Brunson Theater
311 West Texas Avenue,
Baytown,
TX
77520
311 West Texas Avenue,
Baytown,
TX
77520
1 person
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The Brunson Theater, which opened on August 23, 1949, is now a mere shell of a theater. The Art-Deco style designs remain on the exterior, but the interior has been completely gutted (roof, too!).
The city of Baytown purchased the theater in 1997 (foreclosure), and as almost a decade has passed, there is now talk (and potential funding) to adaptively reuse the structure as a performing arts venue.
Contributed by
lauren
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
Here is another photo of the Brunson Theater.
The Brunson Theatre was designed by architect Leon C. Kyburz. There’s a photo of it on this page at the web site of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. They give the exact address of the Brunson as 315 W. Texas Avenue.
The same page has a photo of another Kyburz-designed theater in Baytown, called the Bay, built in 1942 at 3100 Market Street. It doesn’t have a Cinema Treasures listing yet.
OK, this web site has more pictures of both the Brunson and the Bay, but gives the address of the Brunson as 8200 S. Main Street. Somebody will have to check Google Maps to see which is correct (I can’t do it right now because Google Maps keeps crashing my browsers for some reason.)
Joe; Google Maps picture what looks like the rear of a theatre on W. Pearce Street when looking at the 315 W. Texas Avenue address. The 8200 S. Main Street is way off.
If you put in 310 W. Texas and then rotate the photo you will see the Brunson.
If you look at the Google photo……
The Brunson Theater is located on West Texas Avenue. This photo shows the Brunson Theater and a few other buildings. The Texas State Optical store shown in the photo is located at 301 West Texas Avenue. The Google map photo is showing West Pearce Street and not West Texas Avenue, so you probably are looking at the rear of the theater building. Another flaw in Google maps.
1971 Photo
1984 Photo
The actual address of the Brunson Theater is 311 W. Texas Ave.
1949 thru 1969 the Brunson was operated by Jefferson Amusement Co. & East Texas Theatres, 1975 until closing Tercar Theatres. Somewhere I read something about the Brunson being twinned but can’t find it so can anyone confirm this?
Some photos of the Brunson Theatre. Not in the best of shape.
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