National Theatre

Here is something about the heating system of the new National Theatre, then under construction in Louisville, from he March 29, 1913 issue of Domestic Engineering: “A. J. Anderson & Company, Main Street steam-fitters, recently secured the contract for heating equipment to be installed in the new National Theater, the foundation of which is now being sunk at Fifth avenue and Walnut street in this city. The theater itself will be one of the largest in the south, seating more than 3,000 persons, and the structure housing it, containing a number of stores and offices as well, will cost more than $250,000. A representative outfit of modern steam heating equipment, with temperature and humidity registers throughout and several hundred feet of radiation connections, is to be installed by the Anderson Co.”

National Theatre in Melbourne, Australia (built 1921 as The Victory)still stands and is remarkably similar. Website www.nationaltheatre.org.au

According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the National Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of Joseph & Joseph, with Albert Kahn associated. Joseph & Joseph, founded in 1908, is still in business.

I’m looking for a Rapp and Rapp designed theatre in Louisville that was under construction in 1915. I have the following article from the Rockford Morning Star for Sunday, February 31, 1915 which states the following in an article heralding the opening of the Palace Theatre in Rockford, Illinois: (note the end)

“…Messrs. George and C. L. Rapp have specialized in theater designing and among their latest masterpieces at the New Oprheum in Champaign, the Orpheum in Quincy, the Columbia in Davenport, Ia., the New Palace in Fort Wayne, Ind., the Hippodrome in Chicago, the Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, Wis., and the Palace in Rockford. They also have theaters under construction in Louisville, Ky. and Grand Rapids, Mich.”