This house was in operation prior to 1918. The February 2, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item datelined Portland:
“Extensive improvements costing $100,000 are being made to the Strand theater at 565 Congress street. House will reopen under management of W. E. Reeves.”
An item in The American Contractor of the same date listed the Strand project as involving additions and alterations. The house was owned by the Nickel Amusement Company. lostmemory’s first comment on this theater notes the Austin organ moved from the Nickel Theatre to the Strand in 1917.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers at the University of Minnesota Library lists two theater projects the firm worked on in Storm Lake. The first is listed as “Campus (Tracy Theatre) 1947-48” and the second as “Vista 1948”. The Vista must have been this house, but I’ve been unable to find any other references to theaters called either the Campus or the Tracy.
Storm Lake had a theater called the Empire operating from at least as early as 1916 and at least into the early 1930s, and I’ve found reference to houses called the Empress and the Princess operating in 1918. Storm Lake’s Opera House, which had been opened by 1889, was operating as a movie house when it burned down in 1916.
At least two movie theater projects were proposed for Storm Lake in 1913, but I’ve been unable to find names for them or confirm that either was built.
A January 22, 1962, item in the Pipestone Star mentioned an Alo Theater building on East Main Street. I don’t know if this was an AKA for the Quarry or the Orpheum or was another theater altogether. There was also an Alo Theatre in Albany, Minnesota. Given the unusual name, perhaps they were under the same ownership.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers at the University of Minnesota Library lists a theater project at Albany, but it is undated. The name Alo does not appear anywhere in the finding aid.
I’m pretty sure that the Alo Theatre is the small building with a marquee seen in this photo of Railroad Avenue dated 1957. It looks like the name might be on the small vertical sign at the center of the marquee.
The building, which probably didn’t start out as a theater, is still standing and is occupied by a bar called The Well Saloon. The address is 411 Railroad Avenue.
Internet search has unearthed another house called the Alo Theatre, this one in Pipestone, Minnesota. Perhaps it was under the same ownership as the Albany house.
Judging from the photos in the Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to it looks like “French Riviera Style of architecture” means atmospheric with a bit of Mediterranean tile and some potted plants.
The article Tinseltoes linked to gives the exact opening date of the Elk Rapids Theatre as September 20, 1940, and also notes that the house was designed by Stewart-Kingscott Company. One of the partners was Louis C. Kingscott. I’ve been unable to find Stewart’s first name or initials.
A more recent photo of Norbury Hall illustrates this article from the Ellenville Journal.
This web page says that there will be an auction of antiques and collectibles held at Norbury Hall on September 30 (the page will probably vanish after that day.) I can’t find any other events scheduled for the hall, but anyone who wants to see the inside can go bid on some antiques.
This web page has a description of the Welte Orchestral Unit organ that was built for the Wakefield Theatre. The organ was temporarily on display at the Exposition of Architecture and Allied Arts held at the Grand Central Palace in Manhattan in early 1927.
The Laconia Theatre was probably the projected house that was the subject of this item in the January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily:
“Theater, stores and offices at White Plains Ave. and 224th St.; owners, Menlo Bldg. Co., 749 E. 216th St.; architect, J. W. Telson, 250 W. 57th St.; to cost $175,000, and seat 1,500.”
If this comment looks familiar, it’s because I originally posted it on the Wakefield Theatre page after misreading the Wakefield’s location on the Google map as 224th street (it’s at 234th Street.)
Seymour Joseph, currently listed as the architect of the Laconia, was born in 1914, so he must have been the architect for a later remodeling of the house. I’ve been unable to find out anything about J.W. Telson, credited as the original architect by The Film Daily.
When Street View was made (2007) this theater building was still standing. Satellite view (undated) shows the auditorium roof, too. Has it been demolished since then? Scavello’s Market is still listed at this address on multiple web sites.
All four corners of Westchester and Rosedale Avenues have modern buildings on them, all of them set back from the streets. The Rosedale Theatre must have been demolished.
