AFI Silver Theatre
8633 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring,
MD
20910
8633 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring,
MD
20910
16 people
favorited this theater
Operated by the American Film Institute, the AFI Silver Theatre is a film house and education and cultural center. Arthouse films, classics, and film festivals are presented in the historic theatre that opened in 1938 and in the two auditoriums that opened in 2003. The AFI Silver is near the Silver Spring stop of Metro’s Red line. Silver Spring is a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The Silver Theatre opened September 15, 1938, with 1,100 seats and “Four Daughters” starring John Garfield and Claude Rains. The Silver was built by a local movie theatre operator W.S. Wilcox, but quickly turned over to Warner Bros. The theatre was designed by fame theatre architect John Eberson, one of his later classics. The historic building has a nautical theme including its mast like vertical sign and imitation portholes. When seen from above, the building mimics the lines of a ship. Eberson designed it to give moviegoers the feeling they are entering a cruise ship. The movie screen was designed to appear as if it were floating in front of the auditorium.
In 1984, objecting to the preservation of the theatre, its owners demolished some of the facade including the vertical neon town and tile mosaics. As demolition crews punched holes in the brick facade in August 1984, frantic Silver Spring residents rushed to the theatre to plead that demolition be halted. A ‘stop work’ order from Montgomery County saved the theatre from demolition at that time. The infamous, deliberate vandalism of the theatre by its owners became a rallying call to those who cherished it. K-B Theatres closed the Silver Theatre in 1985. Boarded up, its fate was uncertain. The Silver Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Richard Striner, a founder and former president of the Art Deco Society of Washington led a 19 year campaign to save the theatre. In 1998, Montgomery County began negotiations with the American Film Institute to reopen the theatre. The AFI were previously based at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center since 1975. Renovations by Gensler Architects at the Silver began in 2001. The five year construction project cost twenty million dollars and was totally funded by Montgomery County. County executive Douglas M. Duncan led the charge to fund the theatre’s rehabilitation. The AFI Silver is the flagship (pun intended) of a one million public & private rejuvenation of the downtown Silver Spring.
The historic Silver Theatre was ‘rehabilitated’ rather than replicated, because it isn’t an exact replica as it was. The original blueprints were discovered, and reviewed, along with vintage photographs. When built, the theatre had 60 colors in the interior. The reincarnation has 40 colors including the blues, yellows, reds and deep browns typical of 1930’s Art Moderne. Peacocks and shells can be seen on the wall decor. A new larger screen was placed in front of the original smaller screen. The original carpet was replicated.
The rehabilitation project features 32,000 square feet of new construction housing two new stadium theatres, a film-based retail kiosk, office and meeting space, as well as reception and exhibit areas.
The AFI Silver reopened April 4, 2003 with a gala including a screening of the restored classic “The Oxbow Incident” and actor/director Clint Eastwood receiving the AFI Silver Legacy Award. With photographs of its facade and auditoriums, the AFI Silver Theatre is depicted in the 2004 book ‘Cinema Treasures, A New Look at Classic Movie Theaters’.
As of 2007, historic Auditorium 1 has 400 seats in its raked auditorium, an electric organ to accompany silent films, projection equipment that includes 70mm projectors, and a very large movie screen that is 41 feet wide and 18 feet tall. Auditorium 2 has 200 seats, stadium seated, and a very large movie screen that is 37' x 19'. Auditorium 3 has 75 seats, stadium seating, and a 27' x 14' screen. All auditoriums have digital surround sound, are THX certified, and have curtains to open and close before the movie.
Concessions that can be enjoyed in the cafe or auditoriums include beer and wine, in addition to food and other drinks.
Contributed by
Ray Barry, Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 211 comments)
:–) You know, Giles, I wasn’t planning on seeing it because of what you guys blogged about the possibility of them showing a pinkish print. I missed most of the 70mm screenings for lack of interest and because I work more weekends now. I had to leave as the end credits started. Today, is my brother’s birthday.. Blog about Chicken @ Landmark’s page. I wouldn’t mind seeing that and Samsara this week if I can finish my work early.
