The exterior of Dinuba’s Strand Theatre building doesn’t look Romanesque at all. The overall form and most of the detailing, especially the arched second floor windows, the pilasters with stylized Corinthian capitals, and the parapet medallions with swags, look more Classical Revival than anything else.
If the Mini-Cinema was in the Northpark Center, which is where the K-Mart madcone referred to is, it’s possible that the street name should be Riverside Parkway, not Riverside Drive. The K-Mart, like the Northpark Center itself, uses an address on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard, but Riverside Parkway loops past the K-Mart on its way from Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard to Riverside Drive. There are several commercial buildings along Riverside Parkway, but I can’t tell which, if any of them, was once the Cinema.
The October 19, 1970, issue of Boxoffice said that Atlanta-based Modular Cinemas of America was preparing to open its eighth Mini-Cinema location, which would debut in Macon about the middle of November. The chain had recently opened a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and so far also had four units in Atlanta and one each in Athens, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Page 35 of the December 26, 1926, issue of The Atlanta Constitution says that an Atlanta architect named Raymond C. Snow designed the Erlanger Theatre. Another of his buildings, an office block at 161 Spring Street NW, was nominated to the NRHP, and the nomination form says that very little is known about Snow, but that established his office in Atlanta in 1923 and he appears to have died before 1930.
Reports of his death may have been exaggerated, though, as I found two later apartment projects by an architect of that name: Redmont Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama, built 1938-1939, and and Gilmour Court Apartments, Richmond, Virginia, for which permits were issued in 1938. This Snow’s office was in Washington, D.C., but it could have been the same architect.
I do wonder if that splendid Baroque interior of the Erlanger seen in the Constitution photo was actually designed by Snow, though. It is so different from the restrained, Georgian exterior of the theater itself and the very similar ground floor of the office block on Spring Street, which the theater’s exterior closely resembles.
Snow’s other surviving buildings also feature rather plain exteriors. It’s possible that the promoters of the theater hired another architect or designer to do the interior, which is quite splendid. If they did, the Constitution didn’t reveal who it was. But the Erlanger’s facade is so much like the building on Spring Street that I have no doubt they, at least, were both Snow’s work.
An article in the November 17, 1912, issue of The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette saying that contracts for construction of the Jefferson Theatre had been let noted that the project had been designed by local architect Charles R. Weatherhogg.
The February 2, 1913, issue of the paper carried an ad announcing that the Jefferson would open on February 8. Admission to the house, built exclusively for movies, would be five cents.
The April 7, 1923, issue of The Fort Wayne Sentinel said that excavation had begun for the Broadway Theatre. Local architect Henry W. Meyer had designed the project.
The November 4, 1923 (the day before opening) issue of the paper carried a full-page ad for the theater, boasting of its dual Powers projectors, its advanced heating and ventilation system, its gold fibre screen, and the Fotoplayer that would provide music and sound effects for the silent movies. The ad also described the Broadway’s seating accommodations
“The seats are placed on a terraced cycloid circular incline with each seat facing the exact center of the screen, and from which the patron has a clear View of the picture over the shoulders of the parties in front.”
A February 12, 1974 Brownwood Bulletin article about the closing of the Bowie Theatre, last of the town’s downtown movie houses, said that the Texas Theatre was in the 100 Block of N. Center Avenue. The Texas was one of five theaters to open in Brownwood during the early 1940s to serve the large population at the nearby Army base, Camp Bowie. The Texas was on the west side of the street, so it has been demolished.
The February 12, 1974, issue of the Brownwood Bulletin said that the Bowie Theatre would present its last show that night. Interstate Theatres would continue to operate the Cinema Twins and two drive-ins. The final movie at the Bowie was “Billy Jack”. The house had opened on March 28, 1941 with “The Strawberry Blonde” starring Rita Hayworth and James Cagney.
