This building appears to have been almost universally detested, judging from the plethora of attacks on it to be found on the Internet. This article from 2005, for example, tells of a television show which voted the Sheridan IMAX the worst building in England. All I can say to that is… if only.
I’ll own that the building was not very appealing, at least judging from its Google Street View, and it was surely inappropriately sited, but the worst building in England? That’s an awful lot of buildings and a lot of awful buildings. Somebody standing on the Sheridan’s roof with a hand-held rocket launcher could probably have taken out half a dozen or more that I’d consider even worse right there in Bournemouth— but there’s no accounting for tastes, I suppose. I’d trade our bland local multiplex for something that looked more like the Sheridan any day.
Wikipedia has this photo of the Palace dated circa 1920, and the building is certainly narrower than it is in the picture in the 1928 Souvenir booklet.
The extra bays are also missing from the building in this 1948 photo. My guess would be that the addition of the side wings was proposed, but the expansion was never carried out. Vaudeville began to decline soon after the arrival of talking pictures, and that event was soon followed by the depression, further reducing the demand for live performers. The building housed the booking offices of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit, and a rapidly shrinking staff would have needed no additional space.
Arcadia Publishing Company has an entire book devoted to the World Theatre, part of its “Images of America” series.
The World opened on November 14, 1927. The opening program included vaudeville acts, the feature film Adam and Evil, and an Our Gang comedy short. There was also music from the theater’s Marr & Colton organ. The theater was designed by architect James T. Allen, who had designed the Roseland Theatre in Omaha a few years earlier.
The recent renovation of the World Theatre was designed by architect Philip Cudaback of Lahaina Architects.
The L.A. Live complex as a whole, including the exterior of the Regal Cinemas, was designed by Gensler & Associates, but the theater interior is the work of Blair Ballard Architects.
Yakima had a house called the Yakima Theatre as early as 1907, when it was mentioned in a book published that year, The Coast, by Honor H. Wilhelm. The Yakima Theatre was also mentioned in the August 26, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
As the building housing the Yakima Theatre in the 1931 photo looks to have been built in the late 19th or early 20th century, possibly the 1931 opening was a re-opening under new ownership, though it’s possible that it was an entirely different Yakima Theatre, but was located in an old building converted from some other use.
In his book The Death of Black Radio, Bernie J. Hayes says that for over a year around 1966-1967 he operated the Pageant Theatre, under a lease from the Arthur brothers, as a concert venue for R&B acts.
Although the old Pageant Theatre is gone, its name lives on in The Pageant, a modern concert venue opened at 6161 Delmar Boulevard in 2000.
cdrosenblatt: As the house was equipped for Todd-AO, the Pageant might have had the Saint Louis premier of Around the World in 80 Days, but the world premier was at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on October 17, 1956. The movie opened in Los Angeles on December 22, at the Carthay Circle Theatre. It probably would not have reached St. Louis until after it opened in Los Angeles, so if the Pageant ran it, it might not have shown there until early 1957.
The Thursday, August 11, 1927, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail said that the Temple Theatre would open the following night. The article confirms Michael DeAngelis as the architect, but claims the style to be Italian Renaissance. An accompanying photo of the theater’s front doesn’t look especially Italian or French to me, but seems vaguely Spanish.
In any case, the current Colonial Revival front is clearly the result of a much later alteration, perhaps done even after the theater had been closed.
The Temple Theatre had been dark for several months according the the April 28, 1958, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail. The theater was scheduled to be auctioned off on May 19.
Here is a brief article from the October 18, 1919, issue of the weekly journal The Music Trades:
“Boston Theatre Buys a Morton
“BOSTON, MASS., Oct. 14.
“George Lincoln Parker, the Boylston Street piano merchant and resident representative of the American Photoplayer Co., succeeded a few days ago in securing an important contract, after the keenest competition for an organ to be installed in the city’s latest, largest and most attractive moving picture house.
“The Robert Morton Symphonic organ, as constructed by the American Photoplayer Company, at its modernly appointed factory in Berkely, Cal., will grace the Powers Broadway Theatre, South Boston, on or about February 1, 1920. This picture playhouse is at present in process of construction and the same contractor who delivered Camp Devens in Ayer, Mass., to the government will spare neither time nor money to have the theatre complete on contract time.
“The Robert Morton Symphonic organ both in tone and construction will feature the interior’s furnishings where music lovers and theatre goers are promised a revelation when the organ is heard amidst the costliest and most artistic theatre appointments. The organ, when completed and installed, will be the best and most expensive instrument ever installed in the city’s long list of theaters.”
Photos and floor plans of the Broadway Theatre were published in the June 8, 1921, issue of The American Architect, which can be seen online here. Scroll down to see additional photos. They can be resized using the + and – signs in the toolbar at lower right, and individual pages of the size you’ve chosen can then be downloaded with the usual right click-save commands.
