Plaza Theatre (El Paso)

Last updated
Plaza Theatre
The Plaza Theatre.JPG
Plaza Theatre (El Paso)
Address125 Pioneer Plaza
El Paso, Texas
United States
Owner City of El Paso
Operator SMG
Capacity Kendle Kidd Performance Hall: 2000
Philanthropy Theatre: 200
Construction
OpenedSeptember 12, 1930
ReopenedMarch 17, 2006
Website
elpasolive.com
Plaza Theatre
Relief map of Texas.png
Red pog.svg
Plaza Theatre
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Plaza Theatre
Coordinates 31°45′31″N106°29′11″W / 31.75861°N 106.48639°W / 31.75861; -106.48639
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1929 (1929)
Built byC.A. Goetting
ArchitectW. Scott Dunne
Architectural style Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No. 87000902 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 4, 1987

The Plaza Theatre is a historic building in El Paso, Texas, United States, built in 1930. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks, [2] and remains operational today. The theatre is a National Historic Building of Significance featuring the 2,050-seat Kendall Kidd Performance Hall, and the smaller 200-seat Philanthropy Theatre. It hosts Broadway productions, musical concerts, individual performers and the annual Plaza Classic Film Festival. [3]

Contents

History

Prior to the Plaza Theatre being built, there had been a large produce warehouse, belonging to Bernard and Ben Schuster, which occupied the location on Pioneer Plaza. [4] In February 1927, the owner of the principal El Paso theaters, Louis L. Dent, bought the property on Pioneer Plaza with the stated intention of doing something good for the city of El Paso. Upon purchase of the property, he told the El Paso Times, "El Paso has been good to me, and I am going to put something everybody will proud of."

In 1929, construction of the Spanish Colonial Revival style Plaza Theater began. It was designed by the prolific Dallas architect W. Scott Dunne, who is credited with more than 30 theaters in Texas and Oklahoma. Today the Plaza is recognized as his surviving masterpiece. H. Ponsford & Sons built the theater, [5] and constructed by C.A. Goetting Construction Company. The Plaza was designed as a modern film house in a Spanish Colonial revival style with the flexibility of presenting stage shows. Construction was completed in 1930. [6] The Wurlitzer Company installed a $60,000 pipe organ. [5] It was advertised as the "largest theater of its kind between Dallas and Los Angeles." [7]

Opening night was on September 12, 1930 with the movie Follow Thru [5] to a capacity crowd of 2,410. [4] Although several theaters existed in downtown El Paso at the time the Plaza Theatre opened, its size, elaborate decor, and technical innovations made it stand out. It was advertised as the largest theater of its kind between Dallas and Los Angeles. The Plaza has been a vaudeville or burlesque house as well as also showing movies. [4] The theater featured an "atmospheric" ceiling complete with twinkling stars which were astronomically correct stars and projections of lazily floating clouds. [4] It was the first public theater in the United States with air conditioning.

In 1933, Interstate Theaters purchased the Plaza Theatre. [4] On February 10, 1934, the Plaza's very first stage drama, Richelieu , was performed. The cast included then famous Walter Hampton, Dallas Anderson, John Davenport and Mable More. In 1939, the theater showed Gone With the Wind in two different showings because of Jim Crow laws in El Paso. [4] The first showing was whites only, but a civil rights activist, Betty Mary Goetting, prevailed on the Plaza Theatre to show a midnight screening which African Americans could attend. [4] The midnight show of Gone With the Wind was reported to be "packed." [4] In 1949, the Plaza hosted the world premier of the film El Paso , which drew a capacity and star-studded crowd, and also showed Tom Lea's The Brave Bulls.

Decline

By the 1950s, two major influences factored into a slow decline in the Plaza Theatre's patronage. The advent of television and the rise of suburban neighborhoods located farther and farther away from downtown served as major challenges to the Plaza and other downtown establishments. [2] [4] At the same time, a new source of competition arose with the advent of drive-in theaters in the late 1940s.

By the early 1970s, the theater had fallen into disrepair, and was sold. Many of its impressive amenities, including furnishings, artwork, and the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ were auctioned off. The Dipp family, owners of several downtown properties at that time, including the nearby Plaza Hotel, purchased the theater.

