Thanks for the update, Terri51. I did think that the Moose Lodge seen in the Street View was too modern to have been the Yale Theatre.
It turns out that CinemaTour has a very small, very contrasty photo of the Yale Theatre on this page I don’t know why I never thought to check CinemaTour’s listing before.
John, as far as I know I had no relatives in Pennsylvania during that period (nor any now, for that matter.) Vogel is actually a fairly common surname though. My great-grandfather, Jacob Vogel, emigrated from Switzerland to California in 1883 with two of his daughters, joining his eldest son, who was already here. His wife and five younger children, including my grandfather, followed in 1884. Most of his descendants still live in California.
The Bay Station Theatre is listed at 1206 Lincoln in the 1916 Polk-Husted Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda city directory. The directory also lists a Lincoln Theatre, with the location given as Lincoln av west of Bay. As Lincoln is listed here as an aka for the Bay Station, I don’t know if that means that this theater was listed in the directory twice that year under two different names, or if they were two different theaters.
If the theater was originally built in 1932, the 1937 project by Budina must have been alterations of some sort. My problem is that I made the comment identifying Messerschmidt as the architect in 2006, and I can’t find anything on the Internet that’s dated earlier and declares Messeschmidt to be the architect. That means the other sites posting more recently could have been using my 2006 comment as their source.
The other problem is that my new source, saying that Budina was the architect, is this document from Virginia Heritage, which has abstracts of building permit records for dozens of theater projects in Richmond, and the only record it gives for the Bellevue is the one from 1937. True, the list might not be exhaustive, but I’d be more comfortable if it had a 1932 permit for the Bellevue listed.
I wish I had cited the source for the claim in my comment of May 5, 2006, that Henry Carl Messerschmidt was the architect of the Bellevue Theatre. I’d like to double check it, but I can’t find it now. Instead, I’ve found that the 1937 permit for the Bellevue Theatre building lists A. O. Budina as the architect.
A permit for the Broadway Theatre was issued in 1918. The theater was designed by Carneal & Johnston, and commissioned by A. L. Strauss. The contractor was the J. T. Wilson Company.
A permit for a “New Theatre” for Mr. B. Bear was issued in 1914. The location given is the north side of Broad Street between 2nd and 3rd. The architect of record was William C. West, but a drawing of the house exists labeled “New Theatre for Mr. M. F. Hofheimer, Richmond Va., Designed by Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, 1170 Broadway New York.” It is presumed that Bear obtained the drawing from Hofheimer after the latter abandoned the project, and had West design the rest of the building.
A permit for the Hippodrome Theatre at 530 N. Second Street was issued by the City of Richmond in 1912. The architect for the project was Charles H. Fisher of Fisher & Rabenstein, Architects. The project was commissioned by Mrs. A. E. Thorp.
The history section of the Hippodrome’s official web site says that the house opened in 1904. If that’s the case, then the 1912 permit must have been for alterations to the theater.
A permit was issued in 1910 for a theater located on Broad Street between Jefferson and Brook Avenue, but the name on the permit was Star Theatre. Still, it was being built for M. L. Hofheimer, who was the original owner of the Empire Theatre. The project was designed by C. K. Howell of the firm of Scarborough & Howell, Engineers & Architects.
Howell also designed the smaller movie theater next door, now the Walker Theatre, for Hofheimer the following year. It is very likely that the 1910 Star Theatre project was the house that opened in 1911 as the Empire.
The permit to build this theater was issued to M. L. Hofheimer. The architect for the project was C. K. Howell, and the contractor was A. C. Houston. A description of Howell’s drawings says that the “…facade features Corinthian columns, masks and garlands, and statuary.” The modern photos linked earlier show that quite a bit of this decoration survived into recent times.
The Temple Theatre was an impressive structure, as seen in this vintage postcard. It was built by impresario James H. Moore, who chose the Rochester firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son to design the house (Lempert Sr., had already semi-retired by 1909, and died that year, so the lead architect was Leon H. Lempert, Jr.)
The Temple originally operated as a vaudeville house, but movies were occasionally shown even in its early years. In 1913, Moore presented at the Temple an early form of talking pictures with the sound recorded on discs.
A former resident of Ozark has informed me that the Brackin Theatre was located at what is now 176 Andrews Avenue. That entire block is currently the location of a CVS pharmacy and its parking lot. The theater was still in operation when he moved to Ozark in 1971.
Ozark did renumber its lots some years ago. However, it appears that Google Maps has not discovered the change. It mis-locates the correct modern address several blocks west of its actual location (Bing Maps gets the right block, at least.)
