Varsity Theatre
4329 University Way NE,
Seattle,
WA
98105
4329 University Way NE,
Seattle,
WA
98105
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Opened on October 2nd, 1940 without any fanfare. Article uploaded. The Uptown and Varsity both reopened with 3 screens apiece on February 8th, 1985. Grand opening ad posted.
Joe Vogel: thanks for the article reference. The link you posted is dead, but I found it at https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/27026732/boxoffice-october221955 (pages 126-7)
Landmark will be pulling out of the Varsity in January but the property owners are in talks with “an established operator”. Still 35mm got the early run of Interstellar as a result.
I should have said that the conversion of the building to a theater in 1940 was designed by Bjarne Moe. The expansion of the building took place much later, when the two additional screens were added.
The Varsity got an updating in the mid-1950s, which was handled by the B. F. Shearer Company. Boxoffice of October 22, 1955, featured a two-page article about the project, starting here.
The Meister Building was built in 1921, according to this historical site summary from the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. The original architect of the building was William White. The expansion and conversion of the building into the Varsity Theatre took place in 1940, and was designed by theater architect Bjarne Moe.
My image of the VARSITY
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/261191581
Listed in Film Daily Yearbook, 1950 edition, as having a seating capacity of 471 when it was a single screen.
A little history from the Varsity’s Web site:
The Varsity has been operating as a movie theatre since 1940. Since there was no room to build outward, the theatre was expanded vertically with the addition of two upstairs screens in 1985. These smaller auditoriums feature high-back ultra-cushy seats with large wall-to-wall screens.