Plaza Theater
4700-08 Wyandotte Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64112
4700-08 Wyandotte Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64112
6 people
favorited this theater
The Plaza Theater opened on October 9, 1928 and helped solidify the elite ambience of the emerging Country Club Plaza. The theater added to the Spanish motif of the Plaza’s architecture, and altered patrons' perceptions of the area from a glamorous shopping area to more of an entertainment destination.
The theater’s 72-foot tower ensured its prominence as a Country Club Plaza landmark for many years. The most remarkable feature of the theater was its decor. Country Club Plaza developer J. C. Nichols and architect Edward Tanner went to great lengths to faithfully recreate the atmosphere of a Spanish villa. The theater lobby, for instance, was designed to mimic an inner court, with a red tile floor highlighted with glazed tiles depicting Spanish military figures. The Plaza Theater was primarily a movie house and was owned by an incarnation of the Fox Company from 1931 through the 1960s.
The space also played a role in the Nichols Company’s ongoing desire to impart culture on visitors to the Country Club Plaza. Beginning in 1951, the Kansas City Music Club sponsored the Thursday Morning Series of lectures and musical performances held at the theater. The list of names of series participants is quite impressive: Charles Laughton; Agnes Moorehead; Jessica Tandy; Hugh Cronyn; Claude Rains; Edward R. Murrow; and many others. Proceeds from the series went to fund club activities.
In 1961, the theater was remodeled to accomodate the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed there for several years. In the early 1980s, the main theater auditorium was divided into two parts, the balcony enclosed, and a screen installed on the upper level. This multi-screen format lasted for several years, but competition from suburban complexes and a 15-screen multiplex at the western edge of the shopping district spelled the end for the Plaza.
In April 1999, the theater finally and mournfully closed. Restoration Hardware, a national chain of hardware and decorating stores, remodeled the theater and moved into the space. The old Plaza, now serving patrons in a different capacity, reopened in the fall of 1999.
Contributed by
Paul Salley
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Recent comments (view all 32 comments)
Saw “White Witch Doctor” here in the summer of 1953. A memorably beautiful theater. – Ed Blank
That picture from 1979 was when I managed that place. I couldn’t say for certain, but I can’t imagine that theatre having 1950. Those seats seemed to have been there forever and i’m thinking it was like 1650 between the 2 auditoriums and when they built the downstairs projections booth, they only lost like 100 seats.
The manager from 1979 was arrested in a sting operation for re-selling tickets around 1981 and he had been there quite a long time. I won’t name names but I doubt it was any poster in here since that manager was quite old back then. The plaza theater was a Mann Theater before it became part of the Dickinson chain. Other interesting facts about this theater was that it had tunnels that ran underneath the theater and it also housed upstairs dressing rooms on the south side that were accessed by stairs behind the stage. The stage itself was quite large and remnants of the pulleys and stage props existed at least into the late 70s.
The flood that the entire Plaza experienced in 1977 also affected the theater to some degree. About 2 feet of water was in the lobby and the entire basement was flooded. Through the foyer were steps up to the second theater (the old balcony) but underneath the foyer were steps leading down to the restrooms so there were some areas that patrons used which were completely underwater but not destroyed by the flood.
The Plaza was one of the last theaters around to use carbon arcs in the projectors. I believe they still used those in the upstairs projectors until the early 80s.
Steve Martin visited this theater unannounced when the movie the Jerk was playing.
I seem to remember the downstairs as having around 960 seats. I believe the last sell out for the larger theater was the Goodbye Girl on opening week-end,
It was not only the multiplexes that buried this theater but the change in business model away from exclusive rights to a movie for just one theater in all of the kc area. Once you had movie openings in multiple locations, sell outs in the larger theaters like the Plaza or the Glenwood were gone.
Renewing link.
1984 Photo of the Plaza Theatre.
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Looks like this theater was a triplex in this 1985 photo.
My late father, Breck Fagin, was the Plaza Theatre’s first manager. I have a black and white photograph of him from about 1930 standing in front of the theatre aside a big birthday cake that says “Plaza Theatre’s 2nd Anniversary”. I will post it on this website when the site is again able to accept photos.
This site has photos of the Plaza Theatre, along with other KC theatres -
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I was the person who came in to replace the Manager in 1979. I was there for 12-18 months (stayed til after the Dickinson take over). It was a great theatre. as RT says, the theatre was more a victim of it’s time than the fact of the multiplexes. There was nothing really that could compete with the picture except the Big Glenwood or the Midland downtown.
never got to see this as a single screen. By the time I got to Kansas City it had been divided up. I do recall seeing “S.O.B.” “Rhinestone Cowboy”,“Blow-Out” and “Hardcore”. Visually the theatre was a stunning sight as you entered the Country Club Plaza area