Does anyone know if there was ever a theater at Westchester and St. Lawrence? The January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily ran an item about a proposed house at that location, but perhaps it remained built:
“Theater at Westchester and St. Lawrence Ave.; owner, A. F. & 0. Realty Corp., 1300 Rosedale Ave.; architect, Meisner & Uffner, 563 Tremont Ave.; to cost $100,000, and seat 1,400.”
A theater was being planned for a site at Morris Avenue and 165th Street in early 1926, when the January 31 issue of The Film Daily published this item:
“Theater and stores at Morris Ave. and 165th St.; owner, Sam Berlin, 645 Tremont Ave.; architect, Jos. Orlando, 645 Tremont Ave.; to cost $200,000 and have 1,700 seats.”
If, as bamtino said in a comment of August 16, 2004, the Fleetwood didn’t open until 1927, it could have been this project. Three other theaters are currently attributed to architect Joseph Orlando at Cinema Treasures.
The building isn’t vacant anymore. Click the left arrow on the pavement in Google Street View to get a look at the building as of June, 2011. An Internet search for the Bee & Bee Department Store comes up with the address 1000 Morris Avenue.
The Apostolic Church International uses the same address, but I think it must be only the church’s offices occupying the upper floor rooms that were described in johndousmanis' comment of September 28, 2004. There doesn’t seem to be any part of the building as it is now that could be used as an actual church.
Given its size, its late 1926 opening, and the name of the developer, the Mount Eden Theater had to have been this projected house listed in the January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily:
“Theater and stores at Mt. Eden Ave. and Inwood Ave.; owner, Milnat Realty Corp., 2382 Grand Concourse; architect, Margon & Glaser, 29 W. 57th St.; will cost $500,000 and seat 1,700.”
Irving Margon and Charles Glaser’s firm was quite active in the early 1920s, but this is the only reference I’ve found to a theater among their works.
The January 20, 1926, issue of The Film Daily reported that the Minne Lusa Theatre in Omaha was under construction and was expected to open about March 1. The magazine noted the “crying room” planned for the house, probably one of the earliest examples of that feature. The Minne Lusa Theatre was designed by architect George Fisher.
This house is still called the Geauga Theater. Geauga Lyric Theater Guild is the name of the company that stages productions at the theater. This page of their official web site says “Movies are shown at the Geauga Theater on weekends when live productions are not occurring.”
Tinseltoes: The Roxy was an older theater operated by the owner of the Roy. It hasn’t been listed at Cinema Treasures yet. The Roxy was demolished in 1965.
The photo of the Roy Theatre that Chuck linked to in the first comment is gone, but I found another one partway down this web page.
The 1917 City Directory I cited lists the Paterson House Hotel at 845 2nd Avenue East. As the Classic Theatre was just two doors up the street, it must have had an address of about 849 2nd Avenue.
A 1917 city directory for Owen Sound lists a Savoy Theatre at 745 2nd Avenue East. The only other theater it listed was Griffin’s. As the Classic appears to have been in the 800 block of 2nd Avenue East, the Savoy must have been a different house and the Classic not yet built.
I think this increases the likelihood that the Classic was the 1920 project designed by Hall & Duerr, although the description “…two-story concrete, brick, and steel structure….” more closely resembles the building the Centre was in than the building the Classic was in. The Classic must have been built sometime right around 1920, though.
Judging from a comparison of the aerial photo CSWalczak linked to and the Google Street View of 2nd Avenue today it looks like the Classic Theatre has been demolished. I’d guess it was on part of the footprint of a neo-vintage building that currently houses the Remax real estate agency, a toy store called the Rocking Horse, and a swimwear shop called Sunpoint.
In Google Street View (pan it a bit left) we can see that the name Roxy is still on the theater’s sign, with “Owen Sound Little Theatre” in much smaller letters below it. The name Roxy Theatre is even in the URL of the little theater company’s official web site, and is used in its advertising, so this house should probably still be listed as the Roxy Theatre.
