Palace Theater
209 S. El Paso Street,
El Paso,
TX
79901
209 S. El Paso Street,
El Paso,
TX
79901
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Built in 1914 by Henry Charles Trost as the Alhambra Theater, the Moorish style movie theater was later renamed the Palace Theater.
After decades showing movies, the Palace Theater closed. It was renovated and reopened in the late 1990’s as the Xscape, an upscale nightclub.
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Cinema Treasures
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Added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1980
Palace Theatre ** (added 1980 – Building – #80004109)
209 S. El Paso St., El Paso
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Trost & Trost
Architectural Style: Other
Area of Significance: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1900-1924
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater
I passed by the old Palace on Monday. It’s no longer called The Zone anymore. Now it’s some club called Blu. That’s the fourth club to open there in about ten years. I bet this one doesn’t last another year.
This is a photo of an Alhambra Theater in El Paso. The date on the photo is 1910 and the location given is Santa Fe Street.
A Reuter theater organ opus 129 size 3/12 was installed in the Palace Theater in 1924.
Club Blu closed a few months ago. I can’t brag about my prediction since it was obvious to anyone who knows the history of most downtown clubs. I drove by the old theater 4 days ago and took a picture. Unfortunately I have nowhere to post it, but it does look nice except for the big yellow sign advertising the vacant building as FOR LEASE.
This building is for sale. Asking price is $1,500,000. Details are here.
The year given for this photo is 1980.
Henry Trost, was the architect of the Palace Theatre. Between 1903 and his death on September 19, 1933, his firm designed hundreds of buildings in the El Paso area and in other Southwestern cities including Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson and San Angelo, Texas. He had a studio with living quarters for his students adjacent to his house in the Sunset Heights neighborhood of El Paso.
Next door to the Palace in the basement there used to be a bowling alley. I would go there to bowl “duck pins” which are smaller than regular bowling pins and the ball is smaller. They also sold sandwiches…hand-cut salami was my favorite. This was in the 50’s.
From the 1920s a postcard view of El Paso Street along with the Palace Theater in El Paso.
Since its renovation it’s been a series of open and closed clubs. Cynthia Farah Haines has a good write up on it in her book “Showtime! Frome Opera Houses to Picture Palaces in El Paso” (Texas Western Press, 2006).