The Nickelodeon Theatre was mentioned in the Boston Police Departments records for 1919:
“On the application of A. L. Wolffe, Manager, Fred E.
Hanscom was appointed a Special Police Officer for duty in and about the premises of the Nickelodeon Theatre located at 51 Hanover street for the year ending March 31, 1920.”
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.
Here is the official web site.
In the description and previous names field, the name should be spelled Philip, not Phillip.
Santa: The Town Theatre was a different house, and has its own Cinema Treasures page here.
This building appears to have been almost universally detested, judging from the plethora of attacks on it to be found on the Internet. This article from 2005, for example, tells of a television show which voted the Sheridan IMAX the worst building in England. All I can say to that is… if only.
I’ll own that the building was not very appealing, at least judging from its Google Street View, and it was surely inappropriately sited, but the worst building in England? That’s an awful lot of buildings and a lot of awful buildings. Somebody standing on the Sheridan’s roof with a hand-held rocket launcher could probably have taken out half a dozen or more that I’d consider even worse right there in Bournemouth— but there’s no accounting for tastes, I suppose. I’d trade our bland local multiplex for something that looked more like the Sheridan any day.
Wikipedia has this photo of the Palace dated circa 1920, and the building is certainly narrower than it is in the picture in the 1928 Souvenir booklet.
The extra bays are also missing from the building in this 1948 photo. My guess would be that the addition of the side wings was proposed, but the expansion was never carried out. Vaudeville began to decline soon after the arrival of talking pictures, and that event was soon followed by the depression, further reducing the demand for live performers. The building housed the booking offices of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit, and a rapidly shrinking staff would have needed no additional space.
Arcadia Publishing Company has an entire book devoted to the World Theatre, part of its “Images of America” series.
The World opened on November 14, 1927. The opening program included vaudeville acts, the feature film Adam and Evil, and an Our Gang comedy short. There was also music from the theater’s Marr & Colton organ. The theater was designed by architect James T. Allen, who had designed the Roseland Theatre in Omaha a few years earlier.
The recent renovation of the World Theatre was designed by architect Philip Cudaback of Lahaina Architects.
The L.A. Live complex as a whole, including the exterior of the Regal Cinemas, was designed by Gensler & Associates, but the theater interior is the work of Blair Ballard Architects.
The Galaxy Tulare 10 was designed by the Laguna Beach, California, firm Blair Ballard Architects. There are four photos at the firm’s web site.
Yakima had a house called the Yakima Theatre as early as 1907, when it was mentioned in a book published that year, The Coast, by Honor H. Wilhelm. The Yakima Theatre was also mentioned in the August 26, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
As the building housing the Yakima Theatre in the 1931 photo looks to have been built in the late 19th or early 20th century, possibly the 1931 opening was a re-opening under new ownership, though it’s possible that it was an entirely different Yakima Theatre, but was located in an old building converted from some other use.
In his book The Death of Black Radio, Bernie J. Hayes says that for over a year around 1966-1967 he operated the Pageant Theatre, under a lease from the Arthur brothers, as a concert venue for R&B acts.
Although the old Pageant Theatre is gone, its name lives on in The Pageant, a modern concert venue opened at 6161 Delmar Boulevard in 2000.
cdrosenblatt: As the house was equipped for Todd-AO, the Pageant might have had the Saint Louis premier of Around the World in 80 Days, but the world premier was at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on October 17, 1956. The movie opened in Los Angeles on December 22, at the Carthay Circle Theatre. It probably would not have reached St. Louis until after it opened in Los Angeles, so if the Pageant ran it, it might not have shown there until early 1957.
The Thursday, August 11, 1927, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail said that the Temple Theatre would open the following night. The article confirms Michael DeAngelis as the architect, but claims the style to be Italian Renaissance. An accompanying photo of the theater’s front doesn’t look especially Italian or French to me, but seems vaguely Spanish.
In any case, the current Colonial Revival front is clearly the result of a much later alteration, perhaps done even after the theater had been closed.
Here is a link to the Google Documents version of the page.
The Temple Theatre had been dark for several months according the the April 28, 1958, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail. The theater was scheduled to be auctioned off on May 19.
Here is a brief article from the October 18, 1919, issue of the weekly journal The Music Trades:
Photos and floor plans of the Broadway Theatre were published in the June 8, 1921, issue of The American Architect, which can be seen online here. Scroll down to see additional photos. They can be resized using the + and – signs in the toolbar at lower right, and individual pages of the size you’ve chosen can then be downloaded with the usual right click-save commands.The Nickelodeon Theatre was mentioned in the Boston Police Departments records for 1919:
Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Northfield 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Southlake 14 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Moreno Valley 16 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Chino Hills 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
The Harkins Casa Grande 14 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
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.