Reading Cinema Treasures' description of this house as currently written, I’m sure it actually describes the Halifax Theatre, not the Princess. This web page (there is supposed to be a photo but I can’t get it to display) says that the Princess Theatre burned and that the building currently on the site was built in 1958, so we can list this house as demolished. I did find a reference to the Princess still being in operation as late as 1958, and 413 Main Street is definitely the correct address.
The most recent update at the MySpace page of Sobo’s Main Theatres advertises Hellboy II: The Golden Army as the current attraction. As that movie was released in 2008, that’s probably when the theater closed. The last blog post by the theater’s manager is dated June 16, 2008.
I’ve found a reference to the Princess Theatre in South Boston, Virginia, as early as 1923, but it could be even older. The building is indeed in the 400 block of Main Street, which can be seen on the map as a southward extension of Wilborn Avenue (the name Main Street Turns the corner at its intersection with Wilborn and Ferry Street.) However, the correct street number is 413, not 408.
Thanks to the vintage photo Dragonlace1 uploaded, I’ve been able to set Street View to the correct location. The shop to the north of the theater’s location is Executive Cuts Barber Shop, at 415 Main Street, and the shop to the south is McCollum-Ferrell Shoes, at 409 Main Street. Neither business uses the directional “North” in its address, just plain “Main Street”.
The address 411 would be the door to the upstairs of the theater building, and 413 Main Street would be the theater’s address. I can’t tell from the rather blurry Google Street View what is currently in the theater building.
The book St. Cloud, by Harold Zosel, part of the Arcadia Publishing Company’s postcard book series, has a photo of the auditorium of the Hays Theatre. The caption says that the house was opened by Frank E. Nemec in 1913 as the Starland Theatre, and later operated under the names Nemec Theatre, United Capitol Theatre, People’s Theatre, and Grand Theatre before becoming the Hays Theatre. It says that the building was demolished in 1977.
The August 16, 1913, issue of The Construction News said that construction was to start soon on a vaudeville house, 44x132 feet, to be built at St. Cloud for F.E. Nemec. The September 6 issue of the same publication said that excavation had begun for F.E. Nemec’s Starland Theatre at St. Cloud. The project was to cost $28,500, and the general contractor was Edward Hirt.
Volume 2 of History of Stearns County, Minnesota by William Bell Mitchell gives the opening date of the Starland Theatre as December 8, 1913. Volume 1 of the book has a biographical sketch of St. Cloud architect Rolland C. Buckley, and lists the Starland Theatre among his works.
The house was mentioned as the Nemec Theatre in the September 16, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
This house was in operation prior to 1918. The February 2, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item datelined Portland:
An item in The American Contractor of the same date listed the Strand project as involving additions and alterations. The house was owned by the Nickel Amusement Company. lostmemory’s first comment on this theater notes the Austin organ moved from the Nickel Theatre to the Strand in 1917.The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers at the University of Minnesota Library lists two theater projects the firm worked on in Storm Lake. The first is listed as “Campus (Tracy Theatre) 1947-48” and the second as “Vista 1948”. The Vista must have been this house, but I’ve been unable to find any other references to theaters called either the Campus or the Tracy.
Storm Lake had a theater called the Empire operating from at least as early as 1916 and at least into the early 1930s, and I’ve found reference to houses called the Empress and the Princess operating in 1918. Storm Lake’s Opera House, which had been opened by 1889, was operating as a movie house when it burned down in 1916.
At least two movie theater projects were proposed for Storm Lake in 1913, but I’ve been unable to find names for them or confirm that either was built.
A January 22, 1962, item in the Pipestone Star mentioned an Alo Theater building on East Main Street. I don’t know if this was an AKA for the Quarry or the Orpheum or was another theater altogether. There was also an Alo Theatre in Albany, Minnesota. Given the unusual name, perhaps they were under the same ownership.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers at the University of Minnesota Library lists a theater project at Albany, but it is undated. The name Alo does not appear anywhere in the finding aid.
I’m pretty sure that the Alo Theatre is the small building with a marquee seen in this photo of Railroad Avenue dated 1957. It looks like the name might be on the small vertical sign at the center of the marquee.
