An article about the recently completed remodeling of the Victory Theatre was published in the May, 1936, issue of The Architect and Engineer. The author was the architect of the project, William I. Garren.
The out-of-town tryout for Irving Berlin’s 1917 musical “Yip! Yip! Yaphank!” was held at the Star Palace Theatre in Patchogue. I don’t know of any other Broadway shows that had tryouts in Patchogue, but there might have been some. Most pre-Broadway tryouts were held in larger cities, with the Shubert Theatre in New Haven being the most popular venue.
This house is probably the theater at Amityville that was designed by architect Maurice D. Sornik in 1960, as listed in his entry in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory.
The entry for architect Maurice Sornik in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists a “Theatre & Comm. Bldg., Patchogue” as a 1959 project. The Plaza doesn’t look like it had any commercial functions, but it’s the only theater listed for Patchogue that was built around that time.
Is there a theater built in Patchogue that was opened in 1959 or 1960, and is missing from the Cinema Treasures database? If not, then it’s possible that the Plaza was the project listed, but it was built without its commercial component.
The architect’s middle name is spelled with a double “p” in his entries in various editions of the AIA’s American Architects Directory: Phillippe. As the content for the biographical material in the directories was submitted by the architects themselves, this spelling is most likely correct.
The entry for James Franklin Scalf in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Tony Theatre at Huntsville as one of his projects.
Thomas Urbansky’s Loraine-Fulton Theatre was in the planning stage in early 1921, when the January 27 issue of Engineering News-Record ran the following item:
:“O.. Cleveland — Theater and Commercial —T. Urbansky, Ontario St., having plans prepared by H. Hradilek. archt.. Park Bldg., for 2 story, 90 x 250 ft., rein.-con., brick and steel, rein.-con. flooring, concrete foundation on Lorain Ave. and Fulton Rd. About $200,000.”
Given the size of the proposed building, the reported late 1940s FDY seating capacities of almost 1,500 are not surprising.
Architect Henry Hradilek was very active in the 1910s and 1920s, and is best known for the numerous houses he designed in the Cleveland Heights district, and for the Weizer Building (with architect Arthur Thomas,) a three-storey commercial and apartment building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Music Trade Review of November 25, 1916, said that Thomas Urbansky had opened the Jennings Theatre in Cleveland. The Urbansky family was active inthe theater business in Cleveland at least into the 1950s.
The November, 1920, issue of The Architect and Engineer has an advertisement for a San Francisco roofing company which is illustrated by a photo of the New Lyceum Theatre. The text attributes the design of the house to Reid Brothers.
The Victory Theatre was designed by architect H. J. Knauer. He is best known for the numerous period style mansions he designed in such posh Los Angeles neighborhoods as Hancock Park and Windsor Square, as well as a number of Art Deco commercial buildings in and around Hollywood. He did design at least one other theater early in his career, a 1915 project on Vermont Avenue at 41st Place, but so far I’ve been unable to track down its name or address.
Thanks, Bill. I must have overlooked the Meralta’s listing in the 1923 directory. As for the construction date from the assessor’s office, they do appear to have a number of errors in their database. This is probably one of them, unless some disaster such as a major fire befell the original structure and it was entirely rebuilt in 1924.
If you still have access to the 1918 and 1919 city directories, could you look something up for me? I’m trying to track down a theater that was reported to be under construction in late 1914, at the southeast corner of Vermont Avenue and 41st Place. It isn’t listed in any of the city directories the L.A. library has online. I don’t know what its name was, but if it ever opened the address would have been approximately 4150 S. Vermont.
The building on that site now fits the description of the 1914 project, but the only indication that it might have housed a theater is the fact that part of it is now occupied by a small church. I think the theater must have operated for only a few years, and most likely closed due to competition from two larger theaters that were built nearby in the early 1920s.
The list of projects by various California architects slated for 1920, published in The Architect and Engineer of December, 1919, included in its entry for Reid Brothers a $90,000 project at Mission and 29th for the Lyceum Theatre Company. I’ve been unable to discover if this was to be a major remodeling of the existing Lyceum or if it was to be a replacement for the 1907 building. $90,000 would have been a lot of money for a remodeling job.
I’ve been unable to find confirmation that the project was carried out, either. Jack Tillmany doesn’t mention the project in his book “Theatres of San Francisco,” though there’s a photo of the Lyceum. Judging from the cars on the street, the photo appears to have been from after 1920, but theater’s facade still looked more like it was from 1907 than from 1920.
The December, 1919, issue of The Architect and Engineer included a theater at Richmond for the T&D circuit among the projects slated for 1920 by the office of architect A. W. Cornelius. This house most likely opened that year. The T&D Theatre at Salinas was on the same list.
