Midland Theatre
1228 Main Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64105
1228 Main Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64105
24 people
favorited this theater
This large movie palace was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in 1927. It originally seated over 3,573 patrons and was built for a staggering $4 million — quite an amount for a theater in Kansas City in its day.
Originaly known as Loew’s Midland Theatre, and part of Marcus Loew’s theater empire, the theater briefly became a bowling venue in 1961 when Loew’s left the theater.
In 1966, American Multi-Cinema bought the theater. A company known then for its innovations with smaller, twinned theaters now operated one of the largest movie palaces on earth.
The renamed Midland Theatre was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1977 and stopped showing movies in 1981 when it became a venue for stage shows, concerts, and other peforming arts.
It remains one of the grandest movie palaces ever built in the United States and a testament to the heralded work of Thomas Lamb.
It was closed on May 13, 2006 for a major refurbishment, re-opening on September 9, 2008.
Contributed by
Brooks
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Recent comments (view all 66 comments)
I just realized that the style for this theatre is listed as “Adam”. It needs to be changed to “French” or “French Baroque” since this theatre is definitely NOT Adam. I think the Midland was Thomas Lamb’s first foray into the French styles.
I think its great another old Loews is is still there and being used today. Why do we keep tearing down all the cool stuff and building condos, Thats right I know $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
ziggy (Sept 16 comment above) is correct. The Midland is far too ornate to be considered Adam in style. It looks like a hybrid French-Italian interior with a Renaissance Revival exterior.
Check out my recent photos of the Midland while attending the Leonard Cohen Concert November 9th. Leonard sailed through three hours like someone half his age, but with an effortless grace that only comes from living a life full and rich. And oh…that velvet voice. A perfect evening in a heavenly place! Enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcfan/4093327507/
KC Those are fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Great slideshow kcfan, loved the this is not an exit sign.Hard to believe that this was a bowling alley for a while.
I found this, not sure if anyone else has posted it, but this an interesting bit about the theater under Durwood’s ownership from 1965:
View link
The poster I’d like to share with you here View link was for a show which took place in the Loew’s Midland Theater I suspect in 1929. The back of the ad promotes a film called “The Taming of the Shrew†which featured Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. It was released on 30 Nov, 1929. I guess the show then was about the same time.
I’d have a couple of questions in relation, and would welcome your thoughts.
First, it says ‘our opening show.’ Would I be right to assume this does not mean the opening show of the theatre itself (which according to the above would have to be 1927) but rather means one of the following: the first vaudeville show in the theatre or the opening show of the Six Rockets at this theatre. In case of the latter, would that mean they’d perform a run of shows? If yes, appx. how many would be a reasonable estimate? I should add, the Rockets includes my grandmother and her sister (bottom left and bottom right respectively who by this time had been on the road since mid-1928!
Second, are all the original schedules of the theatre archived anywhere?
Many thanks in advance for any comments! Warm wishes and season’s greetings!
Some of the best pictures on CT,thanks.
Here is a paragraph from a January 16, 1926, article about the proposed Midland Theatre in The Reel Journal:
As finally built, the theater portion of the project was six floors, rather than four, and the adjacent office tower had twelve floors.It’s noted in the description on this page that the Midland Theatre cost $4,000,000 to build in 1926-27. The theater was indeed large and lavish, but I don’t think it accounted for the entire budget. The twelve story Midland Building at the back end of the theater has about three times the floor space of the theater portion of the project, and probably consumed at least half of that $4,000,000 construction cost.
Here is a 1927 photo showing the office building and theater under construction, taken from the office building end of the project.