As far as I know neither Raymond Kennedy, chief architect of the Chinese Theatre, nor Donald Wilkinson, head architect of the firm of Meyer & Holler, with whom Kennedy worked closely on the project, ever visited China, but I’m sure Kennedy would have done some study of Chinese design for the project.
Although the theater’s details are Chinese, the building’s form is more European Renaissance, particularly the forecourt. A forecourt is not characteristic of Chinese design. Both Kennedy and Wilkinson were classically trained, and Kennedy was awarded a Diploma as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, where he studied for three years.
Architect William Clayton Meador was active from around 1909. I’ve been unable to find out anything about his parter, except that his surname was Wolfe, not Wolf. The partnership does not appear to have lasted long in any case. I’ve found references to several projects attributed to Meador alone, from the 1910s, the 1920s, and the 1930s, but the Grand Theatre and a 1919 church in Archer City are the only projects I can find attributed to the firm by any source available on the Internet.
It does look as though the library might have mislabeled that photo. The wall against which the poster behind Ms. Miller is leaning is also too wide for the Quincy.
The Lyric Theatre building has been demolished. Historic aerial photos show the building that probably once housed the Lyric still standing just south of the Grand Theatre as late as 1966, but the next aerial available is from 1998, and the site had become a parking lot by then.
The Fox Kettering was one of a pair of almost identical houses opened by National General in December, 1966, the first having been the Fox Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego,opened on December 23.
These theaters were designed by Harold W. Levitt & Associates, with William H. Farwell and Ernest W. LeDuc, and at least two more were later built on the same plan: the Fox Northwest Plaza in Dayton, Ohio, opened in December, 1967, and the Mark Twain Theatre, Sunset Hills, Missouri, opened in August, 1968.
The Davison Theatre, having been opened in 1911, must have been the project at Beaver Dam noted in the July 2, 1910, issue of The American Contractor. This was to be a two-story theater, 46x100 feet. It was being designed by architects Ellerbe & Round of St Paul. Beaver Dam’s only other old theater, the Odeon, was already in existence as the Opera House by 1900.
Histories of Ellerbe Architects say that Olin Round joined Franklin Ellerbe’s firm in 1911, but this item indicates that the partnership began at least a year earlier. Round left the firm in 1915.
The grass-covered site of the Grand Theatre is roughly across the street from the building currently occupied by Byrd Watson Medical Equipment, which is at 123 N. Locust. The Grand’s address was probably about 124 N.Locust.
The Broadway Theatre probably opened before the end of 1910. The September 17 issue of The American Contractor said that the contracts had been let for gas and plumbing, electrical work, plastering, painting, and roofing had been let. The project at Broadway and St. Charles Street for the St. Charles Amusement Company was one of two Duggan & Huff-designed houses under way in St.Louis in the summer of 1910, the other being the Union Theatre.
The August, 1911, issue of Motography had this item:
“The E. H. Pipe Realty Company, which is erecting a moving picture theater on Olive street, between Vandeventer avenue and Sarah street, has leased the same to the Olive Theater Company for twenty-five years at $2,000 a year.”
The September 3, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater to be built at Olive and Sarah Streets in St. Louis was being designed by architects Clymer & Drischler.
I see that one of the courtesy ads in the newspaper rivest266 uploaded is from architect Frank L. Sutter, though it says only “Supt. of the New Ideal Theater” and the article text says that “[t]he architectural work was in charge of Horace B. Sutter.”
The Internet provides many references to Frank L. Sutter, who had practiced architecture in Dayton for decades. Horace B. was presumably a younger relative, as Frank Sutter was born in 1832 and would have been at least 80 years old when the Ideal was built. I can’t find any other references to Horace B. Sutter, so if he was an architect too his career must have been very short.
A pencil rendering of the Cinema I & II by architect William Riseman is one of the illustrations on this page of NorthPark Center’s web site.
