Dalton Theater
110 N. Washington Avenue,
Pulaski,
VA
24301
110 N. Washington Avenue,
Pulaski,
VA
24301
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An advertisement in Pulaski newspaper The Southwest Times of July 29, 1921 said that the new Dalton Theatre would open the following evening, Saturday, July 30, at 700 P. M.. The Dalton Theatre was leased to the American Theater Company, of Welch, West Virginia.
I’ve finally found additional references to the J. C. Lombard Co., but the primary one is an ad for the company in the December 20, 1921, issue of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania paper The evening News, which says “[w]e make a specialty of relief ornament in plaster….”
The Lombard Co. had provided the interior plaster work for the new Regent Theatre in Harrisburg. The Regent was designed by Harrisburg architect Clayton J. Lappley. I’m still not convinced that the Lombard Company designed the Dalton Theatre, and so far John R. Forsythe remains the most likely architect for the theater. Lombard most likely supplied the ornamental plaster work for the Dalton, as they did at the Regent.
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 7, 1979 Reference number 79003074 Architectural styles American Movement; Late 19th and 20th Century Revival: Beaux Arts Areas of significance Architecture; Performing Arts Level of significance State Evaluation criteria A – Event; C – Design/Construction Property type Building Historic functions Theater; Auditorium; Business Current function Business Period of significance 1900-1924 Significant year 1921. Address listed as 106 North Washington Avenue.
Here is an article in The southwest Times that says the auditorium of the Dalton Theatre collapsed in 1982.
Early plans for Dalton and Richardson’s new theater at Pulaski were announced in the July 26, 1919, issue of The American Contractor. The announcement said that the lot on which the building would be erected was 81x180 feet. The project was to include a three-story office and commercial building as well as the theater. Only the office/commercial portion of the building is still standing. The larger part of the lot, where the theater once stood, is now an ill-kept parking lot.
From Google’s satellite view, it can be seen that the building is in the block of Washington just north of First Street, and adjacent to Peak Creek, the watercourse that runs through the town. That’s the 100 block of Washington, not the 200 block, so the correct address is most likely 106 N. Washington Avenue.
I wonder if the James C. Lombard & Co. mentioned in the NRHP data was a construction company, rather than an architectural firm? The notice in The American Contractor gave the name of the architect as John R. Forsythe, of Baltimore. I can’t find any other references to Lombard & Co. on the Internet, but Forsythe was a fairly well-known architect of the period, and is listed at Cinema Treasures as designer of the Pimlico Theatre in Baltimore. However, the nearly two-year gap between the announcement that Forsythe was drawing plans for the project and the actual opening of the theater might indicate that the original design was abandoned.
From the aerial view of the building in that picture, it doesn’t appear to have the exterior structure of a theatre. Just sayin'. And, it’s got windows everywhere (except maybe the back). And, while we’re talking about the back, there’s no tell-tale raised rear to indicate there once was a stage and curtain loft.