Several construction trade journals from late 1914 indicate that the theater being built on Eleventh Avenue in Altoona for A. Notopoulos had been designed by the Altoona architectural firm of Shollar & Hersh. Frederick James Shollar and Frank Austin Hersh were among Altoona’s most successful architects during the first third of the twentieth century.
Although the Elks Club bought the gutted Opera House building in 1911, and had plans for rebuilding the theater by late 1912, the project was not completed until 1914. The house,originally leased to Gus Sun, opened as the Alhambra Theatre on November 9 that year. This web page has a photo showing part of the original entrance of the theater.
Items about a remodeling job at the Market Street Theatre appeared in the May 20, 1916, issue of The American Contractor. The project was designed by local architectural firm L. Boucherle & Son. Louis Boucherle and his son Paul established their partnership in 1911, according to the February 15 issue of The American Architect that year.
The Century Cinema in Corte Madera was opened in December, 1969, by Blumenfeld Theatres, in partnership with Cinerama Corporation of America, and was originally known as Cinema 1. The house featured a 56-foot curved screen and continental seating, and was designed by architect William B. David.
Anything but a typical shopping center theater of the period, the free-standing house on its raised podium, with its white columns and mansard roof, was designed to recall the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center (the Cinema 1’s front originally featured large windows which have since been filled in with red brick, greatly lessening the effect.) David was using a regional style that came to be called Hollywood Regency, which had been pioneered in the 1940s by architect John Elgin Woolf.
Hollywood Regency became a fad in the 1960s, especially in southern California, when block after block of Spanish style bunglows, Tudor and Norman cottages, and nondescript small office complexes around the region were remodeled and suddenly sprouted faux mansards, thick, arched window reveals, and non-functional shutters frequently painted in shades of pale blue, green, or gray, all in emulation of the pricey mansions Woolf had designed for a long list of people in show business. Even many of the dingbat apartment blocks that were put up at the time sported Hollywood Regency facades.
The style was rarely used for theaters, though, so the Century Cinema is a pretty rare type. It’s a bit ironic that it is going to be knocked down just when a revival of Hollywood Regency decor has gotten underway.
Local firm CDG Architects designed the 8-screen expansion of the Cineplex Foothills 7, according to this page at the web site of the builders, BFL Construction.
Like other Syufy/Century houses until 1996, the Century Gateway 12 was designed by architect Vincent G. Raney. The builders of the theater, BFL Construction, have three photos on this page of their web site.
The architect for both the original 12-screen Century Park Cinemas and the later expansion to 16 screens was Vincent G. Raney, architect for Syufy/Century Theatres until his retirement in 1996. Two photos from the 16-screen expansion can be seen on this page of the web site of BFL Construction.
The architect of the Kachina Theatre was Ray Parrish, according to the article about the house in the April 10, 1961, issue of Boxoffice, which can be seen on this web page at incinerama.com.
incinerama lacks internal links, so if anyone wants to explore the site here’s their front page.
AndrewBarrett: It has just occurred to me that johndousmanis was probably talking about standpipe pumps, which were part of a theater’s built-in firefighting equipment, required by law in New York. It wouldn’t have had anything to do with the organ. Standpipe is another name for a fire hydrant.
theatrefan: I’ve just noticed in Street View that there is a white square with an X through it painted on the front wall of the theater, with the words “ABOVE STORE.” I wonder if that could be an indication that the building is vacant above the first floor? It’s quite possible that in this neighborhood, which was very low rent for a long time, only the ground floor was ever converted for other uses.
No new windows have been cut into the upper parts of the walls, so it certainly wasn’t converted into offices. In fact a few old windows (maybe for the mezzanine lounge, manager’s office, or rest rooms) that must have been part of the original design have been sealed up. I’d say the chances are pretty good that something remains of the upper part of the theatre.
A brief item in the April 21, 1971, issue of Bloomington, Illinois' daily paper The Pantagraph noted the death of architect J. Fletcher Lankton and said that he had “….designed Peoria’s Varsity and Beverly theaters as well as numerous other theaters in the Midwest.” So far I’ve been able to identify only one of those numerous other theaters, that being the Esquire in Springfield, Illinois. Kerasotes was a partner in the Esquire, along with Frisina Theatres. As George Kerasotes hired Lankton for two of his own projects, it seems very likely that some of those other theaters he designed were also Kerasotes houses.
The January 15, 1938, issue of The Film Daily notes that the Esquire Theatre was owned by the “Frisina Kerasotes Circuit,” so the two chains were partners in this theater from the beginning. The article also says that the Esquire, which cost &150,000, was designed by Peoria architect J. Fletcher Lankton. There is also this description of the original appearance of the theater:
“The front of the house is built of Vitrolite glass bricks and ivory structural glass with chromium strips. The sidewalk is done in colored terrazo [sic] and the marquee embraces a combination of four colored neons and flashing lights.”