The exterior of Dinuba’s Strand Theatre building doesn’t look Romanesque at all. The overall form and most of the detailing, especially the arched second floor windows, the pilasters with stylized Corinthian capitals, and the parapet medallions with swags, look more Classical Revival than anything else.
If the Mini-Cinema was in the Northpark Center, which is where the K-Mart madcone referred to is, it’s possible that the street name should be Riverside Parkway, not Riverside Drive. The K-Mart, like the Northpark Center itself, uses an address on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard, but Riverside Parkway loops past the K-Mart on its way from Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard to Riverside Drive. There are several commercial buildings along Riverside Parkway, but I can’t tell which, if any of them, was once the Cinema.
The October 19, 1970, issue of Boxoffice said that Atlanta-based Modular Cinemas of America was preparing to open its eighth Mini-Cinema location, which would debut in Macon about the middle of November. The chain had recently opened a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and so far also had four units in Atlanta and one each in Athens, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Page 35 of the December 26, 1926, issue of The Atlanta Constitution says that an Atlanta architect named Raymond C. Snow designed the Erlanger Theatre. Another of his buildings, an office block at 161 Spring Street NW, was nominated to the NRHP, and the nomination form says that very little is known about Snow, but that established his office in Atlanta in 1923 and he appears to have died before 1930.
Reports of his death may have been exaggerated, though, as I found two later apartment projects by an architect of that name: Redmont Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama, built 1938-1939, and and Gilmour Court Apartments, Richmond, Virginia, for which permits were issued in 1938. This Snow’s office was in Washington, D.C., but it could have been the same architect.
I do wonder if that splendid Baroque interior of the Erlanger seen in the Constitution photo was actually designed by Snow, though. It is so different from the restrained, Georgian exterior of the theater itself and the very similar ground floor of the office block on Spring Street, which the theater’s exterior closely resembles.
Snow’s other surviving buildings also feature rather plain exteriors. It’s possible that the promoters of the theater hired another architect or designer to do the interior, which is quite splendid. If they did, the Constitution didn’t reveal who it was. But the Erlanger’s facade is so much like the building on Spring Street that I have no doubt they, at least, were both Snow’s work.
The Colonial Theatre opened on Saturday, September 17, 1910, according to that day’s issue of The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.
An article in the November 17, 1912, issue of The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette saying that contracts for construction of the Jefferson Theatre had been let noted that the project had been designed by local architect Charles R. Weatherhogg.
The February 2, 1913, issue of the paper carried an ad announcing that the Jefferson would open on February 8. Admission to the house, built exclusively for movies, would be five cents.
The April 7, 1923, issue of The Fort Wayne Sentinel said that excavation had begun for the Broadway Theatre. Local architect Henry W. Meyer had designed the project.
The November 4, 1923 (the day before opening) issue of the paper carried a full-page ad for the theater, boasting of its dual Powers projectors, its advanced heating and ventilation system, its gold fibre screen, and the Fotoplayer that would provide music and sound effects for the silent movies. The ad also described the Broadway’s seating accommodations
A February 12, 1974 Brownwood Bulletin article about the closing of the Bowie Theatre, last of the town’s downtown movie houses, said that the Texas Theatre was in the 100 Block of N. Center Avenue. The Texas was one of five theaters to open in Brownwood during the early 1940s to serve the large population at the nearby Army base, Camp Bowie. The Texas was on the west side of the street, so it has been demolished.
The February 12, 1974, issue of the Brownwood Bulletin said that the Bowie Theatre would present its last show that night. Interstate Theatres would continue to operate the Cinema Twins and two drive-ins. The final movie at the Bowie was “Billy Jack”. The house had opened on March 28, 1941 with “The Strawberry Blonde” starring Rita Hayworth and James Cagney.
A 1938 city directory lists the Gem at 313 Center. The Queen Theatre was at 203 Center.
The Queen was advertising through 1958, and I’ve seen an ad for it as late as the January 11, 1959, issue of the Brownwood Bulletin.
