Denver Theatre
510 16th Street,
Denver,
CO
80202
510 16th Street,
Denver,
CO
80202
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 34 of 34 comments
It doesn’t appear to me that the two photos of the Denver Theatre, one posted on 3/15/06, and the other on 9/13/06, are of the same building. Maybe there was an extensive remodeling done between 1930 and 1938, but the building that the vertical sign is attached to definitely doesn’t match up in the two photos. Maybe the 1930 view is showing signage connected to an exit lobby, similar to the Chicago Uptown Theater’s exit lobby on Lawrence Avenue (same architect), and the main entrance is on another street. The marquees seem to be diffent too, but that could have been changed between the time the photos were taken. That was certainly a common practice. We know the photo from 1938 is correct because it shows the Denver Paramount across the street, so I’m wondering if the first one from 1930 shows a Denver Theatre from another Colorado city?
It’s a shame that the Denver couldn’t have later been used for concerts and other non movie events as it was a Rapp & Rapp according to JTFox on May 4th so it certainly had historical value.
Any interior photos…“Lost Memory”?
Yet nice to read where the organ is now….Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa AZ.
So the Denver was a Rapp & Rapp and then was demolished. Shame!
The Denver Theatre was operated by Fox Intermountain Theatres Inc. division of the Fox West Coast chain and by the mid 60’s it was known as Fox-Inter-Mountain-Midwest Theatres a division of NGC Theatres Corp. During the 40’s the Fox chain operated the Aaddin, Bluebird, , Denver, Esquire, Isis, Mayan, Ogden, Paramount, Rialto, Tabor and Webber Theatres. By 1969 NGC operated the Aladdin, Century 21, Centre, Esquire, Mayan, Ogden Theatres.
The organ was sold to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ in the early 1970’s. It was completely refurbished and has been greatly expanded. The original 3 manual console is now gone and been replaced w/ a replica 4 manual Fox Special console. The organ now boasts 78 ranks of pipes and is considered the largest Wurlitzer Theatre Organ in the world. It is played nightly for restaurant guest 363 days a year.
The Denver Theatre was designed by the firm of Rapp & Rapp.
In 1966 when National General built the Century 21 Theatre, they sold the Denver. They were only allowed to have 4 first-run theatres in the Denver area. (They kept the Centre, the Aladdin, and the Esquire as well as the then new Century 21.) I don’t remember who took over the Denver but they twinned it. It was still open in 1972. I saw several movies there that year, Fat City and Bluebeard were among them. I’m not sure what year it closed.