The February 26, 1921, issue of The American Contractor has a notice that a $35,000 house was to be built at Keokuk for M. F. Baker. This was probably Merle F. Baker. It was being designed by the Chicago firm of Tallmadge & Watson. I would expect that, if Baker had been an architect, he’d have designed his own house. It seems more likely than ever that Baker was merely the co-owner of the Grand Theatre, not its architect.
The Masonic Temple Theatre was built in 1923 and designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell. Architect Robin B. Carswell left the firm by 1925 and was replaced by William Sayler.
As Owen, Sayler, & Payson, (Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson were the other partners) the firm designed the Ararat Shrine Temple in Kansas City (1926), which would also later operate as a movie theater and would also be listed on the NRHP, as part of the Eleventh Street Historic District.
After establishing his own practice, Carswell also designed the Memorial Auditorium at Burlington, Iowa.
The NRHP nomination form for the Eleventh Street Historic District, which includes the Lyric Theatre, says that the Ararat Shrine Temple was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Sayler, & Payson. William Sayler had joined the firm in 1925. Prevously, Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson had been partnered with Robin B. Carswell, and in 1923 the firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell had designed another Masonic building which would become a theater and be listed on the NRHP: the Temple Theatre at Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Keokuk and the Great Dam, by John E. Hallwas, has a photo of construction under way on the Iowa Hotel, dated May 28, 1913, and the Orpheum Theatre can be seen in the background.
This house was still called the Hippodrome as late as 1922, when the June issue of Stone & Webster Journal said that the Baker-Dodge Theatre Company was remodeling its Hippodrome Theatre in Keokuk at a cost of $20,000. It might have been at the time of this remodeling that the house was renamed.
The photo currently on display on this page depicts the original Keokuk Opera House which was destroyed by a fire in 1923 and replaced by the Grand Theatre. The photos section has an image of the 1925 Grand Theatre, posted by Don Lewis, which would be a better choice to display on this page.
Although a couple of travel-oriented web sites and any number of link farms (and Wikipedia, not surprisingly) say that Mere F. Baker designed the Grand Theatre, this page at the Grand’s official web site says only that “[i]n a matter of a few days after the destruction Merle F. Baker, a leading businessman in Keokuk, was determined to rebuild the Grand Theatre as a community theatre continuing with vaudeville stage shows.” I’ve found no evidence anywhere else on the Internet that Baker was an architect. He was actually the Baker of Baker-Dodge Theatres, the company that operated the Grand and a number of other Keokuk movie houses.
This house actually opened as the New Grand Theatre. Baker-Dodge had been operating the old Keokuk Opera House under the name Grand Theatre at the time it was destroyed. Although I’ve been unable to discover the architect of the New Grand, the Keokuk Opera House was designed by Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb prior to 1885.
A brief biography of Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb, published in 1886, lists the Grand Opera House in St. Louis as one of his works. This must have been the rebuilding after the 1884 fire and gas explosion that destroyed the original building.
The mini-biography of Oscar Cobb that dynne linked to is now on this page, though there’s no guarantee it will stay there.
A somewhat longer biographical sketch of Cobb, published in 1885, can be seen at this Google Books link. It, too, notes Heuck’s New Opera House in Cincinnati as one of Cobb’s designs.
In 1904, a $15,000 remodeling of the Opera House was undertaken, the project being designed by the Cincinnati firm of Rapp, Zettle & Rapp, as noted in the May, 1904, issue of The Ohio Architect and Builder.
Comparing CharmaineZoe’s photo and the building seen in Google Street View, it’s clear that the San Carlos Theatre’s building had certainly not been demolished as of 2009, when the Street View photo was made, and it’s probably still there. The former auditorium is still distinguishable in the satellite view as well, and if you move Street View around to Griffin Avenue you can see one of the former emergency exits still in use by the current occupant.
The Internet says that the address now belongs to an outfit called George’s Upholstery, and my guess would be that the auditorium is in use as a workroom.
