Orpheum Theatre
759 SW Broadway,
Portland,
OR
759 SW Broadway,
Portland,
OR
3 people
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Opened on 3rd March 1913 as the Empress Theatre, it became the Hippodrome from c.1917-1925. In c.1926 architect B. Marcus Priteca re-modelled the theatre for Pantages and it became the Pantages Theatre from 1927-1929. In the internal re-modelling Priteca created a ‘star’ ceiling over the auditorium.
Known as the Orpheum Theatre from 1929 until it closed in the mid- 1970’s. Its last operators were Mann Theatres who gave a seating capacity of 1,360. It was demolished for a clothing store to be built on the site.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
And there’s a Christmas-time 1948 photo of the Orpheum’s concession stand at View link
Luxury Theaters (if there was ever a misnomer…) was the last operator of the Orpheum, which, like all the other wonderful Portland theaters it acquired, let it fall apart.
Ancient history: In the summer of 1957, when the Orpheum was still a Fox Evergreen theater, an electrical short set fire to the screen, elaborate drapings (a massive waterfall curtain covering a beautiful cherry-red crushed-velvet traverse curtain) and adjacent curtains that had covered original ornamentation.
There were only a couple of people in the theater (a matinee) so nobody was hurt. The feature that day was the critically maligned “The Story of Mankind.” The Oregonian newspaper’s film critic commented that, yes, the movie was awful, but it wasn’t worth trying to burn down the theater.
The Orpheum Theater is visible in this 1961 photo of SW Broadway.
A Robert-Morton theater organ was installed in the Pantages Theater in 1926. Note: Moved in 1954 to Roller Gardens Rink Federal Way, Washington by Balcom & Vaughan.
This is a postcard view of a Pantages Theater in Portland, Oregon. I don’t think its the theater listed here. “The Pantages Theatre was located on SW Broadway and SW Alder Streets from 1912 to 1926”. Was the Pantages seen in the postcard ever a movie theater?
The Orpheum’s marquee and a portion of the vertical sign can be seen in the left background of this 1970 photo: View link
1970 Photo
Does anyone have interior photos of the house or balcony? I had the privilege of seeing movies here as a kid and remember the steep and seemingly sweeping balcony. It always seemed, as a child, it could suck you to the end and over the railing. I realize this was not the case, but you know your memories. It was a shame to lose this and the other theaters Downtown Portland. I remember them fondly as my home away from home.
According to a survey of historic buildings in downtown Portland, the original architect of the Empress Theatre in 1913 was Lee DeCamp. The aptly-named DeCamp was rather peripatetic, and at various times had offices in Denver, Portland, Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Cincinnati, as well as at least one branch office in Canada.
DeCamp designed at least two other theaters called the Empress, in Kansas City, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. DeCamp was for some time the supervising architect for the Sullivan & Considine vaudeville circuit, which favored the name Empress for its theaters. This might have accounted for his propensity to move from city to city. Many other Sullivan & Considine houses were undoubtedly designed or remodeled by DeCamp but are not yet attributed to him.
Renovations described in this 1952 trade report: boxoffice