Judging from that, the Streamline Modern Esquire might have resembled the Varsity Theatre in Peoria, which Lankton designed for Kerasotes Theatres in 1939.
The Autumn, 2009, issue of the Jackson County Historical Society’s quarterly journal had an article about Kansas City’s neighborhood theaters (PDF here.) It says that the Lindbergh Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1928. The theater had a $25,000 Robert Morton organ, and was built for Abe Baier, who also operated the Bagdad Theatre. The house was named for aviator Charles Lindbergh. The auditorium had been built behind a row of existing stores which were remodeled in the Spanish style then popular.
In December, 1941, the house was renamed Fiesta Theatre. It operated until May, 1953. In August of that year Baier leased the building to the operator of a dance hall, and after remodeling and the leveling of the floor it was opened as the Town Hall ballroom. The ballroom was still operating in the early 1970s, but the building had been demolished by 1980.
An item in the August 6, 1928, issue of the perpetually frustrating trade journal The Film Daily gave the name of the architect of Baier’s new theater as C. F. Cons, but the Internet provides no other references to an architect of that name. I suspect that this was yet another of the magazine’s plethora of typos.
The original Royal Theatre in Pacific was in operation by 1913, and was frequently mentioned in the Pacific Transcript. The paper also noted in its issue of August 24, 1928, that construction had started on the new Royal Theatre. The August 6 issue of The Film Daily had reported that St. Louis architectural firm Gill & Jackson had prepared the plans for the new theater about to begin construction at Pacific.
The Metropolitan Theatre was built in 1928. The March 5 issue of the Fitchburg Sentinal said that owner Frank Tragia had leased the house, still under construction, to an unnamed operating company.
There is a photo of the Metropolitan Theatre on page 70 of Thomas K. Hazzard and Diane M. Sanabria’s Leominster (Google Books preview.)
The July 15, 1928, issue of The Film Daily said that the theater being built at Leominster by Frank Tragia had been designed by a Worcester architect named John S. Balzara. I’ve been unable to find any other references to an architect of that name, or even of any similar name, and I think that the magazine might have gotten it wrong. Maybe somebody familiar with architects of the period in the region can figure it out.
The Fitchburg Theatre section of the Old Theaters of Fitchburg web site (the same site petermetzke linked to in an earlier comment) says that the house opened on February 7, 1929. That makes it the most likely candidate to have been the theater project on which construction had just begun in 1928, according to an item in the July 8 issue of The Film Daily. The new house for the Kenmore Realty Company was to cost $175,000 and had been designed by Boston architect George W. Jacobs.
Here is an undated interior photo of the Beverly Theatre’s auditorium, from the Peoria Historical Society.
Like Kerasotes' Varsity Theatre of 1939, the Beverly was designed by Peoria architect J. Fletcher Lankton. This web page has a history of Kerasotes Theatres.
The correct address for the Elmwood Theatre is 431 Harrison Street, as listed in the local telephone directory in 1916. Advertisements for the theater from the period gave its location as Harrison Street and Gunderson Avenue.
Here is a ca. 1920 photo of the Orpheum Theatre. Click the name “Orpheum” in the title field just below the photo for links to additional photos of the house.
The July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater under construction in Peoria, which would be leased to the Orpheum Theatre company, had been designed by the architectural firm of Hewitt & Emerson. Herbert Edmund Hewitt and Frank Nelson Emerson formed their partnership in 1909. At least nine of the firm’s buildings are now listed on the NRHP.
The Recent opening of the Mainstreet Theatre in Warrensburg, Missouri, was noted in the April 8, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The new house was owned by Dumond Christopher, and featured RCA high fidelity sound equipment.
A March 3, 2012, article in the Morris County Record said that the Lowell Theatre was opened in 1915, and was destroyed by a fire in January, 1933. The Falls Theatre was built on the same site, opening in June, 1933.
The April 8, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that a 750-seat theater was being built for the Lowell Theatre Company at Little Falls, Minnesota, to a replace their house that had been destroyed by a fire. Plans for the project were by Liebenberg & Kaplan.
The Princess Theatre was mentioned in the April 2, 1910, issue of The Billboard. I also found it in the October 7, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, which said that the house had discontinued vaudeville and would begin a policy of feature films. The July 4, 1925, issue of MPW had this item:
E. S. Harris is remodeling the Princess at Peoria and adding a new organ and a complete projection room equipment. He will open the house about July 1 with a second-run policy.“
A 1914 photo of the original entrance of the Princess Theatre can be seen here.
The July 4, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World noted the recent opening of the State Theatre:
“Morris Cuzzner, manager, opened the new State Theatre in South Manchester early in June. Vaudeville and pictures form the policy. The State cost $150,000 and it has a seating capacity of nearly 2,000.”