I’m going to have low expectations for “The Master.” This way when I see it, I’ll be amazed. ;–)
I hear what you’re saying about not having a trailer in front of “South Pacific.” Back in the day when they had 70mm event films, 70mm trailers were almost equally or even more exciting because you had the w-i-d-e format and the superior surround sound to get excited about what’s coming. Since “The Master” sounds like one of those event films, at least as far as 70mm is concerned, not the fact that its a big action adventure movie, I think it deserved a plug here. I think there probably was no 70mm trailer to tack on to the beginning of “South Pacific” anyway.
not to be a broken record about this, but if and when the Silver gets around to doing another 70mm film fest – I really hope they get a clue and showcase the films in the evenings – the weekend (and weekday) screenings were TOO early. The missing of ‘Those Magnificent Men’ was a bitter disappointment.
Visiting from out of town, I liked the weekend matinees! They had 2 or 3 screenings of each film, so sure, they can show one in the evening, too.
I would like to see the AFI website identify the auditorium any film is to show in. 70mm can only be shown in the historic auditorium, but I’d like to know for the 35mm shows which films will be there.
Yesterday, saw “The Master” in 70mm at the Ziegfeld in NYC, where it looked stunning! No use of curtain, and no surround sound but the score was great. At least a few hundred people attended the 3:30 PM show. Anybody see it here at the AFI?
I will probably see it mid-week. From what I’ve gleaned from a few reviews, there probably isn’t much surround sound but the Post makes comment about it being visually stunning. If its that good, I’ll probably check out the 1 35mm venue and the digital print for comparisons.
Howard, I’m surprised they didn’t use the curtain at the Ziegfield for at least this movie. I’m sure they had a projectionist running the movie since it is 70mm, why couldn’t he just push the button to open and close the curtain, too?
I saw “The Master” here in 70mm on the 21st at 7:15. The show was almost sold out, which I honestly didn’t expect. The print was stunning.
yes, the print was stunning, but the sound I thought sounded too strident and overly loud at times – all in all though, thank you P.T. Anderson and the Weisteins for actually releasing a ‘new’ movie in 70mm – let’s the floodgates open now [okay it’s a pipedream, but I hope some director’s take note and realize the potential 70mm still has (I want to hear what a modern soundtrack can sound like in five front channel mag sound)]
Any news on how well the movie is doing here? I saw ‘The Master’ in DP but was underwhelmed by the story…Forgive my simplistic summation, but all I got from it was that Joaquin Phoenix character is a sexually repressed drunk, seeks answers from Phillip Hoffman’s Ron Hubbard-like character, fails, but finds happiness at the end, by meeting and getting laid by a bar floozy. So..there is a happy ending, after all to a ‘happy ending.’ :–)
What I did like was the acting. For sure, Joaquin and Hoffman will get nominations for their acting. Phoenix has come a long way from when I first saw him ‘Inventing the Abbots’ and the jealous schemer in ‘Gladiator.’ Hoffman, proves again, what a great character film actor he can be.
For sure, the DP print I saw, captured an excellent first generation scan, presumably 65mm. Colors, texture, even the wrinkles of Joaquin’s face in the opening shot, with what looked like rosacea could be seen…so is it worth seeing AGAIN?
so if you saw it in DP, you obviously didn’t see it here at the AFI, personally I wasn’t wow’d by the story or the movie on the whole, but in supporting 70mm releases, sometimes you just got to suck it up and give your money to the cause, and support.
There is a 70mm Film Festival in NY, NY sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Unlike AFI Silver, they are screening “Star!,” “The Sound of Music” and “My Fair Lady” in 70mm – 3 films I had really hoped AFI would have offered but did not. I also agree with Giles – there should have been more evening screenings at AFI Silver. In the summer, many of us are away on the weekends or just caught up doing other things which are difficult to get away from.