Here is a slide show with nine photos of the Galaxy Sparks, from the web site of BB Architects. It is much more sedate than the designs the same firm has done for Regal Cinemas.
Fuller Sears Architects designed the multi-use project in which this theater is located, but the interior layout and design was by BB Architects, who have designed many projects for Regal. Here is a slide show with eleven photos of the theater on BB Architects' web site.
I believe the architectural firm Hodges and Associates changed its name to Hodges Architecture because there is a large law firm called Hodges & Associates. Lawyers would be the last people anyone would want to get into a naming rights conflict with.
Thanks, Edie. I see that the rebuilt entrance to the Kiva was in the store front now occupied by a cocktail lounge called Joel’s, at 119 W. 8th Street. What I assume was the theater’s auditorium houses a billiard parlor. The original theater entrance on Main Avenue, which must have been very long, houses a boutique called Gloss.
These days most new theaters are built by large chains who usually have complete control over the project, and they deal with large architectural firms that provide all of the plans in house, with the theater company paying for them.
There are probably exceptions when a theater is part of a larger project, in which case the developer might have more control over at least the exterior look of the theater portion of the project, and the developer’s architects would work in tandem with the theater chain’s architects who would fit their design for the interior into a building designed by the developer’s architect. In those cases the developer would probably pay for the overall plans for the building, while the theater company would pay for the interior plans and renderings.
Historically, when there were a lot of independent theater operators, it was not unusual for developers to build a theater on speculation and then lease it out to an operator, either an independent or a chain eager to get into that particular market. This has become rare, though. Big chains that dominate the industry today like to maintain control over the look and layout of their theaters, and will typically hire the same architectural firm to design one project after another.
As can be seen from this photo uploaded here by stepwest, the AVCO was mostly demolished and rebuilt for iPic. This page on the Robinson Construction Co. web site has four photos of the iPic, but the three interior shots are all of the restaurant and bar.
The rebuild was designed by the Dallas firm Hodges Architecture (formerly Hodges & Associates.) This page at Hodges' web site has a more extensive slide show that includes a couple of pictures of the Avco building before demolition.
There are three exterior photos of the Bridgeport Stadium 18 on this page of the web site of Robinson Construction Co., builders of the project for Regal Cinemas. The cinema was designed by TVA Architects (formerly Thompson Vaivoda & Associates) of Portland.
Blair Ballard Architects has decided to condense its name to BB Architects. I suppose Mr. Ballard should be commended for his modesty (a rare trait among architects, in my experience.) The Regal Barkley Village 16 is among the theater projects given its own slide show on the firm’s web site.
You’ll find more photos of the Regal 16 starting on this page at the web site of Robinson Construction Co., the firm that built the project. It gives the seating capacity as 2,935.
The Regal 16 has been renovated, and one auditorium has been converted to 4DX (rumbly tumbly smell-o-vision with weather.) I don’t know what the seating capacity is now, but it’s probably been greatly reduced by the installation of new, larger seats as seen in the photo on this web page. They apparently couldn’t be arsed to remodel all the way with stadium seating, though. Architects for the renovation were The Design Collective.
It appears that the magazines I cited in my previous comment misspelled the theater owner’s name. His capsule movie reviews in issues of Motion Picture Herald from 1946, 1947, and 1948 (there are dozens of them) are signed James C. Balkcom, Jr..
The April 10, 1947, issue of Motion Picture Daily mentioned the Gray Theatre:
“Atlanta, April 9. — Martin and Thompson theatres circuit has sold the Gray, at Gray, to J. C. Balcom and the Roxy, at Milan, to Cecil Crumby.”
Mr. Balcom might have been the manager of the Gray for Martin and Thompson prior to buying the house from them. A brief review, written by J. C. Balcom, Jr., of the Gray Theatre, Gray, Ga., was published in the “What the Picture Did For Me” section of the May 12, 1945, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The current Google street view shows only one sign on the building, that being a “For Sale” sign posted by Stebbins Commercial Properties.
This web page indicates that the building has been bought by the Manchester Development Corporation, on behalf of the city, and it was to have been renovated as a home for the Old Sol Music Hall, with its opening planned for 2018. However, the latest news on the Old Sol web site says that the deal has fallen through.
I can’t find anything more recent telling of what is to become of the Rex’s building, but presumably the city still owns it and it is currently not in use.