Several construction trade journals from late 1914 indicate that the theater being built on Eleventh Avenue in Altoona for A. Notopoulos had been designed by the Altoona architectural firm of Shollar & Hersh. Frederick James Shollar and Frank Austin Hersh were among Altoona’s most successful architects during the first third of the twentieth century.
Although the Elks Club bought the gutted Opera House building in 1911, and had plans for rebuilding the theater by late 1912, the project was not completed until 1914. The house,originally leased to Gus Sun, opened as the Alhambra Theatre on November 9 that year. This web page has a photo showing part of the original entrance of the theater.
Items about a remodeling job at the Market Street Theatre appeared in the May 20, 1916, issue of The American Contractor. The project was designed by local architectural firm L. Boucherle & Son. Louis Boucherle and his son Paul established their partnership in 1911, according to the February 15 issue of The American Architect that year.
There are loads of photos at CinemaTour, which also says that the Century Gateway 12 opened on May 15, 1992.
The Century Cinema in Corte Madera was opened in December, 1969, by Blumenfeld Theatres, in partnership with Cinerama Corporation of America, and was originally known as Cinema 1. The house featured a 56-foot curved screen and continental seating, and was designed by architect William B. David.
Anything but a typical shopping center theater of the period, the free-standing house on its raised podium, with its white columns and mansard roof, was designed to recall the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center (the Cinema 1’s front originally featured large windows which have since been filled in with red brick, greatly lessening the effect.) David was using a regional style that came to be called Hollywood Regency, which had been pioneered in the 1940s by architect John Elgin Woolf.
Hollywood Regency became a fad in the 1960s, especially in southern California, when block after block of Spanish style bunglows, Tudor and Norman cottages, and nondescript small office complexes around the region were remodeled and suddenly sprouted faux mansards, thick, arched window reveals, and non-functional shutters frequently painted in shades of pale blue, green, or gray, all in emulation of the pricey mansions Woolf had designed for a long list of people in show business. Even many of the dingbat apartment blocks that were put up at the time sported Hollywood Regency facades.
The style was rarely used for theaters, though, so the Century Cinema is a pretty rare type. It’s a bit ironic that it is going to be knocked down just when a revival of Hollywood Regency decor has gotten underway.
Local firm CDG Architects designed the 8-screen expansion of the Cineplex Foothills 7, according to this page at the web site of the builders, BFL Construction.
Like other Syufy/Century houses until 1996, the Century Gateway 12 was designed by architect Vincent G. Raney. The builders of the theater, BFL Construction, have three photos on this page of their web site.
The architect for both the original 12-screen Century Park Cinemas and the later expansion to 16 screens was Vincent G. Raney, architect for Syufy/Century Theatres until his retirement in 1996. Two photos from the 16-screen expansion can be seen on this page of the web site of BFL Construction.
The architect of the Kachina Theatre was Ray Parrish, according to the article about the house in the April 10, 1961, issue of Boxoffice, which can be seen on this web page at incinerama.com.
incinerama lacks internal links, so if anyone wants to explore the site here’s their front page.
AndrewBarrett: It has just occurred to me that johndousmanis was probably talking about standpipe pumps, which were part of a theater’s built-in firefighting equipment, required by law in New York. It wouldn’t have had anything to do with the organ. Standpipe is another name for a fire hydrant.
theatrefan: I’ve just noticed in Street View that there is a white square with an X through it painted on the front wall of the theater, with the words “ABOVE STORE.” I wonder if that could be an indication that the building is vacant above the first floor? It’s quite possible that in this neighborhood, which was very low rent for a long time, only the ground floor was ever converted for other uses.
No new windows have been cut into the upper parts of the walls, so it certainly wasn’t converted into offices. In fact a few old windows (maybe for the mezzanine lounge, manager’s office, or rest rooms) that must have been part of the original design have been sealed up. I’d say the chances are pretty good that something remains of the upper part of the theatre.
A brief item in the April 21, 1971, issue of Bloomington, Illinois' daily paper The Pantagraph noted the death of architect J. Fletcher Lankton and said that he had “….designed Peoria’s Varsity and Beverly theaters as well as numerous other theaters in the Midwest.” So far I’ve been able to identify only one of those numerous other theaters, that being the Esquire in Springfield, Illinois. Kerasotes was a partner in the Esquire, along with Frisina Theatres. As George Kerasotes hired Lankton for two of his own projects, it seems very likely that some of those other theaters he designed were also Kerasotes houses.