The Plaza closed on May 31, 1974. [4] In 1985, the state of Texas declared the Plaza Theatre to be a Historical Landmark. [4] It was briefly reopened in 1970 and 1980, only to finally close its doors in 1989. [2]

In 1989, after years of infrequent programming, the Dipp family sought to demolish the Plaza Theatre in order to make way for a parking lot. Spurred by a groundswell of community support, the El Paso Community Foundation began negotiations to raise the required $9 million to save the theater from demolition. With only six weeks to raise the funds, fundraising events were held across the community with the most visible effort being staged by actress Rita Moreno the day before the deadline. It was announced that evening that enough money had been raised to save the Plaza Theatre. After the El Paso Community Foundation placed a new roof on the theater, it was donated to the City of El Paso in 1990. [4] Even though this theater was falling, it was still trying to pull itself up.

Reopening

One of the few remaining theaters of its kind in the country, the Plaza had lost most of its original splendor. Furnishings and artwork had been removed, the facade had been altered, and parts of its once-advanced electrical systems were no longer functional, yet the interior structure appeared as it had for close to seventy years. In 2000, a volunteer steering committee, assembled by the El Paso Community Foundation, began to assess the viability of restoring the Plaza Theatre. The committee concluded that the project was feasible, and in 2001, a leading promoter, producer and marketer of live entertainment events, conducted an extensive survey of El Paso's local performing arts community. The survey concluded that: a market did exist in El Paso for additional performing arts programming, and that the public had a strong affinity for the Plaza and was eager to attend events at a restored Plaza. On July 30, 2002 the City of El Paso formally approved a public/private partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation to restore the Plaza Theatre to its original appearance. The foundation committed to raising $12 million towards the renovation effort, to restoring and reinstalling the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ at the Plaza Theatre, and to donating the adjacent building (Centre Annex), which would be integrated into the overall operations of the Plaza. The City of El Paso agreed to fund the remaining cost of the restoration.

Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd. and Arrow Builders were hired to perform the restoration. The companies took particular interest in the project, noting that "With over 2,000 seats at the commencement of restoration, the Plaza is currently one of the nation's largest non-functioning theaters in the United States." The companies worked diligently to insure all phases of construction complied with historical restoration guidelines.

At a cost of nearly $38 million, the Plaza reopened on March 17, 2006. [2] The first performance hosted at the refurbished theater was Riverdance which played Friday, March 17, 2006 through Sunday, March 19 with multiple sold-out performances. The reopened theater boasts a 2,050-seat main theater with a 10-story stage house capable of handling large traveling Broadway shows. In addition, with the completion of the Centre Annex, the facility includes a 200-seat children's theater, a rooftop garden, meeting facilities and a privately managed restaurant. The smaller theater is named the Philanthropy Theatre. [8]

Despite the completion of the project, the El Paso Community Foundation continues appropriating funds to buy back original art and furnishings of the Plaza.

The building

The Plaza Theater at night. Plaza Theater at Night.jpg
The Plaza Theater at night.

No expense was spared in creating the elaborate building. At the point where the entrance wing of the Plaza adjoined the auditorium, a domed tower rises in three tiers, projecting above the roof line. Other exterior references to the Spanish mission-style included modest brick delineations at the building's corners, simple cartouche motifs and stepped and curved parapets with tile accents along the roof line. While the exterior facade was designed to be reminiscent of a mission-style parapet, patrons were awed by the interior, with its intricately painted ceilings, mosaic-tiled floors, Posh carpeting, decorative wrought iron banisters and sconces and, to heighten the effect, antique furnishings. Due to such grandiose rococo design, the Plaza became known as "The Showplace of the Southwest."

The Mighty Wurlitzer

Further emphasis of the illustrious interior stands in the $60,000 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, designed to elevate from the orchestra pit to accompany vaudeville shows, sing-alongs, and to entertain patrons before and after films. Its "toy box" provides the organ with the versatility to replicate such sounds as horses' hooves, the ocean surf and birds chirping. The organ had 15 ranks with 61 pipes in each rank.