Also, why do we have the San Carlos and two other Lincoln Heights theaters (the Daly and the Starland) listed as being in Montecito Heights? Montecito Heights is a small, hilly residential district northeast of Lincoln Heights. The San Carlos was only four blocks from Lincoln Park. This is definitely Lincoln Heights.
More Nashville Nostalgia, by E. D. Thompson, says that the Crescent Amusement Company opened the Elite Theatre on Charlotte Pike in 1927. It also seems to imply that he building was converted into a bank in 1948, but the wording is ambiguous.
As this Elite Theatre was across the street from a park, I believe that it is the Streamline Modern house depicted in two photos on this weblog page. The Colonial Revival style church in the background of the second photo can be seen in modern Street View.
Herkimer County: Valley Towns, by Jane W. Dieffenbacher, says that the Liberty Theatre was built in 1918 and purchased by the Schine circuit in 1926.
Herkimer Village, by Susan R. Perkins and Caryl A. Hopson, has a photo of the Liberty Theatre with the 1969 Jerry Lewis movie Hook, Line & Sinker advertised on the marquee.
The Alhambra Theatre in Torrington was mentioned in an advertisement for the Picture Theatre Equipment Company, vendors of projection equipment, in the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World
This paragraph about Poli’s Theatre appeared in the biographical sketch of its manager, Walter Griffith, in a history of Waterbury published in 1918:
“It was opened December 15, 1897, at No. 141 East Main street and has a seating capacity of sixteen hundred. The stage is one of the largest in Connecticut and the house was one of the first to put in the best pictures. The theater was opened as the home of legitimate drama but during the past six years vaudeville and stock companies have occupied the boards in the summer. The Poli circuit numbers twenty-four theaters, with three offices in New York, and Mr. Alonzo is the exclusive booking agent of New York.”
Thomas M. Freney was the architect of the Alhambra Theatre, according to his mini-biography in a history of Waterbury published in 1918. A native of Waterbury, Freney studied architecture at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and established his practice in 1900.
A notice that work had begun on alterations to the Hippodrome Theatre in Bridgeport appeared in the April 7, 1917, issue of The American Contractor. The architect for the project was A. C. Kelley.
A Strand Theatre was listed among claimants to damages resulting from an October, 1918, explosion at a munitions plant in Perth Amboy. The list was published by the U.S. Senate in 1919. The operators of the Strand, Counihan & Shannon, received a payment of $159.00 as compensation for broken glass and structural damage.
The Strand was still in operation in 1924, when it was mentioned in an issue of the quarterly publication Liberty. Manager John Bullwinkel had been arrested for violating the town’s Sunday blue law.
Denvercary: The theater you worked at became the New Victory Theatre in 1937, after the Victory Theatre this page is for either closed or changed its name (I haven’t yet discovered its fate.) The New Victory was built in 1907 as the Majestic Theatre, but was renamed the Empress Theatre a short time later. It was later called the Pantages and then the Center before becoming the New Victory.
The New Victory is one of several Denver houses that hasn’t been added to Cinema Treasures yet. I was hoping that someone who knew more about it would add it, but it looks like nobody is going to get around to it, so I should probably submit it myself.
The Yale Theatre was mentioned in the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Majestic. The item said that J. F. Green, of the Yale and Majestic Theatres, had paid a visit to the film exchanges in Dallas the week of May 8-13.
This article by John Watson in the Cleburne Times-Review says that the Rex Theatre was opened in 1905 by W. A. McDonald. Watson gives the address as 105 E. Henderson Street. I don’t know if the address 107 Henderson that Lowrance gives in the previous comment indicates that the theater moved next door at some point, or expanded its building, or if the number just got shifted over the years.
This encomium for the Yale Theatre in Cleburne was published in the January, 1921, issue of The Texas Railway Journal:
“The Yale is the ‘Home of Refined Music,’ cool, well ventilated and show the latest moving pictures, and you will enjoy going here for a few moments of amusement and recreation when down town and have the time to spare. A good movie is helpful, restful and enjoyable most any day in the week, and few people there are who absent themselves all the time from the movies. So when you do go, see the Yale, and the genial manager, A. F. Chavey, will appreciate your coming.”
