Akron Civic Theatre

Thanks for the clue about Street View, TivFan. I had no idea this was available. Everybody should check this out! You can go right down to the stage and use the zoom feature to get a close-up view of the organ console, and close-ups of all the decorations along the way.

A number of earlier comments have noted the narrowness of the Akron Civic Theatre’s entrance, but I don’t think anyone has commented on why it is so narrow, or why it is designed in such a different architectural style than Eberson’s Moorish-Spanish theater. In fact, the theater’s entrance was designed by a different architect, C. Howard Crane, and it was built about a decade before the theater itself.

Originally, the current theater entrance was intended to be only one entrance to a large project called the Hippodrome Arcade, which was to have included a glass-roofed galleria lined with thirty shops as well as a theater with some 3000 seats. As told in this Akron Beacon Journal article, the Hippodrome Arcade Company was founded in 1917 by L. Oscar Beck, but the project proved to be too ambitious, and the company collapsed in 1921. Only the entrance building with its Italian Renaissance facade was completed.

In late 1926, Marcus Loew bought the property at a sheriff’s auction. Crane’s original plans were abandoned, and Loew’s Akron Theatre was built on part of the site that Beck had intended for the shopping arcade (the original plans had the Hippodrome Theatre at the far end of the arcade, adjacent to Water Street, where there is now a parking lot.) Crane’s original entrance building was only slightly modified when the new theater was built, and thus retains its Italian style.

The lobby is built on concrete stilts over the Ohio canal. Mr. Loew did not live to see the opening on April 20, 1929. It contains a 3/13 Wurlitzer that is still used.

Did you mean Marcus Loew?

In the early 1990s, I had the privilege of sitting in this theater and seeing the film “Awakenings.” i remember coming early just so I could see the beauty that was still so evident in the architecture and design of this building, all accented by colorful lighting.

Ditto!

Life’s too short: Yesn and long time no see on CT!

tisloews: I agree!

I was able to spend the day in Akron today, afterall, and my visit included an unscheduled tour of this Eberson atmospheric theatre by Mr. Howard Parr, Executive Directior….thank you as it is always a thrill to see one of Mr. Eberson’s atmospheric theatres!

The tour has been postponed until next spring, but I did receive in the mail today a lovely booklet that was offered in 2002 when the theatre re-opened after a massive restoration project. It is free by just calling the box office number that is given on their website.

November 10th is the tour date this month which starts at noon and they are free to the public each month.

This is a 1930 ad for “The Big House”.