Fine Arts I & II Theatre
627 Congress Street,
Portland,
ME
04101
627 Congress Street,
Portland,
ME
04101
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More events in this theatre’s timeline.
The Fine Arts II opened on Christmas Day, 1970 and the Fine Arts Cinema 1 reopens as the Intown Cinema, which closed in 1982 while the Fine arts theatre remain open. Reopened as Fine Arts I & II on March 16th, 1990, by the owner of the State theatre on an adult policy. More ads posted.
Last ad placed on May 23rd, 1997.
on the ropes in 1997
Reopened as Fine Arts on November 7th, 1956. Another ad posted.
This opened during the week of November 20th, 1910 and closed in 1938. It was reopened by E. M. Loew’s as the Capitol theatre on December 24th, 1939. 1910 and 1939 grand opening ads posted.
May 1941 photo (added) and below history courtesy Portland Maine History 1786 to Present Facebook page.
“Capitol Theatre entrance May 1941, now Geno’s rock club at 627 Congress Street. The actual theatre can be seen in the distance over the entrance and the Western Auto.
Kotzschmar Hall opened as a small concert hall, honoring musician Hermann Kotzschmar, built by Horatio Nelson Jose in 1891, designed by Frederick A Tompson. It was set back from the sidewalk by a forecourt, behind the building seen here to the left. When it was renovated about 1910 into the Casco Theatre, the footprint was extended to the sidewalk with a one-story subway. About 1928 the Casco Theatre was renovated into the Capitol Theatre with 535 seats. It was renamed Fine Arts Cinema in 1959 after another renovation. A second screen was added in 1970 in an adjacent building to the right of the theatre, seen here; this building had been a Western Auto Store and later Bartlett’s TV and Radio. When the original theatre was closed in the early 1980s, the second screen remained open showing discount films and later adult films. In 1998, it became a performing arts space for a couple years and later The Skinny rock club and finally Geno’s. The original theatre was demolished in 2002.
The building to the left was the Splendid Restaurant and rooms for many years."
Joe Vogel- Yes, the original entrance was narrow and on the left. Had a small marquee above. You can view the 1941 MGM photo on the THS website, in the “New England Special Collection”, Card # 427.
As two different theaters they definitely deserve two separate pages then. The picture shows the Fine Arts II ending its days as the Fine Arts Cinema. Was the original theater’s entrance where the Afghan Restaurant is in the ACI photo? If so, that was a very narrow entrance indeed.
American Classic Images has a photo of the Fine Arts when it was an adult cinema.
The theaters had separate entrances and box-offices. The Fine Arts II became a discount theater in the mid 70’s before becoming a porno theatre.
mhvbear’s comments make sense of the 1987 photo in Marquee Magazine which I mentioned above. The photographer was concentrating on the facade of the Fine Arts II and did not include the entrance (to the left) of the Fine Arts I/ Capitol since it had closed around 1976/77.
Ah, so the entrance was never moved, but the former Western Auto store was converted into a second screen in 1970. Since the Fine Arts II continued in operation for some time after the Fine Arts I closed, and its building is still standing while the original theater has been demolished, we should probably have different pages for each theater. I don’t think there’s a way for Cinema Treasures to list a theater as partly demolished and partly still standing.
When the Fine Arts II opened did the two theaters share an entrance and a single box office, or did each operate as a stand-alone theater under the same ownership?
The street view shows what was the Fine Arts II that opened in December of 1970 with “There Is A Girl In My Soup'. The original Fine Arts (I) was next door and to appears to have been torn down. The original Fine Arts was a roadhouse theater in the 60s showing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Funny Girl & Oliver. The theater was operated by E.M. Loews at that time. The Fine Arts II became a porno theater in the late 70’s & 80’s. The Fine Arts (I) closed in 1976/77.
Joe- I agree. In the 1987 photo, it looks like it’s open. Don King, the author of the 1991 article in Marquee Magazine (THSA) about Portland theaters says that when the Fine Arts opened in 1959, it proved very popular. There are probably many people today who remember this theater, that’s why I’m surprised that it was not listed here in CT.
So it is most likely when the theater was renovated as the Fine Arts that the entrance was moved to the former Western Auto store location. The Cinema Data Project page indicates that the house was showing adult movies in 1990, and was an “Arts Center in 1999.” If that’s correct then the demolition of the old auditorium must have taken place in this century, perhaps within the last few years. There must be quite a few people around who still remember it.
I checked the MGM photo. The entrance and marquee were to the left of a Western Auto store. The entrance was one story high, and to the rear and directly above can be seen the facade of Kotzschmar Hall. The Western Auto store was also one story and non-descript in appearance. This photo dates from 1941. Then I checked a photo on page 11 of Marquee Magazine, 1991, first quarter. The photo dates from 1987. You cannot see the old Capitol entrance (it’s out of the frame). The Fine Arts facade is where the Western Auto was in 1941. To its right is the fancy building (library?) To the left-rear is the Kotzschmar facade. In today’s Google view, the fancy building is still there, on the right. The big black facade is the old Fine Arts facade. Everything to the left is gone, including the Kotzschmar facade. So it looks like only the front of the Fine Arts is still there; the rest is gone.
The Theatre Historical Society on-line archive has the MGM Theatre Report for this theater when it was the Capitol. It’s Card # 427. Address is Congress St. (no street number listed). There is an exterior photo dated May 1941. Condition is Fair. The report states that it’s over 15 years old, and was showing MGM films. There were 385 orchestra seats and 150 balcony seats, total 535 seats.
The Cinema Data Project page for the Casco Theatre, aka Capitol and Fine Arts, gives the address as 627 ½ Congress Street, and says it was next door to the Baxter Public Library, though another line says that the theater’s entrance was “…between Eastern Cosmetic Stores and Western Auto.”
A building immediately adjacent to the library and currently occupied by a live music venue called Geno’s Rock Club, which uses the address 625 Congress, has a front in the style that Western Auto used for its retail outlets in the 1950s. Next to that is a vacant lot, and then an old apartment building with a storefront on the ground floor. Geno’s doesn’t fit the description of the theater, so I suspect that the Fine Arts has in fact been demolished. The auditorium was probably at the rear of the vacant lot and the lot Geno’s is on, where there is now parking.