Garden Theater
E. 13th Street and Mcgee Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64106
E. 13th Street and Mcgee Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64106
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Robb it was sad to see the Plaza close, it was such a opart of the Plaza for so many years. On the many Flts. that I made to KC for TWA I remember it from before it was split and many movies after. At one time TWA had their Flt. attrendent school right there in the Plaza.
This was one of the Boller Brothers first attempts at an atmospheric theater. It was one of four Kansas City-area atmospheric theaters. The other three are lobby area of the Plaza Theater (Edward Tanner with Boller Brothers); the Granada in Kansas City, KS [open] (Bollers); and the Uptown Theater [open] (John Eberson).
In addition to the Granada Theater in Kansas City, KS, only two other atmospheric theaters designed by the Boller Brothers remain open to the public in the USA. They are the Crown Uptown Theater in Wichita, KS; and the Poncan Theater in Ponca City, OK.
Only about 35 Boller theaters remain open to the public nationwide out of the more hundreds they designed. Four of these are in the Kansas City metro area: Granada, Benton. Rio, and Aztec/Fine Arts/Mission Theater. Of the four, three are still operating as theaters. The Benton Theater operates as a church.
There appears to be an effort to restore one other Boller Theater in the Kansas City area — the Apollo Theater on Troost. It is the oldest Boller Theater building remaining in the Kansas City area, but isn’t presently open or used.
The Plaza Theater still exists, but the lobby is now the site of Restoration Hardware. The theater is said to be intact, but the atmospheric elements of the lobby were reportedly lost in the renovation for the retail store.
Regarding the statement: “The Garden Theater opened on August 13, 1912 and was designed by Kansas City architect Carl Boller — as were the Empress, Gayety, and Midland theaters.”
Thomas Lamb was the primary architect of the Midland Theater, and the Boller Brothers were the supervising architects.
A Kilgen organ Size 2/14 was installed in the Garden Theater in 1919.
Another photo:
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Charles’s link shows one picture of the Garden theatre, more info and the Bygone artilcle listed above can be viewed at:
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The is the correct web ling for the Garden theatre
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At one time as seen in the photo it must have been part of the Loew’s circuit, you can see Loew’s on the fromt of the theatre.