Orpheum Theatre
129 University Place,
New Orleans,
LA
70112
129 University Place,
New Orleans,
LA
70112
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Christian: Thank you so much for your post in regards to this New Orleans cinema masterpiece.
This theater is in the heart of New Orleans near Canal Street. That area is seeing looting and severe flooding. We will have a long wait to see what happened to this masterpiece!
I wonder how this theatre has held up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina!
The Orpheum Theatre opened on September 2nd, 1917.
Here is a photo of the Orpheum which I took in 2001.
Was this the theatre that, upon being remodeled in 1959/60, became one of the “RKO International 70” operations?
The RKO Orpheum dates from the early 1920’s. The architect was G. A. Landsberg (sp?).
The neo-classical facade is continuous with the two adjoining buildings but masks alleys on each side of the auditorium.
The lobby is quite small opening into an orchestra foyer with stairs at each end of the foyer. There is no grand stair.
The first balcony (and it is a full size balcony, not a mezzanine) was for white customers. The second balcony was “colored only” from the regrettable days of Jim Crow laws.
The stairs to the first balcony rise from the orchestra foyer. The stairs to the second balcony rise from the exterior alleys. The racially segregated stairways “helix” around each other with a 3-door (sic!) passenger elevator rising in the middle of the stairwell. The elevator only served the white clients and due to the complex geometry of the stairs, had to open on 3 sides in order to meet the various landings. Even with such a complex arrangement, patrons taking the elevator still face steps up and down getting to their seats.
The rise of the two balconies is QUITE steep. Built before Orpheum Vaudeville was showing films, in the 1920’s a projection booth had to be added. The booth was shoe-horned into the rear of the first balcony.
The Orpheum is completely cove lit with numerous plaster “mushrooms” ringing the ceiling and a large master ‘shroom" in the center. Additional coves line the walls. The orchestra foyer had chandeliers though they are long gone.
There was no provision made for an organ in the original design. In the mid-1920’s a small 2-manual Wurlitzer was added in a single chamber on house left. Space was carved out a half-dome above the 2nd balcony box. The organ shutters were covered with a simple plaster lattice. For appearace sake the half dome on house right was also covered with a lattice, but the ornamental half-dome survives hidden behind the lattice.
The auditorium is nearly intact. The orchestra boxes which lined both sides of the “main” floor have been cut up in an attempt at accessibility. The step-down boxes still line both sides of both balconies. The lobbies and restrooms have been remodeled beyond recognition. The original (1-story) lobby was faced with ornamental white terra-cotta, much of which has been lost. None of the theater’s art or furniture survive.
The stage is rigged and spacious with dressing rooms provided. The very deep orchestra pit has been floored over creating a storage room with a curved front in the basement.
In the basement is/was a large open tank which originally held ice for air conditioning.
It is a lovely hall in the company of 2 other lovely halls in downtown New Orleans. The atmospheric Saenger and the grand Thomas Lamb Adam-style Loew’s State (now known as the State Palace) just behind the Orpheum’s stage door.
When the RKO Orpheum Theatre was a movie theatre it seated 1660 people.