Gayety Burlesk Theatre
246-54 S. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
246-54 S. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
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Additional Info
Firms: Dawson & Holbrook
Previous Names: Empress Theatre, Knickerbocker Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Opened as the Empress Theatre on November 2, 1914 presenting Marcus Loew’s vaudeville. By 1915-16 it had been renamed Knickerbocker Theatre. This long-time fixture of downtown Columbus originally featured both vaudeville acts and motion pictures.
The highlight of the theatre was its façade, with three arched bays of multi-colored terra cotta, separated by pilasters topped with realistic-looking lion’s heads.
On November 22, 1946 it was renamed Gayety Burlesk Theatre and operated into the 1950’s. The theatre was closed in 1955, and its auditorium razed in 1960 to make way for a parking lot.
Various businesses operated from the former lobby space and upstairs offices into the 1970’s.
Unfortunately, the remains of the Gayety Theatre was demolished in 1980, along with its still-elegant terra-cotta façade, as part of an urban renewal project.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Further photos and information are available through a search at http://memory.loc.gov
Looks like this site is now occupied by the City Center parking garage — the only successful part of the massive City Center shopping mall development, soon to be demolished.
Closed as the Knickerbocker, a second run downtown theatre, on 9/15/1946. Reopened as Gayety Burlesk on Friday, November 22, 1946, featuring Mitzie…“Pretty as a Picture and a Frame to Match” in Hello Columbus, also featureing Nadine, Paul West, Bartel & Scott, Zeb and Mandy and the California Sunkist Chorus.
Featured “Painless Prices~~Bring the Ladies, They’ll Scream!”
This house was built in 1914 and opened as the Empress Theatre. This PDF with data from the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings survey was prepared shortly before the front of the building was demolished in 1980. The document notes Horace L. Chapman as the owner of the building prior to 1919, but says that it was built in 1915-1916.
It also says that the architect is unknown, but the Internet provides evidence that the theater was designed by the firm of Dawson & Holbrook. Here is an item from the April 11, 1914, issue of The American Contractor:
Currently, Amazon has on sale a 1915 print ad from the O. W. Ketcham Terra Cotta Works, and the ad features a photo of this house, captioned "Empress Theatre Building, Columbus, O. Dawson & Holbrook, Architects.” Here is a link (though it is probably temporary.) Amazon doesn’t say what magazine the ad was published in, but it might turn up at the Internet Archive or Google Books eventually.Architects Dawson & Holbrook designed at least one other built theater in Columbus, the Vernon, and in 1914 they were selected to design a new theater to be built on the site of the Grand Opera House on State Street, though it appears that he opera house was merely renovated around that time, and I haven’t been able to discover if the plans for that project were done by Dawson & Holbrook.
Old photos at the Commons.
This opened as Empress on November 2nd, 1914 with Marcus Loew’s vaudeville. Grand opening ad posted.
At the time it was the Knickerbocker it was operated by the Pastime Amusement Company, John W. Swan, President together with the Pastime and Hippodrome Theatres.