It looks like the Brackin Theatre closed in the 1970s. This web page about the Flowers Center for the Performing Arts (you’ll have to click on the “more” link) says that the building had been vacant since the 1970s when it was reopened to be used for Carroll High School’s musical productions in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
Although the current Dale County courthouse was built in 1969, the square block it is on was already public land. An earlier courthouse stood on the block from 1902 to 1968. The Brackin Theatre, which wasn’t demolished until 1999, must have been somewhere else.
The 1947 obituary of Walter J. Brackin can be found on this page. It says that he came to Ozark in 1935 and took over the local movie theater. In 1937 he built a new theater, and in 1945 yet another, even larger. As we have the Brackin listed with about twice the seating capacity of the Dale, the Dale must have been the 1937 house and the Brackin the one built in 1945.
I think Andy might be right. That building is the right size and shape to be the Dale Theatre in the photo.
This page has the 1947 obituary of theater owner Walter J. Brackin. It says he came to Ozark in 1935 and took over the local movie theater. In 1937 he built a new theater, and in 1945 he built another, larger theater. As we have the Brackin Theatre listed with almost twice as many seats as the Dale, the Dale must have been the 1937 project. The art deco detailing on the facade was certainly characteristic of late 1930s design.
I think we must have the wrong address for this theater. The 400 block of Broad Street is entirely residential, except for one church, and the houses look fairly expensive. It seems very unlikely that a theater would have been located among them. CinemaTour has the Brackin Theatre at 446 W. Broad, but west of town the street name changes to Andrews Avenue, so that might not be right either, unless the street names have been changed since the source for the address was published.
In the business district, Broad Street is called North Court Square, adding another layer of confusion. The Brackin Theatre might have been in that neighborhood, although if Google is to be believed, the numbers are totally screwy, with a jump from one and two digit addresses in the block east of Union Avenue to 300 in the block west of Union Avenue (and how did there come to be a street called Union Avenue in Alabama?) It’s very confusing.
The front of the Palace Theatre can be seen at far right in this 1931 photo. The buildings between the Palace and 12th Street were then about to be demolished to make way for Howe & Lescaze’s Philadelphia Savings Fund Society building.
Thanks for the update, Terri51. I did think that the Moose Lodge seen in the Street View was too modern to have been the Yale Theatre.
It turns out that CinemaTour has a very small, very contrasty photo of the Yale Theatre on this page I don’t know why I never thought to check CinemaTour’s listing before.
John, as far as I know I had no relatives in Pennsylvania during that period (nor any now, for that matter.) Vogel is actually a fairly common surname though. My great-grandfather, Jacob Vogel, emigrated from Switzerland to California in 1883 with two of his daughters, joining his eldest son, who was already here. His wife and five younger children, including my grandfather, followed in 1884. Most of his descendants still live in California.
The Bay Station Theatre is listed at 1206 Lincoln in the 1916 Polk-Husted Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda city directory. The directory also lists a Lincoln Theatre, with the location given as Lincoln av west of Bay. As Lincoln is listed here as an aka for the Bay Station, I don’t know if that means that this theater was listed in the directory twice that year under two different names, or if they were two different theaters.
Here is a closer view of the Strand from Lincoln Park, taken in 1950.
This page has two photos of the Strand taken on June 19, 1952 (click the thumbnail in the right-hand column to enlarge the second photo.)
The University of Louisville’s collection of digitized photos includes two depicting this house as the Scoop Theatre.
This one is dated circa 1942.
Here is a closer view from the same period.
Here is a 1947 photo showing the Strand Theatre from across the short-lived Lincoln Park.
If the theater was originally built in 1932, the 1937 project by Budina must have been alterations of some sort. My problem is that I made the comment identifying Messerschmidt as the architect in 2006, and I can’t find anything on the Internet that’s dated earlier and declares Messeschmidt to be the architect. That means the other sites posting more recently could have been using my 2006 comment as their source.
The other problem is that my new source, saying that Budina was the architect, is this document from Virginia Heritage, which has abstracts of building permit records for dozens of theater projects in Richmond, and the only record it gives for the Bellevue is the one from 1937. True, the list might not be exhaustive, but I’d be more comfortable if it had a 1932 permit for the Bellevue listed.
A building permit for alterations to this house, under the name State Theatre, was issued in 1948, with A. O. Budina listed as the architect.
I wish I had cited the source for the claim in my comment of May 5, 2006, that Henry Carl Messerschmidt was the architect of the Bellevue Theatre. I’d like to double check it, but I can’t find it now. Instead, I’ve found that the 1937 permit for the Bellevue Theatre building lists A. O. Budina as the architect.
Here is a photo of the Ginter Theatre dated 1938.
Another permit was issued for the Hippodrome Theatre in 1946. The architect for this rebuilding, commissioned by Lichtman Theatres, was John J. Zink.
The permit for the Brookland Theatre was issued in 1924. It was designed by architect Fred A. Bishop.