The December, 1919, issue of The Architect and Engineer listed alterations and additions to the Verdi Theatre among the projects slated for 1920 that were being designed by architect A. W. Cornelius.
The Epstein Brothers' Circle Theatre was getting Color-Glo lighting fixtures, installed by the Western Theatre Supply Company, according to the October 24, 1936, issue of The Film Daily.
The Grand Theatre built in 1936 replaced an earlier house of the same name. Here’s the news from the September 30, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
“Omaha, Neb. — Western Theater Supply Co., will let contracts for erection of a new Grand theater at Grand Island, Neb., and install equipment. Harry Schiller, Grand’s owner, closes his house Oct. 1. Razing of the 450-seat structure and another store building next door begins immediately to make room for the new 850-seat Grand, which will cost an estimated $85,000.”
Here’s an item from The Film Daily of September 23, 1936: “Sam Marino has reopened the Maryland, a neighborhood Omaha house. He bought 500 new seats and erected a new canopy.”
The Strand Theatre that got the Hillgreen-Lane organ in 1916 was a different house, located on Douglas Street. It was demolished in 1917 or 1918 to make way for the Omaha Athletic Club. The name Strand was probably moved to this house at that time. I don’t know what became of the organ.
Quite a few comments point out that the Orpheum Theatre opened in 1927 was an entirely different building than the much smaller (800 seats) Creighton Theatre, opened in August, 1895, and taken over by the Orpheum circuit in 1898. The original Creighton/Orpheum Theatre was demolished in 1926 to make way for the new Orpheum. If it can be established that the original Orpheum ran movies, it should have its own page.
Also, the Wikipedia article linked in an earlier comment also has an error. It lists Holabird & Roche as architects of the Orpheum, along with Harry Lawrie. In fact, this was the team responsible for the City National Bank Building, in which the Orpheum’s entrance was once located. Interestingly enough, Harry Lawrie was apparently one of the architects (Fisher & Lawrie) of the original Crieghton Theatre, though so far I’ve only found one source making this claim.
Google Maps is getting the location of this theater wrong. 717 Fourth Street is downtown, between Jackson Street and Jones Street. This is the block the convention center is in now.
macbot3000 is correct. The Chelsea’s address had to have been 806 4th Street, which would have been downtown, in the block east of Jones Street. 806 W. 4th is in predominantly residential district. Even Hamilton Boulevard is mostly residential until you get up to 7th Street.
The January 15, 1913, issue of The American Architect had a brief article titled “Escalators for Theaters” which was illustrated by a photo of the escalator in Gordon’s Olympia Theatre. Google Books scan here.
An article about the recently completed remodeling of the Victory Theatre was published in the May, 1936, issue of The Architect and Engineer. The author was the architect of the project, William I. Garren.
The out-of-town tryout for Irving Berlin’s 1917 musical “Yip! Yip! Yaphank!” was held at the Star Palace Theatre in Patchogue. I don’t know of any other Broadway shows that had tryouts in Patchogue, but there might have been some. Most pre-Broadway tryouts were held in larger cities, with the Shubert Theatre in New Haven being the most popular venue.
This house is probably the theater at Amityville that was designed by architect Maurice D. Sornik in 1960, as listed in his entry in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory.
The entry for architect Maurice Sornik in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists a “Theatre & Comm. Bldg., Patchogue” as a 1959 project. The Plaza doesn’t look like it had any commercial functions, but it’s the only theater listed for Patchogue that was built around that time.
Is there a theater built in Patchogue that was opened in 1959 or 1960, and is missing from the Cinema Treasures database? If not, then it’s possible that the Plaza was the project listed, but it was built without its commercial component.
The architect’s middle name is spelled with a double “p” in his entries in various editions of the AIA’s American Architects Directory: Phillippe. As the content for the biographical material in the directories was submitted by the architects themselves, this spelling is most likely correct.
The entry for James Franklin Scalf in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Tony Theatre at Huntsville as one of his projects.
The entry for Gale Santocono in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Vine Theatre at Livermore as one of his works.
Thomas Urbansky’s Loraine-Fulton Theatre was in the planning stage in early 1921, when the January 27 issue of Engineering News-Record ran the following item:
Given the size of the proposed building, the reported late 1940s FDY seating capacities of almost 1,500 are not surprising.Architect Henry Hradilek was very active in the 1910s and 1920s, and is best known for the numerous houses he designed in the Cleveland Heights district, and for the Weizer Building (with architect Arthur Thomas,) a three-storey commercial and apartment building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Music Trade Review of November 25, 1916, said that Thomas Urbansky had opened the Jennings Theatre in Cleveland. The Urbansky family was active inthe theater business in Cleveland at least into the 1950s.
