Capitol Theater
2525 W. Broad Street,
Richmond,
VA
23220
2525 W. Broad Street,
Richmond,
VA
23220
2 people
favorited this theater
The Capitol Theater was opened with Norma Shearer in “The Waning Sex” on 8th November 1926, in a district 1 mile away from the downtown centre. The architects of this Spanish Atmospheric design theater were Carneal & Johnston, with decorations by sculptor Ferruccio Legnaioli.
It was the first theater in Virginia to show ‘talkies’ in September 1927. It was re-decorated in 1936 into a streamlined Art Deco styling which lost most of the original Atmospheric style of Legnaioli’s urns, foliage and garden murals. The Wurlitzer organ was retained, but was no longer played.
The theater closed in 1984 and was demolished to build a McDonald’s Restaurant, which never happened.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The section on Richmond is sooo lacking.No mention of the Mosque and all the houses that were/are on W.Broad.
Actually, the Capitol originally advertised itself as being decorated in the Italian style. The organ was NOT a Wurlitzer—it was a Robert Morton. The Capitol remained one of the city’s premiere theatres despite its small size long after the big downtown theatres had become grind houses and was still showing first run pictures in the early ‘80s. However, it finally closed in '85 or '86. It was torn down because McDonald’s wanted to build a new store in the area. They then decided that the site wasn’t adequate after all, and tore down a '20s gas station. That wasn’t sufficient either and they built on an empty lot. Thanks, McDonald’s, for screwing Richmond out of two historic and beautiful buildings for no reason at all!
When we operated the CAPITOL theatre (I was ad manager for Neighborhood Theatres), it was the premiere theatre from 1965 until the Ridge opened in 1970. Movies like “MASH” and “THE EXORCIST” ran for weeks to sell out crowds. It had no waiting lobby to speak of, and manager Charlie Hulbert used to enjoy running a long line down towards the hotel, claiming “nothing draws a line like a line” and he seemed to be right. In 1984, we had scheduled “PURPLE RAIN” to show there that summer. A buyer came by and claimed he needed it immediately, so we reluntantly sold the theatre, and then he let it sit idle for two or three years. In the meantime, the Broad Street Cinema just past Willow Lawn opened PURPLE RAIN and grossed $175,000. I believe we sold the Capitol for something like $250,000. Sad we couldn’t have waited.
I worked part time at the Capitol Theatre in 1980 while a student at VCU. Four floors of the neighboring Hotel William Byrd were used as a dormitory for the university. I worked concession mostly. The manager was an affable fellow named Herschel Hale. I remember the long lines for such first run movies as American Gigilo, Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, The Amityville Horror, and Monty Python’s Life of Brian. I also remember the Italian restaurant next door, Julian’s, had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. We played heck keeping it out of the theater! Anyone have updates about the area? I haven’t been there since 1981.
the Capitol was razed about a decade or so ago, as was Julians right next door, both situated directly across from the old RF&P train station, which still stands, and is now a museum.
Here is a circa 1987 photo of the Capitol Theater.
1978 clipping of newspaper ads for the Capitol and other Richmond-area Neighborhood Theatres:
View link
STYLE, REMODELED TO:
ART DECO
PREVIOSULY OPERATED BY:
THALHEIMER INTERESTS
The auditorium housing shown in the B&W photo suggests that it originally had far more seats than 678. Perhaps the capacity was reduced in the 1936 “modernization?”
Auditorium pictured in this 1929 trade ad: archive