Elmwood Theatre

Joe Vogel, I found no way to edit my previous comment, so I had no choice but to delete it and start over.

In answer to your questions, the Berkeley Historical Plaque Project usually obtains its information from the landmark application submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission when a building is nominated. As it happens, many of these landmark applications were written decades ago, when research materials were not as readily available as they are now, and therefore contain basic errors. The Strand Theater is the fifth such case I discovered in the course of my research. I’ve initiated a discussion with the City to develop a procedure for correcting such errors.

The building permits we have at the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) are scans of microfilms that the City of Berkeley made many years ago from the actual paper permits. We salvaged the microfilms when the City disposed of them, and they’re an invaluable resource.

Permit #3865, issued on 20 June 1914, lists William Dufour as the designer of the Strand Theater and D.M Etter as the builder. Both shared the same business address, which happened to be Dufour’s real estate office at 2326 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda.

chronicler: Thanks for the response and additional information. The mis-attribution of some of Dufour’s work to Cornelius has me wondering if the Rialto Theatre (first Alameda Theatre) in Alameda might also be mis-attributed. Cinema Treasures lists Cornelius as the architect of the Rialto, but the facade bears a strong resemblance to the Elmwood’s, and I can easily picture them being the work of the same designer.

There is a scan of an architect’s sketch of the Alameda on the Rialto’s photo page, but it has no name on it, nor is the source of the photo given, though it is probably from either a theater trade journal or one of the architectural journals of the period. I’ll see if I can find it on the Internet.

I checked George King in Berkeley building permits and city directories. He was actually George F. King and designed quite a number of buildings—both residential and commercial—in Berkeley.

I’ve come across a reference to another remodeling job at the Strand Theatre, this from the March 24, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World:

“Plans are being prepared by Architect Mark T. Jorgensen of San Francisco for extensive remodeling work in the Strand Theatre, Berkeley, Cal., owned and operated by the Beach-Krahn Amusement Co.”

SFGate article - “Berkeley is down to one movie theater. It’s reinventing itself to survive”

Elmwood