Capitol Theatre
Peachtree Street,
Atlanta,
GA
Peachtree Street,
Atlanta,
GA
2 people
favorited this theater
The Capitol was located in the 200 block of Peachtree Street adjacent to the Roxy Theatre.
Their marquees were located so close to each other that one end of each butted together.
If anyone has further information on this theatre it would be greatly appreciated.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Here is a link to the website for Syon Park in England, the great Ducal Estate that includes Syon House, designed by Adams:
http://www.syonpark.co.uk/
The photographs of the magnificent interior of Syon House give some idea of what the interior of Atlanta’s long gone Capitol Theatre must have been like.
Popcorn Fire Empties Theatre
NY Times January 6, 1947
ATLANTA, Ga., Jan. 5 (UP) — Patrons poured from the Capitol Theatre tonight when a popcorn machine started a small blaze back stage and five fire trucks rushed to the scene, only half a block down Peachtree Street from the fire-wrecked Winecoff Hotel.
The fire at the Winecoff Hotel was one of Atlanta’s great tragedies. If memory serves, it occurred in 1946. The Winecoff Hotel was built circa 1913 and it did not have a sprinkler system or a fire escape (at that time). The fire swept through much of the building, trapping people on the upper floors. Regrettably, I do not recall the number of people who lost their lives. It was a positively dreadful event.
The thought of another fire in the Capitol Theatre the following year must have been genuinely frightening at the time. It’s no wonder that the Atlanta Fire Department took it very seriously.
Thanks, Lost Memory, for this bit of Atlanta history.
Don….Here are a few headlines from the NY Times concerning the Winecoff Hotel fire. Your correct, it was in 1946.
127 KILLED BY FIRE IN ATLANTA HOTEL; MANY DIE IN LEAPS; The Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta as It Burned Early Yesterday Morning
December 8, 1946
ATLANTA, Ga., Dec. 7—In one of the most tragic fire disasters in the country’s history, the fifteenstory Winecoff Hotel on Peachtree Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta was destroyed early this morning with a toll estimated at 127 dead. Many scores were injured.
LESSEES INDICTED IN WINECOFF FIRE; Grand Jury Alleges a Felony in Death of One of the 119 —Arson Is Intimated Lack of Escapes Noted Use of Gasoline Hinted
December 24, 1946
ATLANTA, Dec. 23 (AP)—Involuntary manslaughter indictments were brought against the operators of the Winecoff Hotel today after a grand jury investigation into the fire which took 119 lives in the early hours of Dec. 7.
FIRE CHIEF BLAMED IN WINECOFF BLAZE; Atlanta Grand Jury Says Men Fought Fire With Obsolete Ladders He Had Accepted
January 4, 1947
ATLANTA, Ga., Jan. 3 — Firemen fought the disastrous Winecoff Hotel fire with obsolete, handoperated ladders, “which are largely twenty-five years old and entirely out of keeping with modern fire-fighting equipment,” it was charged today in special presentments by the Fulton County (Atlanta) grand jury.
OPERATORS FREED IN HOTEL FIRE CASE; Georgia Court Absolves Three of Involuntary Manslaughter in Winecoff Disaster
June 13, 1947
ATLANTA, Ga., June 12 — The Georgia Supreme Court today ordered dismissal of involuntary manslaughter indictments against operators of the Winecoff Hotel, where 119 persons lost their lives last December, in the worst hotel fire disaster in the nation’s history.
Happening only a month after the hotel fire, I can understand why the small theater fire would frighten the movie patrons. You can probably find much more about these fires in Atlanta newspapers.
Thanks again, Lost Memory! The next time I’m in Atlanta I hope to look up this tragic event in the newspaper files at the Atlanta Public Library.
The fire at the Capitol Theatre must have been especially frightening coming only about a month after the fire at the Winecoff Hotel. That disasterous event left a long shadow on the city of Atlanta.
Over the past year I have been doing a series of articles on Atlanta'a movie theatre’s that had pipe organs. These were published in the Atlanta Chapter ATOS newsletter. The Capitol is perhaps one of the least known of the larger movie palaces in Atlanta and hopefully I have included photographs of the interior and exterior along with information about the organ.
The article is on the chapter website for a limited time (one year)
and is in the April 2007 newsleter. Just go to the website and find that month in the newsletter section Hope you enjoy
John – Thank you for your excellent article on The Capitol Theatre on the Atlanta Chapter ATOS newsletter website! Since you cited the first run of of the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN, I thought I would elaborate on my previous comment about it. My dad told me on several occasions about seeing FRANKENSTEIN at a midnight sneak preview before the regular run. The audience had no idea of what film they would be seeing. The theater did brisk business on these sneak previews. My dad was a teenager at that time and he was thoroughly movie crazy, a trait that I inherited as much by nature as by nurture. I wish you could have seen his face light up when he told me about the impact that FRANKENSTEIN had on that unsuspecting audience! He said the “creation” scene was literally electrifying (you’ll excuse the bad pun). The audience hadn’t seen anything quite like it before. He told me that people literally screamed and women ran out of the theatre! The end result was that the audience loved it! It was obvious that Universal had a major hit on its hands.
My dad obviously liked the Capital Theatre. Somehow I had the feeling that I would have liked going to the Capitol Theatre, too!
In 1944, when I judge that the Capitol had already seen its best days, we in the school boy patrol had Saturday meetings there, following which we got to see currently popular “B” movies, such as “Pistol Packin' Mama”, and “ "Cat People.”
Man from the photos the Capitol and Roxy marquees were close.
The Capitol had “accommodations for colored people on Ellis Street”. According to a 1928 ad.