A permit for the Broadway Theatre was issued in 1918. The theater was designed by Carneal & Johnston, and commissioned by A. L. Strauss. The contractor was the J. T. Wilson Company.
A permit for a “New Theatre” for Mr. B. Bear was issued in 1914. The location given is the north side of Broad Street between 2nd and 3rd. The architect of record was William C. West, but a drawing of the house exists labeled “New Theatre for Mr. M. F. Hofheimer, Richmond Va., Designed by Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, 1170 Broadway New York.” It is presumed that Bear obtained the drawing from Hofheimer after the latter abandoned the project, and had West design the rest of the building.
A permit for the Hippodrome Theatre at 530 N. Second Street was issued by the City of Richmond in 1912. The architect for the project was Charles H. Fisher of Fisher & Rabenstein, Architects. The project was commissioned by Mrs. A. E. Thorp.
The history section of the Hippodrome’s official web site says that the house opened in 1904. If that’s the case, then the 1912 permit must have been for alterations to the theater.
A permit was issued in 1910 for a theater located on Broad Street between Jefferson and Brook Avenue, but the name on the permit was Star Theatre. Still, it was being built for M. L. Hofheimer, who was the original owner of the Empire Theatre. The project was designed by C. K. Howell of the firm of Scarborough & Howell, Engineers & Architects.
Howell also designed the smaller movie theater next door, now the Walker Theatre, for Hofheimer the following year. It is very likely that the 1910 Star Theatre project was the house that opened in 1911 as the Empire.
The permit to build this theater was issued to M. L. Hofheimer. The architect for the project was C. K. Howell, and the contractor was A. C. Houston. A description of Howell’s drawings says that the “…facade features Corinthian columns, masks and garlands, and statuary.” The modern photos linked earlier show that quite a bit of this decoration survived into recent times.
The Temple Theatre was an impressive structure, as seen in this vintage postcard. It was built by impresario James H. Moore, who chose the Rochester firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son to design the house (Lempert Sr., had already semi-retired by 1909, and died that year, so the lead architect was Leon H. Lempert, Jr.)
The Temple originally operated as a vaudeville house, but movies were occasionally shown even in its early years. In 1913, Moore presented at the Temple an early form of talking pictures with the sound recorded on discs.
A former resident of Ozark has informed me that the Brackin Theatre was located at what is now 176 Andrews Avenue. That entire block is currently the location of a CVS pharmacy and its parking lot. The theater was still in operation when he moved to Ozark in 1971.
Ozark did renumber its lots some years ago. However, it appears that Google Maps has not discovered the change. It mis-locates the correct modern address several blocks west of its actual location (Bing Maps gets the right block, at least.)
It looks like the Brackin Theatre closed in the 1970s. This web page about the Flowers Center for the Performing Arts (you’ll have to click on the “more” link) says that the building had been vacant since the 1970s when it was reopened to be used for Carroll High School’s musical productions in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
Although the current Dale County courthouse was built in 1969, the square block it is on was already public land. An earlier courthouse stood on the block from 1902 to 1968. The Brackin Theatre, which wasn’t demolished until 1999, must have been somewhere else.
The 1947 obituary of Walter J. Brackin can be found on this page. It says that he came to Ozark in 1935 and took over the local movie theater. In 1937 he built a new theater, and in 1945 yet another, even larger. As we have the Brackin listed with about twice the seating capacity of the Dale, the Dale must have been the 1937 house and the Brackin the one built in 1945.
I think Andy might be right. That building is the right size and shape to be the Dale Theatre in the photo.
This page has the 1947 obituary of theater owner Walter J. Brackin. It says he came to Ozark in 1935 and took over the local movie theater. In 1937 he built a new theater, and in 1945 he built another, larger theater. As we have the Brackin Theatre listed with almost twice as many seats as the Dale, the Dale must have been the 1937 project. The art deco detailing on the facade was certainly characteristic of late 1930s design.
I think we must have the wrong address for this theater. The 400 block of Broad Street is entirely residential, except for one church, and the houses look fairly expensive. It seems very unlikely that a theater would have been located among them. CinemaTour has the Brackin Theatre at 446 W. Broad, but west of town the street name changes to Andrews Avenue, so that might not be right either, unless the street names have been changed since the source for the address was published.
In the business district, Broad Street is called North Court Square, adding another layer of confusion. The Brackin Theatre might have been in that neighborhood, although if Google is to be believed, the numbers are totally screwy, with a jump from one and two digit addresses in the block east of Union Avenue to 300 in the block west of Union Avenue (and how did there come to be a street called Union Avenue in Alabama?) It’s very confusing.
The front of the Palace Theatre can be seen at far right in this 1931 photo. The buildings between the Palace and 12th Street were then about to be demolished to make way for Howe & Lescaze’s Philadelphia Savings Fund Society building.