In 1973, the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ was sold at auction and housed at the home of a private collector in Dallas. In 1998 the organ was restored and returned to El Paso as a donation by the late Karl O. Wyler, Sr.. During renovations of the theater, the organ was put on display at Sunland Park Mall located in Northwest El Paso The organ was rebuilt by Pipe Organ Artisans of Arizona, Tucson, and re-installed. The Opus 2123 console was returned to its original finish. It is the only one of its kind (a Wurlitzer Balaban III) left intact. [9]

Trivia

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castro Theatre</span> Historic movie palace in San Francisco

The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in the Castro District of San Francisco, California. The venue became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window surmounted by a scrolling pediment framing a niche—to the basilica of Mission Dolores nearby. Its designer, Timothy L. Pflueger, also designed Oakland's Paramount Theater and other movie theaters in California during that period. The theater has more than 1,400 seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Theatre</span> United States historic place

The Tennessee Theatre is a movie palace in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. The theater was built in 1928 in the 1908 Burwell Building, considered Knoxville's first skyscraper. The theater and Burwell Building were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and the theater was extensively restored in the early 2000s. The Tennessee Theatre currently focuses on hosting performing arts events and classic films, and is home to the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The theater is managed by AC Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tampa Theatre</span> Theater in Tampa, Florida, United States

The Tampa Theatre is a historic U.S. theater and city landmark in Downtown Tampa, Florida. Designed as an atmospheric theatre-style movie palace by architect John Eberson, it opened on October 15, 1926. The theatre features a wide range of independent, foreign, and documentary films. It is Tampa's only non-profit movie palace, and operating costs are supported by its members, donors, and corporate sponsors, as well as by ticket and concessions sales. It has often been used as a backdrop for movies, music videos, and local programming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama Theatre</span> Movie theatre in Birmingham, Alabama, USA

The Alabama Theatre is a movie palace in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built in 1927 by Paramount's Publix Theatres chain as its flagship theater for the southeastern region of the United States. Seating 2,500 people at the time, it was the largest in the Birmingham theater district. The district was once home to many large theaters and movie palaces that featured vaudeville, performing arts, nickelodeons and Hollywood films. Built to show silent films, the Alabama still features its original Wurlitzer theater organ. The Alabama Theatre and Lyric Theatre are the district's only remaining theaters, and as of 2024, both are in operation.

The Blue Mouse Theatre title was used for several historic vaudeville and movie venues opened by John Hamrick in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The name may have been inspired by a lounge in Paris. Hamrick is said to have used the colored rodential title for his first theatre in each city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shea's Performing Arts Center</span> Theater in Buffalo, New York, United States

Shea's Performing Arts Center is a theater for touring Broadway musicals and special events in Buffalo, New York. Originally called Shea's Buffalo, it was opened in 1926 to show silent movies. It took one year to build the entire theatre. Shea's boasts one of the few theater organs in the US that is still in operation in the theater for which it was designed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Theatre</span> Theater and former movie theater in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a 3600 seat performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peery's Egyptian Theater</span>

Peery's Egyptian Theater is a movie palace located in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillioz Theatre</span> United States historic place in Missouri

The Gillioz Theatre is a historic theater located at Springfield, Missouri, United States. It was built by M. E. Gillioz of Monett, Missouri. Mr. Gillioz was in the business of building bridges, and the theater was built with steel and concrete. Wood was only used for handrails, doors, and doorframes. The original cost of the building was $300,000. Renovation costs totaled approximately $1.9 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Theatre (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)</span> United States historic place

The Paramount Theatre is a 1,693-seat theater in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orpheum Theatre (Memphis)</span> Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee

The Orpheum Theatre, a 2,308-seat venue listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on the southwest corner of the intersection of South Main and Beale streets. The Orpheum, along with the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education, compose the Orpheum Theatre Group, a community-supported nonprofit corporation that operates and maintains the venues and presents education programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Tucson Theatre</span> Historic performance space in Tucson, Arizona, US