The rebuilding of this Modesto house as a 10-screen multiplex with stadium seating in 2001 was designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Riverside Plaza Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Windward Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Davis Stadium 5 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Ansonia Theatre is at upper left in this montage of Butte theaters published in 1915.
The February 26, 1921, issue of The American Contractor has a notice that a $35,000 house was to be built at Keokuk for M. F. Baker. This was probably Merle F. Baker. It was being designed by the Chicago firm of Tallmadge & Watson. I would expect that, if Baker had been an architect, he’d have designed his own house. It seems more likely than ever that Baker was merely the co-owner of the Grand Theatre, not its architect.
The Masonic Temple Theatre was built in 1923 and designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell. Architect Robin B. Carswell left the firm by 1925 and was replaced by William Sayler.
As Owen, Sayler, & Payson, (Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson were the other partners) the firm designed the Ararat Shrine Temple in Kansas City (1926), which would also later operate as a movie theater and would also be listed on the NRHP, as part of the Eleventh Street Historic District.
After establishing his own practice, Carswell also designed the Memorial Auditorium at Burlington, Iowa.
The NRHP nomination form for the Eleventh Street Historic District, which includes the Lyric Theatre, says that the Ararat Shrine Temple was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Sayler, & Payson. William Sayler had joined the firm in 1925. Prevously, Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson had been partnered with Robin B. Carswell, and in 1923 the firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell had designed another Masonic building which would become a theater and be listed on the NRHP: the Temple Theatre at Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Keokuk and the Great Dam, by John E. Hallwas, has a photo of construction under way on the Iowa Hotel, dated May 28, 1913, and the Orpheum Theatre can be seen in the background.
This house was still called the Hippodrome as late as 1922, when the June issue of Stone & Webster Journal said that the Baker-Dodge Theatre Company was remodeling its Hippodrome Theatre in Keokuk at a cost of $20,000. It might have been at the time of this remodeling that the house was renamed.
The photo currently on display on this page depicts the original Keokuk Opera House which was destroyed by a fire in 1923 and replaced by the Grand Theatre. The photos section has an image of the 1925 Grand Theatre, posted by Don Lewis, which would be a better choice to display on this page.
Although a couple of travel-oriented web sites and any number of link farms (and Wikipedia, not surprisingly) say that Mere F. Baker designed the Grand Theatre, this page at the Grand’s official web site says only that “[i]n a matter of a few days after the destruction Merle F. Baker, a leading businessman in Keokuk, was determined to rebuild the Grand Theatre as a community theatre continuing with vaudeville stage shows.” I’ve found no evidence anywhere else on the Internet that Baker was an architect. He was actually the Baker of Baker-Dodge Theatres, the company that operated the Grand and a number of other Keokuk movie houses.
This house actually opened as the New Grand Theatre. Baker-Dodge had been operating the old Keokuk Opera House under the name Grand Theatre at the time it was destroyed. Although I’ve been unable to discover the architect of the New Grand, the Keokuk Opera House was designed by Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb prior to 1885.
A brief biography of Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb, published in 1886, lists the Grand Opera House in St. Louis as one of his works. This must have been the rebuilding after the 1884 fire and gas explosion that destroyed the original building.
The mini-biography of Oscar Cobb that dynne linked to is now on this page, though there’s no guarantee it will stay there.
A somewhat longer biographical sketch of Cobb, published in 1885, can be seen at this Google Books link. It, too, notes Heuck’s New Opera House in Cincinnati as one of Cobb’s designs.
In 1904, a $15,000 remodeling of the Opera House was undertaken, the project being designed by the Cincinnati firm of Rapp, Zettle & Rapp, as noted in the May, 1904, issue of The Ohio Architect and Builder.