This item from the June 17, 1920, issue of Engineering News-Record is the earliest item I’ve found about the Capitol Theatre:
“Wis., Manitowoc – Theatre – Until Feb. 1 by W.T. [sic] Raeuber, archt., Teitgen Bldg., constructing 2 story, 100 x 125 ft. brick, tile and steel, brick foundation, for George Bros. Co., South 8th St. Cost between $100,000 and $150,000 .”
The November 4 issue of the same journal noted that contracts had been let for the somewhat altered project:
“Wis., Manitowoc – Theatre – W. J. Raeuber, archt., Teitgen Bldg., let contract to Badger State Constr. Co., Manitowoc, building 4 story, 87 x 115 ft., concrete, brick and steel, for George Bros., 913 S. 8th St. About $125,000. Noted May 6.”
Plans were apparently altered again before completion, as in its final form the building had only three storys.
Architect William J. Raeuber was practicing in Manitowoc at least as early as 1900. In 1906 he provided the plans for a remodeling and expansion of the Ceske Slovanska Lipa Opera House (one of two opera houses Manitowoc then boasted) at 411 N. 8th Street. The Opera House also showed movies from time to time before being converted into a dance hall.
The National Chevy Association retails new and used parts for Chevrolet automobiles made from 1949-1954. They appear to do business primarily online, so the building probably houses their offices and warehousing and shipping facilities.
It has undoubtedly been reseated with larger seats and more leg room (…“the most comfortable and easy viewing seats in town” according to the earlier comment by baileysporck.)
Olde Sedona Bar & Grill is at 1405 AZ Hy 89. 1420 is now the location of a Whole Foods Market, and it looks like fairly new construction. I’m pretty sure that the Flicker Shack’s building has been demolished.
The original Normandie Theatre was said to be a replica of the theater on the French liner of the same name. The Internet has a number of photos of the theater on the liner, but the only photo I’ve found of the 53rd Street house itself is an interior shot of the back quarter of the auditorium on this web page. It’s a small scan, with limited area enlarging possible by hovering your cursor over it.
The description says that the Strand/Paramount was built next door to the Dixie, but we have the Paramount listed at 1312 26th, which would be a block away and on the opposite side of the street from 1407 26th.
Here is a slide show with nine photos of the Galaxy Sparks, from the web site of BB Architects. It is much more sedate than the designs the same firm has done for Regal Cinemas.
BB Architects provides this slide show with four photos of the Lancaster Mall cinemas.
The web site of BB Architects features this slide show with seven photos of Regal’s Martin Village cinemas.
BB Architects provides this slide show with eleven photos (mostly interior shots) of the Edwards Boise Downtown Stadium 9.
Google maps pin icon is too far east, as is the current setting of the street view.
Fuller Sears Architects designed the multi-use project in which this theater is located, but the interior layout and design was by BB Architects, who have designed many projects for Regal. Here is a slide show with eleven photos of the theater on BB Architects' web site.
Here is a slide show with six photos of the Regal Landing Stadium 14 on the web site of the architects.
I believe the architectural firm Hodges and Associates changed its name to Hodges Architecture because there is a large law firm called Hodges & Associates. Lawyers would be the last people anyone would want to get into a naming rights conflict with.
Thanks, Edie. I see that the rebuilt entrance to the Kiva was in the store front now occupied by a cocktail lounge called Joel’s, at 119 W. 8th Street. What I assume was the theater’s auditorium houses a billiard parlor. The original theater entrance on Main Avenue, which must have been very long, houses a boutique called Gloss.
These days most new theaters are built by large chains who usually have complete control over the project, and they deal with large architectural firms that provide all of the plans in house, with the theater company paying for them.
There are probably exceptions when a theater is part of a larger project, in which case the developer might have more control over at least the exterior look of the theater portion of the project, and the developer’s architects would work in tandem with the theater chain’s architects who would fit their design for the interior into a building designed by the developer’s architect. In those cases the developer would probably pay for the overall plans for the building, while the theater company would pay for the interior plans and renderings.
Historically, when there were a lot of independent theater operators, it was not unusual for developers to build a theater on speculation and then lease it out to an operator, either an independent or a chain eager to get into that particular market. This has become rare, though. Big chains that dominate the industry today like to maintain control over the look and layout of their theaters, and will typically hire the same architectural firm to design one project after another.