The Fox Tucson Theatre is located in downtown Tucson, Arizona, United States. The theater opened on April 11, 1930 as a performance space in downtown Tucson. It hosts a wide spectrum of events and concerts featuring a variety of performing talent, ranging from ballets, to jazz, contemporary pop, world music and rock acts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riviera Theatre (North Tonawanda, New York)</span> Music venue and movie theater in North Tonawanda, New York, United States

The Riviera Theatre is a historic, 1140 seat entertainment venue in North Tonawanda, New York. The theatre hosts live concerts, theatre, dance shows, and movies. The Riviera's “Mighty Wurlitzer” theatre organ has been restored, is maintained by volunteers, and is famed as being one of two original Wurlitzer demonstrator organs, which the company would use to show off to potential clients in the height of the silent film era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmospheric theatre</span> Type of movie theater

An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.

The Shoppes at Solana is a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, owned and operated by Enoch Kimmelman. It is located on El Paso's west side, at Interstate 10 and Sunland Park Drive. It features five anchor stores operating under four brand names, and more than 130 specialty stores on two enclosed levels. It is the second-largest mall of the three in the metro area, behind Cielo Vista Mall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanford Theatre</span> Movie theater in Palo Alto for classic films

The Stanford Theatre is a classical independent movie theater in Palo Alto, California. It was designed and built in the 1920s as a movie palace styled in neoclassical Persian and Moorish architecture. Today it specializes in films produced between 1910 and 1970 and seasonal programs typically include film festivals for various genres, directors, and actors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, and Cary Grant. The Stanford Theatre frequently accounts for as much as twenty-five percent of all classic film attendance in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaza Cinema, Stockport</span> Cinema in England

The Plaza is a Grade II* listed art deco single-screen cinema and theatre in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1932, its construction having involved the excavation of the sandstone cliff behind it. After an initial closure in 1966 and a subsequent period in use as a bingo hall by Rank Leiure, it has now been restored as a cinema and theatre, showing films and staging live shows.

Walt Strony is an American recording, consulting and performing organist and organ teacher, both on the theatre organ and traditional pipe organ, ranging from pizza parlors to churches and theatres to symphony orchestras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tivoli Theatre (Chattanooga, Tennessee)</span> United States historic place

The Tivoli Theatre, also known as the Tivoli and the "Jewel of the South", is a historic theatre in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that opened on March 19, 1921. Built between 1919 and 1921 at a cost of $750,000, designed by famed Chicago-based architectural firm Rapp and Rapp and well-known Chattanooga architect Reuben H. Hunt, and constructed by the John Parks Company, the theatre was one of the first air-conditioned public buildings in the United States. The theatre was named Tivoli after Tivoli, Italy, has cream tiles and beige terra-cotta bricks, has a large red, black, and white marquee with 1,000 chaser lights, and has a large black neon sign that displays TIVOLI with still more chaser lights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkway Theatre (Baltimore)</span> Movie theater in Baltimore, Maryland, US

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway, or simply the Parkway, is a movie theater located at 5 West North Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. The Parkway is open as of May 3, 2017, and is the new permanent home of MdFF. The Maryland Film Festival, a 5-day annual festival created and operated by MdFF, is housed in and around the Parkway and throughout the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Natividad, Maria Almeida (2015). Famous Places in El Paso History: A Bilingual Picture and Activity Book. El Paso, Texas: Galeria del Sol. p. 33. ISBN   9780986184307.
  3. "Plaza Theatre". El Paso Live. August 17, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Metz, Leon (1999). El Paso: Guided Through Time. El Paso, Texas: Mangan Books. pp. 56–58. ISBN   9780930208370.
  5. 1 2 3 Metz, Leon (1993). El Paso Chronicles: A Record of Historical Events in El Paso, Texas. El Paso, Texas: Mangan Books. pp. 219–220. ISBN   9780930208325.
  6. Timmons, W.H. (1990). El Paso: A Borderlands History. El Paso, Texas: Texas Western Press. pp. 236–237, 274. ISBN   0874042070.
  7. "Escape to El Paso" (PDF). The Medallion. Texas Historical Commission: 10. March 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  8. Philanthropy Theatre
  9. "Organ Artisans Tackle a". 11 October 2005. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2015.