The building, which probably didn’t start out as a theater, is still standing and is occupied by a bar called The Well Saloon. The address is 411 Railroad Avenue.
Internet search has unearthed another house called the Alo Theatre, this one in Pipestone, Minnesota. Perhaps it was under the same ownership as the Albany house.
The article Tinseltoes linked to confirms Liebenberg & Kaplan as architects of the 1936 remodeling job.
Judging from the photos in the Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to it looks like “French Riviera Style of architecture” means atmospheric with a bit of Mediterranean tile and some potted plants.
The article Tinseltoes linked to gives the exact opening date of the Elk Rapids Theatre as September 20, 1940, and also notes that the house was designed by Stewart-Kingscott Company. One of the partners was Louis C. Kingscott. I’ve been unable to find Stewart’s first name or initials.
A more recent photo of Norbury Hall illustrates this article from the Ellenville Journal.
This web page says that there will be an auction of antiques and collectibles held at Norbury Hall on September 30 (the page will probably vanish after that day.) I can’t find any other events scheduled for the hall, but anyone who wants to see the inside can go bid on some antiques.
This web page has a description of the Welte Orchestral Unit organ that was built for the Wakefield Theatre. The organ was temporarily on display at the Exposition of Architecture and Allied Arts held at the Grand Central Palace in Manhattan in early 1927.
The Laconia Theatre was probably the projected house that was the subject of this item in the January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily:
If this comment looks familiar, it’s because I originally posted it on the Wakefield Theatre page after misreading the Wakefield’s location on the Google map as 224th street (it’s at 234th Street.)Seymour Joseph, currently listed as the architect of the Laconia, was born in 1914, so he must have been the architect for a later remodeling of the house. I’ve been unable to find out anything about J.W. Telson, credited as the original architect by The Film Daily.
When Street View was made (2007) this theater building was still standing. Satellite view (undated) shows the auditorium roof, too. Has it been demolished since then? Scavello’s Market is still listed at this address on multiple web sites.
All four corners of Westchester and Rosedale Avenues have modern buildings on them, all of them set back from the streets. The Rosedale Theatre must have been demolished.
Does anyone know if there was ever a theater at Westchester and St. Lawrence? The January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily ran an item about a proposed house at that location, but perhaps it remained built:
A theater was being planned for a site at Morris Avenue and 165th Street in early 1926, when the January 31 issue of The Film Daily published this item:
If, as bamtino said in a comment of August 16, 2004, the Fleetwood didn’t open until 1927, it could have been this project. Three other theaters are currently attributed to architect Joseph Orlando at Cinema Treasures.The building isn’t vacant anymore. Click the left arrow on the pavement in Google Street View to get a look at the building as of June, 2011. An Internet search for the Bee & Bee Department Store comes up with the address 1000 Morris Avenue.
The Apostolic Church International uses the same address, but I think it must be only the church’s offices occupying the upper floor rooms that were described in johndousmanis' comment of September 28, 2004. There doesn’t seem to be any part of the building as it is now that could be used as an actual church.
Luis: There is a recent photo of the auditorium of the Empire Theatre on the main page of the Las Casas Foundation’s web site.
Given its size, its late 1926 opening, and the name of the developer, the Mount Eden Theater had to have been this projected house listed in the January 31, 1926, issue of The Film Daily:
Irving Margon and Charles Glaser’s firm was quite active in the early 1920s, but this is the only reference I’ve found to a theater among their works.The January 20, 1926, issue of The Film Daily reported that the Minne Lusa Theatre in Omaha was under construction and was expected to open about March 1. The magazine noted the “crying room” planned for the house, probably one of the earliest examples of that feature. The Minne Lusa Theatre was designed by architect George Fisher.
This house is still called the Geauga Theater. Geauga Lyric Theater Guild is the name of the company that stages productions at the theater. This page of their official web site says “Movies are shown at the Geauga Theater on weekends when live productions are not occurring.”
Tinseltoes: The Roxy was an older theater operated by the owner of the Roy. It hasn’t been listed at Cinema Treasures yet. The Roxy was demolished in 1965.