Comparing CharmaineZoe’s photo and the building seen in Google Street View, it’s clear that the San Carlos Theatre’s building had certainly not been demolished as of 2009, when the Street View photo was made, and it’s probably still there. The former auditorium is still distinguishable in the satellite view as well, and if you move Street View around to Griffin Avenue you can see one of the former emergency exits still in use by the current occupant.
The Internet says that the address now belongs to an outfit called George’s Upholstery, and my guess would be that the auditorium is in use as a workroom.
Also, why do we have the San Carlos and two other Lincoln Heights theaters (the Daly and the Starland) listed as being in Montecito Heights? Montecito Heights is a small, hilly residential district northeast of Lincoln Heights. The San Carlos was only four blocks from Lincoln Park. This is definitely Lincoln Heights.
More Nashville Nostalgia, by E. D. Thompson, says that the Crescent Amusement Company opened the Elite Theatre on Charlotte Pike in 1927. It also seems to imply that he building was converted into a bank in 1948, but the wording is ambiguous.
As this Elite Theatre was across the street from a park, I believe that it is the Streamline Modern house depicted in two photos on this weblog page. The Colonial Revival style church in the background of the second photo can be seen in modern Street View.
Herkimer County: Valley Towns, by Jane W. Dieffenbacher, says that the Liberty Theatre was built in 1918 and purchased by the Schine circuit in 1926.
Herkimer Village, by Susan R. Perkins and Caryl A. Hopson, has a photo of the Liberty Theatre with the 1969 Jerry Lewis movie Hook, Line & Sinker advertised on the marquee.
The Alhambra Theatre in Torrington was mentioned in an advertisement for the Picture Theatre Equipment Company, vendors of projection equipment, in the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World
This paragraph about Poli’s Theatre appeared in the biographical sketch of its manager, Walter Griffith, in a history of Waterbury published in 1918:
Thomas M. Freney was the architect of the Alhambra Theatre, according to his mini-biography in a history of Waterbury published in 1918. A native of Waterbury, Freney studied architecture at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and established his practice in 1900.
A notice that work had begun on alterations to the Hippodrome Theatre in Bridgeport appeared in the April 7, 1917, issue of The American Contractor. The architect for the project was A. C. Kelley.
A Strand Theatre was listed among claimants to damages resulting from an October, 1918, explosion at a munitions plant in Perth Amboy. The list was published by the U.S. Senate in 1919. The operators of the Strand, Counihan & Shannon, received a payment of $159.00 as compensation for broken glass and structural damage.
The Strand was still in operation in 1924, when it was mentioned in an issue of the quarterly publication Liberty. Manager John Bullwinkel had been arrested for violating the town’s Sunday blue law.
Denvercary: The theater you worked at became the New Victory Theatre in 1937, after the Victory Theatre this page is for either closed or changed its name (I haven’t yet discovered its fate.) The New Victory was built in 1907 as the Majestic Theatre, but was renamed the Empress Theatre a short time later. It was later called the Pantages and then the Center before becoming the New Victory.
The New Victory is one of several Denver houses that hasn’t been added to Cinema Treasures yet. I was hoping that someone who knew more about it would add it, but it looks like nobody is going to get around to it, so I should probably submit it myself.
The Yale Theatre was mentioned in the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Majestic. The item said that J. F. Green, of the Yale and Majestic Theatres, had paid a visit to the film exchanges in Dallas the week of May 8-13.
This article by John Watson in the Cleburne Times-Review says that the Rex Theatre was opened in 1905 by W. A. McDonald. Watson gives the address as 105 E. Henderson Street. I don’t know if the address 107 Henderson that Lowrance gives in the previous comment indicates that the theater moved next door at some point, or expanded its building, or if the number just got shifted over the years.
This encomium for the Yale Theatre in Cleburne was published in the January, 1921, issue of The Texas Railway Journal:
The rebuilding of this Modesto house as a 10-screen multiplex with stadium seating in 2001 was designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Riverside Plaza Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Windward Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Davis Stadium 5 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.