a photo of building he designed in 1927, and it makes me wonder if perhaps he designed the Barron Theatre as well. (Search Voigt on this page to reach a page about the 1927 Midian Shrine Temple.)

I also found that he designed a drug store at the northeast corner of Douglas and Hillside in Wichita which is still standing and can be seen in Google Street View (search 3200 E. Douglas Ave., Wichita.) All these buildings, including the Anthony Theatre, have the same attention to subtle detail that the Barron’s facade has, and the 1927 Shrine Temple even features the sort of Solomonic column details on the windows that the Barron sports.

The attribution of the architect above is wrong. A.N. Fisher was the builder of the Anthony Theatre. The architect was S.S. Voigt, of Wichita.

The Anthony Theatre was partly owned by Charles Barron, operator of the Barron and Kansas theaters in Pratt, Kansas. His business partner at Anthony was Hazel Droz. Barron sold the Pratt theaters in 1943 and retired to California, but continued the partnership in Anthony until his death in 1952. He also held part ownership of the Star-Vue Drive-In at Anthony, opened by Mrs. Droz in 1950. After Mr. Barron’s death Mrs. Barron remained a partner in the Anthony operations for some time. Mrs. Droz sold the theater and the drive-in in 1970.

Also, a house called the Palace Theatre opened in Anthony on October 9, 1925, according to the notice in the October 17 issue of The Reel Journal. It was operated by L.W. Conner, an Oklahoma exhibitor. The Palace is mentioned a couple of times in 1926, and after that I can’t find anything about it. Does anybody know what became of it?

The Anthony Theatre is currently closed, but was recently purchased from the private owner by a local non-profit group who is helping Anthony and Harper citizens restore it to its former glory. As an artistic gem, it will be carefully restored as we also add back an asset for our community members to enjoy. You can follow our efforts at our website, www.anthony-theatre.com .
A recent news article:
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Here is another photo.

This is a 2007 photo of the Anthony Theater.

There is a photo of the Anthony Theater here:
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