Tivoli Theatre

The 1200-seat Tivoli, which opened on New Year’s Eve, 1928, was built for local artist E.M Viquesney, and designed by architect Horam Callander, Jr. The theater is situated on Spencer’s Courthouse Square.

The Tivoli’s exterior was designed in Mission Revival style, and featured an atmostpheric-style auditorium, created to resemble a Spanish courtyard. Above, a night “sky” was sprinkled with twinkling “stars”.

In the foyer, a statue of two children playing musical instruments was created by Viquesney himself. The ticket booth was lined with marble and the facade was of white stucco with green trim.

Not only did the Tivoli draw crowds from Spencer, but from several neighboring communities, as well, and not only featured movies, but for many years, live stage shows and concerts as well.

In its last couple decades of operation, the Tivoli lost much of the magic of its early days, and became a bit worse for the wear. It was closed suddenly in 1998, and has since sat vacant.

Recently, a group called Friends of the Tivoli was created to explore the possibility of rescuing the old landmark from further decay.

The group estimates it would cost over a million dollars just for restoring the Tivoli, much less purchasing the theater and operating it.

Anyone interested in more information on helping to save this treasure can contact Friends of the Tivoli at .

Recent comments (view all 17 comments)

lostmemory on October 16, 2008 at 6:44 pm

This is a 2008 photo.

lostmemory on February 24, 2009 at 10:23 am

Here is a new link for the interior photo.

lostmemory on February 27, 2009 at 11:21 am

Here are some Tivoli related photos:

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lostmemory on February 27, 2009 at 11:30 am

Here is the next batch of Tivoli related photos:

Photo1

Photo2

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lostmemory on April 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm

1976 Photo

1982 Photo

lostmemory on October 23, 2009 at 6:35 pm

This is another photo of the Tivoli.

Joe Vogel on January 6, 2011 at 4:02 am

Someone has started a web site about the Tivoli here. It’s set up as a weblog, but so far it has only two entries, both of them being articles from Boxoffice Magazine. There are a couple of photos, and also an e-mail address and a phone number.

Mike Rogers on April 11, 2011 at 4:25 pm

From BOXOFFICE 1985, The Tivoli theatre has closed down until there is legal determination as to whether the owner will be put in jail for allowing Minors to see the R-rated film “THE TEACHERS”.

edison on March 17, 2012 at 8:29 pm

The Historic Properties real estate site lists The Tivoli as being for sale at $55,000. I have emailed the agent in an effort to determine if the listing is current, I haven’t received a reply.

http://www.historicproperties.com/detail.asp?detail_key=nchlf037

CSWalczak on April 4, 2012 at 11:35 pm

This theater is apparently going to be restored. View link