Seminole Theatre
25 West Mowry Drive,
Homestead,
FL
33030
25 West Mowry Drive,
Homestead,
FL
33030
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Originally opened in 1921, the 500-seat Seminole on Krome Avenue was built for Henry Booker, Sr. and James Washington English for movies and live entertainment. The theater was heavily damaged in a 1940 fire, leaving little more than a blackened shell.
Prolific theater architect Roy A. Benjamin was hired to rebuild the Seminole, which he designed in Streamline Moderne style. The cost of the movie theater’s reconstruction was around $50,000. It reopened in fall of 1940. In addition to movies, the Seminole continued to host live entertainment, as well as beauty contests and cooking demonstrations. In the early 70s, the Seminole was renamed the Premier Theatre and began to show Spanish-language movies. It closed in 1979 due to declining attendance.
For years, the theater sat vacant and fell into disrepair. In 1992, when Hurricane Andrew hit the Homestead area, the Seminole was not spared, and though its walls stood, the roof was torn off and the theater’s interior suffered serious damage. In 1993, the Seminole Theater’s owners donated the battered theater to the city, which designed it a local historic site two years later, the sole remaining example of Art Moderne style in all Dade County.
The Seminole Theater Group was organized in 1997 with the intention of restoring the theater as a performing arts venue serving the Homestead and Dade County region. It is expected to cost about $4.2 million to bring the old Seminole back to life.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
nice recent photo:
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/1/seminole.jpg
Here is a close-up view of the Seminole sign.
This is a 2008 photo.
Seminole Theater
25 West Mowry Drive
Homestead, FL 33030
That address matches the one given on the website that TC linked to on Feb 25, 2005 at 10:06am.
As the Premier, this location was open by 1964 and was closed by 1976. The address a that time was 22 N. Krome Avenue.
Here is a nice 2009 photo of the Seminole.
Here is the Premier, circa 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/y86by36
Another 2009 photo is here.
Does anyone know if the Premier was part of the Seminole building or a separate structure altogether?
IN 1967-1969 I WENT TO THE THEATRE.THEY SHOWED MOVIES.THE INTERIOR WAS VERY INTERESTING. THE DOORS ON THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S ROOMS WERE CHINESE, THEY HAD DRAGONS ON THEM. I KNEW THE MANAGER, SHE WAS VERY NICE. I AM GLAD TO SEE IT HAS BEEN RESTORED.