Campus Theatre
2440 Bancroft Way,
Berkeley,
CA
94704
2440 Bancroft Way,
Berkeley,
CA
94704
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The March 6, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News reported that the Campus Theatre in Berkeley had opened on January 20. The item noted that the new Golden State Theatres house was of Moorish design, and that it had been decorated by the Robert E. Powers Studios, but failed to mention architect James E. Narbett.
Given its location and the date of its construction, it is likely that the Campus Theatre was the project mentioned in the July, 1924, issue of The Architect and Engineer:
When the project was noted in the January 10, 1925, issue of Building and Engineering News, associate architect Raymond de Sano was not mentioned, so perhaps he had withdrawn. The building was no longer to be built of brick, either:The Campus Theatre was probably completed and opened before the end of 1925, and so the earlier Campus Theater on Durant Avenue was most likely closed that same year.A list of cultural resources in Berkeley’s Southside Project area gives 1925 as the date for the Campus Theatre building.
PDF file.
The Campus Theatre built in 1914 (comment by gsmurph, March 4, 2006) was a different house, located on Durant Avenue, originally called the Majestic Theatre and renamed Campus Theater in 1915. It is listed on this Cinema Treasures page.
Nice to at least see a view of the vertical. This is the only photo I’ve ever seen of the Campus while still a theatre. I can see the dome of UC Berkeley’s International House (still extant) in the distance at the end of the street. I recall that building was opened in 1931. My landlady when I was living in Oakland in the ‘80s was a resident of International House that year that it opened, so the photo would date after 1931.
The Campus Theatre was built in 1914.
Vertical sign on the right in this picture. http://donross.railspot.com/ebt935.jpg
This was also listed as the Fox Campus.
The concrete shell of the Campus survives, its fly tower calling attention to anyone who cares to look that there once was a theatre on the spot. The 1951 Film Daily Yearbook lists it as operating, but judging from the architectural style of the facade that was applied in its long-ago conversion to office and retail, it couldn’t have operated as a theatre much beyond that date.