The November, 1920, issue of The Architect and Engineer has an advertisement for a San Francisco roofing company which is illustrated by a photo of the New Lyceum Theatre. The text attributes the design of the house to Reid Brothers.
The Victory Theatre was designed by architect H. J. Knauer. He is best known for the numerous period style mansions he designed in such posh Los Angeles neighborhoods as Hancock Park and Windsor Square, as well as a number of Art Deco commercial buildings in and around Hollywood. He did design at least one other theater early in his career, a 1915 project on Vermont Avenue at 41st Place, but so far I’ve been unable to track down its name or address.
Thanks, Bill. I must have overlooked the Meralta’s listing in the 1923 directory. As for the construction date from the assessor’s office, they do appear to have a number of errors in their database. This is probably one of them, unless some disaster such as a major fire befell the original structure and it was entirely rebuilt in 1924.
If you still have access to the 1918 and 1919 city directories, could you look something up for me? I’m trying to track down a theater that was reported to be under construction in late 1914, at the southeast corner of Vermont Avenue and 41st Place. It isn’t listed in any of the city directories the L.A. library has online. I don’t know what its name was, but if it ever opened the address would have been approximately 4150 S. Vermont.
The building on that site now fits the description of the 1914 project, but the only indication that it might have housed a theater is the fact that part of it is now occupied by a small church. I think the theater must have operated for only a few years, and most likely closed due to competition from two larger theaters that were built nearby in the early 1920s.
The list of projects by various California architects slated for 1920, published in The Architect and Engineer of December, 1919, included in its entry for Reid Brothers a $90,000 project at Mission and 29th for the Lyceum Theatre Company. I’ve been unable to discover if this was to be a major remodeling of the existing Lyceum or if it was to be a replacement for the 1907 building. $90,000 would have been a lot of money for a remodeling job.
I’ve been unable to find confirmation that the project was carried out, either. Jack Tillmany doesn’t mention the project in his book “Theatres of San Francisco,” though there’s a photo of the Lyceum. Judging from the cars on the street, the photo appears to have been from after 1920, but theater’s facade still looked more like it was from 1907 than from 1920.
The December, 1919, issue of The Architect and Engineer included a theater at Richmond for the T&D circuit among the projects slated for 1920 by the office of architect A. W. Cornelius. This house most likely opened that year. The T&D Theatre at Salinas was on the same list.
The December, 1919, issue of The Architect and Engineer listed alterations and additions to the Verdi Theatre among the projects slated for 1920 that were being designed by architect A. W. Cornelius.
The Epstein Brothers' Circle Theatre was getting Color-Glo lighting fixtures, installed by the Western Theatre Supply Company, according to the October 24, 1936, issue of The Film Daily.
The Grand Theatre built in 1936 replaced an earlier house of the same name. Here’s the news from the September 30, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
Here’s an item from The Film Daily of September 23, 1936: “Sam Marino has reopened the Maryland, a neighborhood Omaha house. He bought 500 new seats and erected a new canopy.”
A history of Omaha published in 1917 says that the Empress Theatre was built in 1912. The Empress was originally owned by the J. L. Brandeis Company.
The Strand Theatre that got the Hillgreen-Lane organ in 1916 was a different house, located on Douglas Street. It was demolished in 1917 or 1918 to make way for the Omaha Athletic Club. The name Strand was probably moved to this house at that time. I don’t know what became of the organ.
Quite a few comments point out that the Orpheum Theatre opened in 1927 was an entirely different building than the much smaller (800 seats) Creighton Theatre, opened in August, 1895, and taken over by the Orpheum circuit in 1898. The original Creighton/Orpheum Theatre was demolished in 1926 to make way for the new Orpheum. If it can be established that the original Orpheum ran movies, it should have its own page.
Also, the Wikipedia article linked in an earlier comment also has an error. It lists Holabird & Roche as architects of the Orpheum, along with Harry Lawrie. In fact, this was the team responsible for the City National Bank Building, in which the Orpheum’s entrance was once located. Interestingly enough, Harry Lawrie was apparently one of the architects (Fisher & Lawrie) of the original Crieghton Theatre, though so far I’ve only found one source making this claim.
Google Maps is getting the location of this theater wrong. 717 Fourth Street is downtown, between Jackson Street and Jones Street. This is the block the convention center is in now.
macbot3000 is correct. The Chelsea’s address had to have been 806 4th Street, which would have been downtown, in the block east of Jones Street. 806 W. 4th is in predominantly residential district. Even Hamilton Boulevard is mostly residential until you get up to 7th Street.
None of the movie web sites have current listings for the Capitol Theatre. I think it must be closed.
The January 15, 1913, issue of The American Architect had a brief article titled “Escalators for Theaters” which was illustrated by a photo of the escalator in Gordon’s Olympia Theatre. Google Books scan here.