A 1938 city directory gives the address of the Queen as 203 Center.
As far as I know neither Raymond Kennedy, chief architect of the Chinese Theatre, nor Donald Wilkinson, head architect of the firm of Meyer & Holler, with whom Kennedy worked closely on the project, ever visited China, but I’m sure Kennedy would have done some study of Chinese design for the project.
Although the theater’s details are Chinese, the building’s form is more European Renaissance, particularly the forecourt. A forecourt is not characteristic of Chinese design. Both Kennedy and Wilkinson were classically trained, and Kennedy was awarded a Diploma as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, where he studied for three years.
Architect William Clayton Meador was active from around 1909. I’ve been unable to find out anything about his parter, except that his surname was Wolfe, not Wolf. The partnership does not appear to have lasted long in any case. I’ve found references to several projects attributed to Meador alone, from the 1910s, the 1920s, and the 1930s, but the Grand Theatre and a 1919 church in Archer City are the only projects I can find attributed to the firm by any source available on the Internet.
It does look as though the library might have mislabeled that photo. The wall against which the poster behind Ms. Miller is leaning is also too wide for the Quincy.
The Lyric Theatre building has been demolished. Historic aerial photos show the building that probably once housed the Lyric still standing just south of the Grand Theatre as late as 1966, but the next aerial available is from 1998, and the site had become a parking lot by then.
Thanks, Mike. I’ll note that in a comment on the Kettering Cinemas page.
The Fox Kettering was one of a pair of almost identical houses opened by National General in December, 1966, the first having been the Fox Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego,opened on December 23.
These theaters were designed by Harold W. Levitt & Associates, with William H. Farwell and Ernest W. LeDuc, and at least two more were later built on the same plan: the Fox Northwest Plaza in Dayton, Ohio, opened in December, 1967, and the Mark Twain Theatre, Sunset Hills, Missouri, opened in August, 1968.
The July 23, 1910, issue of The American Contractor carried this item:
The Davison Theatre, having been opened in 1911, must have been the project at Beaver Dam noted in the July 2, 1910, issue of The American Contractor. This was to be a two-story theater, 46x100 feet. It was being designed by architects Ellerbe & Round of St Paul. Beaver Dam’s only other old theater, the Odeon, was already in existence as the Opera House by 1900.
Histories of Ellerbe Architects say that Olin Round joined Franklin Ellerbe’s firm in 1911, but this item indicates that the partnership began at least a year earlier. Round left the firm in 1915.
The grass-covered site of the Grand Theatre is roughly across the street from the building currently occupied by Byrd Watson Medical Equipment, which is at 123 N. Locust. The Grand’s address was probably about 124 N.Locust.
The Broadway Theatre probably opened before the end of 1910. The September 17 issue of The American Contractor said that the contracts had been let for gas and plumbing, electrical work, plastering, painting, and roofing had been let. The project at Broadway and St. Charles Street for the St. Charles Amusement Company was one of two Duggan & Huff-designed houses under way in St.Louis in the summer of 1910, the other being the Union Theatre.
The August, 1911, issue of Motography had this item:
The September 3, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater to be built at Olive and Sarah Streets in St. Louis was being designed by architects Clymer & Drischler.Harry Pruitt, Centralia exhibitor, was mentioned in the November 4, 1922, issue of Motion Picture News.
I see that one of the courtesy ads in the newspaper rivest266 uploaded is from architect Frank L. Sutter, though it says only “Supt. of the New Ideal Theater” and the article text says that “[t]he architectural work was in charge of Horace B. Sutter.”
The Internet provides many references to Frank L. Sutter, who had practiced architecture in Dayton for decades. Horace B. was presumably a younger relative, as Frank Sutter was born in 1832 and would have been at least 80 years old when the Ideal was built. I can’t find any other references to Horace B. Sutter, so if he was an architect too his career must have been very short.