As can be seen from this photo uploaded here by stepwest, the AVCO was mostly demolished and rebuilt for iPic. This page on the Robinson Construction Co. web site has four photos of the iPic, but the three interior shots are all of the restaurant and bar.
The rebuild was designed by the Dallas firm Hodges Architecture (formerly Hodges & Associates.) This page at Hodges' web site has a more extensive slide show that includes a couple of pictures of the Avco building before demolition.
Thompson Vaivoda & Associates has condensed its name to TVA Architects.
There are three exterior photos of the Bridgeport Stadium 18 on this page of the web site of Robinson Construction Co., builders of the project for Regal Cinemas. The cinema was designed by TVA Architects (formerly Thompson Vaivoda & Associates) of Portland.
Blair Ballard Architects has decided to condense its name to BB Architects. I suppose Mr. Ballard should be commended for his modesty (a rare trait among architects, in my experience.) The Regal Barkley Village 16 is among the theater projects given its own slide show on the firm’s web site.
You’ll find more photos of the Regal 16 starting on this page at the web site of Robinson Construction Co., the firm that built the project. It gives the seating capacity as 2,935.
The Regal 16 has been renovated, and one auditorium has been converted to 4DX (rumbly tumbly smell-o-vision with weather.) I don’t know what the seating capacity is now, but it’s probably been greatly reduced by the installation of new, larger seats as seen in the photo on this web page. They apparently couldn’t be arsed to remodel all the way with stadium seating, though. Architects for the renovation were The Design Collective.
It appears that the magazines I cited in my previous comment misspelled the theater owner’s name. His capsule movie reviews in issues of Motion Picture Herald from 1946, 1947, and 1948 (there are dozens of them) are signed James C. Balkcom, Jr..
The April 10, 1947, issue of Motion Picture Daily mentioned the Gray Theatre:
Mr. Balcom might have been the manager of the Gray for Martin and Thompson prior to buying the house from them. A brief review, written by J. C. Balcom, Jr., of the Gray Theatre, Gray, Ga., was published in the “What the Picture Did For Me” section of the May 12, 1945, issue of Motion Picture Herald.Boxoffice of May 10, 1947, had a brief item about the Roxy:
The current Google street view shows only one sign on the building, that being a “For Sale” sign posted by Stebbins Commercial Properties.
This web page indicates that the building has been bought by the Manchester Development Corporation, on behalf of the city, and it was to have been renovated as a home for the Old Sol Music Hall, with its opening planned for 2018. However, the latest news on the Old Sol web site says that the deal has fallen through.
I can’t find anything more recent telling of what is to become of the Rex’s building, but presumably the city still owns it and it is currently not in use.
This item from the June 17, 1920, issue of Engineering News-Record is the earliest item I’ve found about the Capitol Theatre:
The November 4 issue of the same journal noted that contracts had been let for the somewhat altered project:Plans were apparently altered again before completion, as in its final form the building had only three storys.Architect William J. Raeuber was practicing in Manitowoc at least as early as 1900. In 1906 he provided the plans for a remodeling and expansion of the Ceske Slovanska Lipa Opera House (one of two opera houses Manitowoc then boasted) at 411 N. 8th Street. The Opera House also showed movies from time to time before being converted into a dance hall.
The National Chevy Association retails new and used parts for Chevrolet automobiles made from 1949-1954. They appear to do business primarily online, so the building probably houses their offices and warehousing and shipping facilities.
It has undoubtedly been reseated with larger seats and more leg room (…“the most comfortable and easy viewing seats in town” according to the earlier comment by baileysporck.)
Olde Sedona Bar & Grill is at 1405 AZ Hy 89. 1420 is now the location of a Whole Foods Market, and it looks like fairly new construction. I’m pretty sure that the Flicker Shack’s building has been demolished.
The original Normandie Theatre was said to be a replica of the theater on the French liner of the same name. The Internet has a number of photos of the theater on the liner, but the only photo I’ve found of the 53rd Street house itself is an interior shot of the back quarter of the auditorium on this web page. It’s a small scan, with limited area enlarging possible by hovering your cursor over it.
The description says that the Strand/Paramount was built next door to the Dixie, but we have the Paramount listed at 1312 26th, which would be a block away and on the opposite side of the street from 1407 26th.