The January 15, 1938, issue of The Film Daily notes that the Esquire Theatre was owned by the “Frisina Kerasotes Circuit,” so the two chains were partners in this theater from the beginning. The article also says that the Esquire, which cost &150,000, was designed by Peoria architect J. Fletcher Lankton. There is also this description of the original appearance of the theater:
Judging from that, the Streamline Modern Esquire might have resembled the Varsity Theatre in Peoria, which Lankton designed for Kerasotes Theatres in 1939.The Autumn, 2009, issue of the Jackson County Historical Society’s quarterly journal had an article about Kansas City’s neighborhood theaters (PDF here.) It says that the Lindbergh Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1928. The theater had a $25,000 Robert Morton organ, and was built for Abe Baier, who also operated the Bagdad Theatre. The house was named for aviator Charles Lindbergh. The auditorium had been built behind a row of existing stores which were remodeled in the Spanish style then popular.
In December, 1941, the house was renamed Fiesta Theatre. It operated until May, 1953. In August of that year Baier leased the building to the operator of a dance hall, and after remodeling and the leveling of the floor it was opened as the Town Hall ballroom. The ballroom was still operating in the early 1970s, but the building had been demolished by 1980.
An item in the August 6, 1928, issue of the perpetually frustrating trade journal The Film Daily gave the name of the architect of Baier’s new theater as C. F. Cons, but the Internet provides no other references to an architect of that name. I suspect that this was yet another of the magazine’s plethora of typos.
The original Royal Theatre in Pacific was in operation by 1913, and was frequently mentioned in the Pacific Transcript. The paper also noted in its issue of August 24, 1928, that construction had started on the new Royal Theatre. The August 6 issue of The Film Daily had reported that St. Louis architectural firm Gill & Jackson had prepared the plans for the new theater about to begin construction at Pacific.
The August 6, 1928, issue of The Film Daily said that the “Millward” Theatre in Wytheville, Virginia, was nearing completion.
The Metropolitan Theatre was built in 1928. The March 5 issue of the Fitchburg Sentinal said that owner Frank Tragia had leased the house, still under construction, to an unnamed operating company.
There is a photo of the Metropolitan Theatre on page 70 of Thomas K. Hazzard and Diane M. Sanabria’s Leominster (Google Books preview.)
The July 15, 1928, issue of The Film Daily said that the theater being built at Leominster by Frank Tragia had been designed by a Worcester architect named John S. Balzara. I’ve been unable to find any other references to an architect of that name, or even of any similar name, and I think that the magazine might have gotten it wrong. Maybe somebody familiar with architects of the period in the region can figure it out.
A survey of historic buildings in Beatrice (pdf here) confirms that the Cinema Centre is the same house that opened in 1928 as the Ritz Theatre.
The Fitchburg Theatre section of the Old Theaters of Fitchburg web site (the same site petermetzke linked to in an earlier comment) says that the house opened on February 7, 1929. That makes it the most likely candidate to have been the theater project on which construction had just begun in 1928, according to an item in the July 8 issue of The Film Daily. The new house for the Kenmore Realty Company was to cost $175,000 and had been designed by Boston architect George W. Jacobs.
Here is an undated interior photo of the Beverly Theatre’s auditorium, from the Peoria Historical Society.
Like Kerasotes' Varsity Theatre of 1939, the Beverly was designed by Peoria architect J. Fletcher Lankton. This web page has a history of Kerasotes Theatres.
The correct address for the Elmwood Theatre is 431 Harrison Street, as listed in the local telephone directory in 1916. Advertisements for the theater from the period gave its location as Harrison Street and Gunderson Avenue.
Here is a ca. 1920 photo of the Orpheum Theatre. Click the name “Orpheum” in the title field just below the photo for links to additional photos of the house.
The July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater under construction in Peoria, which would be leased to the Orpheum Theatre company, had been designed by the architectural firm of Hewitt & Emerson. Herbert Edmund Hewitt and Frank Nelson Emerson formed their partnership in 1909. At least nine of the firm’s buildings are now listed on the NRHP.
The Recent opening of the Mainstreet Theatre in Warrensburg, Missouri, was noted in the April 8, 1933, issue ofMotion Picture Herald. The new house was owned by Dumond Christopher, and featured RCA high fidelity sound equipment.
A March 3, 2012, article in the Morris County Record said that the Lowell Theatre was opened in 1915, and was destroyed by a fire in January, 1933. The Falls Theatre was built on the same site, opening in June, 1933.
The April 8, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that a 750-seat theater was being built for the Lowell Theatre Company at Little Falls, Minnesota, to a replace their house that had been destroyed by a fire. Plans for the project were by Liebenberg & Kaplan.
The Princess Theatre was mentioned in the April 2, 1910, issue of The Billboard. I also found it in the October 7, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, which said that the house had discontinued vaudeville and would begin a policy of feature films. The July 4, 1925, issue of MPW had this item:
A 1914 photo of the original entrance of the Princess Theatre can be seen here.The July 4, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World noted the recent opening of the State Theatre: