Renaissance Theatre
138 Park Avenue West,
Mansfield,
OH
44901
138 Park Avenue West,
Mansfield,
OH
44901
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Grand opening ad
Found on News Journal powered by Newspapers.com
also in the photo section
The WurliTzer now at the Renaissance Theatre is Opus 2022. Opus 997 was a Style B of two manuals and four ranks, built for an “unidentified new theatre” in Lorain, Ohio and shipped on 14 February 1925. Source: The WurliTzer Pipe Organ / An Illustrated History, David L. Junchen and the ATOS, 2005, p. 693 and p. 648, resp.
A reasonably accurate history of the Ohio/Renaissance Theatre can be found here: http://www.mansfieldtickets.com/content/view/67
The 1928 Kimball in the Ohio was apparently sold to a girls' school in Michigan, then scrapped. Although David Junchen and others list the organ as a “3/9”, notes I took in 1957 show 12 eight-foot stops on the Great. Two of these were probably synthetic, so there is a possibility the organ actually had ten ranks of pipes. If anyone has the complete stoplist/specifications of the Kimball, I would like to compare notes.
Two more Kimball organs listed for Mansfield are a 1916 two-manual “with two-rank Echo” for the Grand Theatre, and a 1923 two-manual for the Majestic Theatre. Source: Encylopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Volume I, David L. Junchen, p. 256. Comments found on the Internet about these two theatres are all over the place, and someone local needs to spend time doing a bit of serious research at the Mansfield Public Library to clarify their history.
According to Peter Beames' Wurlitzer Opus List on the TheatreOrgans dot com website,
The Renaissance/Ohio Theatre in Mansfield has a Wurlitzer “Special” model theatre pipe organ of 3 manuals, Opus 997, which was originally installed in the Warner Brothers Studio in Los Angeles, CA (ship date January 30, 1929). It apparently passed through the hands of many owners before arriving here, and is reportedly “OK”. Anyone with more current info on the organ is invited to post here (although I do like that “theatre organ concerts” are mentioned amongst the activities at the theatre at the top of this page, suggesting that it’s still in use).
According to the same website’s list of Original Organ Installations, the Ohio Theatre originally had a Kimball theatre pipe organ of 3 manuals and 9 ranks, opus KPO7029, installed in 1928.
Does this latter organ still exist, and where is it (or its parts) today? Thanks!
Joe, yes they are referring to the Renaissance. (Originally the Ohio Theatre.) It was designed by Nicola Petti and opened in 1928 in the “Grand Baroque” style. Not sure why they said it was demolished. Perhaps because of the name change in the 1980s? It’s still very much open and the centerpiece of downtown Mansfield. They built an amazing addition onto it in 2009 with a larger lobby, restrooms, offices and elevators. The other two theatres on Park Avenue were the Madison (built in 1930 in the Art Deco style and demolished in the early 80s after a valiant attempt to save it) and the Park, (built in 1938 also in the Deco-ish style and closed in the 60s.)
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of buildings designed by architect Nicola Petti includes an unnamed theater on Park Avenue in Mansfield. The project was designed in 1927, but the list notes that it has been demolished.
As this is the only theater on Park Avenue that is listed at Cinema Treasures, and I’ve found no evidence that there was ever another theater on that street, perhaps the Landmarks Commission was mistaken about the Petti-designed theater having been demolished and it was indeed this house.
CinemaTour does attribute the design of the Renaissance Theatre to Petti, but doesn’t cite a source. The building is listed on the NRHP, but the Register’s web site says that the document with the theater’s information has not yet been digitized.
A 1996 view of the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.
I note both Mansfield indoor theaters on Park Avenue West. There are newspaper articles from 1938 describing the opening of the Park Theater on South Park and Diamond Streets. This is most likely a separate theater, absent any information to the contrary.
The Madison Theatre is now a park which is information I rec’d via an email from the Mayor of Mansfield Ohio.
It’s shame that the other theatre in Mansfield, the Madison Theatre hasn’t been restored as it certainly deserves to be since it is a John Eberson/art deco theatre of the 20’s!