The photo of the Roy Theatre that Chuck linked to in the first comment is gone, but I found another one partway down this web page.
The 1917 City Directory I cited lists the Paterson House Hotel at 845 2nd Avenue East. As the Classic Theatre was just two doors up the street, it must have had an address of about 849 2nd Avenue.
A 1917 city directory for Owen Sound lists a Savoy Theatre at 745 2nd Avenue East. The only other theater it listed was Griffin’s. As the Classic appears to have been in the 800 block of 2nd Avenue East, the Savoy must have been a different house and the Classic not yet built.
I think this increases the likelihood that the Classic was the 1920 project designed by Hall & Duerr, although the description “…two-story concrete, brick, and steel structure….” more closely resembles the building the Centre was in than the building the Classic was in. The Classic must have been built sometime right around 1920, though.
Judging from a comparison of the aerial photo CSWalczak linked to and the Google Street View of 2nd Avenue today it looks like the Classic Theatre has been demolished. I’d guess it was on part of the footprint of a neo-vintage building that currently houses the Remax real estate agency, a toy store called the Rocking Horse, and a swimwear shop called Sunpoint.
In Google Street View (pan it a bit left) we can see that the name Roxy is still on the theater’s sign, with “Owen Sound Little Theatre” in much smaller letters below it. The name Roxy Theatre is even in the URL of the little theater company’s official web site, and is used in its advertising, so this house should probably still be listed as the Roxy Theatre.
Reading Cinema Treasures' description of this house as currently written, I’m sure it actually describes the Halifax Theatre, not the Princess. This web page (there is supposed to be a photo but I can’t get it to display) says that the Princess Theatre burned and that the building currently on the site was built in 1958, so we can list this house as demolished. I did find a reference to the Princess still being in operation as late as 1958, and 413 Main Street is definitely the correct address.
The most recent update at the MySpace page of Sobo’s Main Theatres advertises Hellboy II: The Golden Army as the current attraction. As that movie was released in 2008, that’s probably when the theater closed. The last blog post by the theater’s manager is dated June 16, 2008.
I’ve found a reference to the Princess Theatre in South Boston, Virginia, as early as 1923, but it could be even older. The building is indeed in the 400 block of Main Street, which can be seen on the map as a southward extension of Wilborn Avenue (the name Main Street Turns the corner at its intersection with Wilborn and Ferry Street.) However, the correct street number is 413, not 408.
Thanks to the vintage photo Dragonlace1 uploaded, I’ve been able to set Street View to the correct location. The shop to the north of the theater’s location is Executive Cuts Barber Shop, at 415 Main Street, and the shop to the south is McCollum-Ferrell Shoes, at 409 Main Street. Neither business uses the directional “North” in its address, just plain “Main Street”.
The address 411 would be the door to the upstairs of the theater building, and 413 Main Street would be the theater’s address. I can’t tell from the rather blurry Google Street View what is currently in the theater building.
The book St. Cloud, by Harold Zosel, part of the Arcadia Publishing Company’s postcard book series, has a photo of the auditorium of the Hays Theatre. The caption says that the house was opened by Frank E. Nemec in 1913 as the Starland Theatre, and later operated under the names Nemec Theatre, United Capitol Theatre, People’s Theatre, and Grand Theatre before becoming the Hays Theatre. It says that the building was demolished in 1977.
The August 16, 1913, issue of The Construction News said that construction was to start soon on a vaudeville house, 44x132 feet, to be built at St. Cloud for F.E. Nemec. The September 6 issue of the same publication said that excavation had begun for F.E. Nemec’s Starland Theatre at St. Cloud. The project was to cost $28,500, and the general contractor was Edward Hirt.
Volume 2 of History of Stearns County, Minnesota by William Bell Mitchell gives the opening date of the Starland Theatre as December 8, 1913. Volume 1 of the book has a biographical sketch of St. Cloud architect Rolland C. Buckley, and lists the Starland Theatre among his works.
The house was mentioned as the Nemec Theatre in the September 16, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.