A movie palace is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped, while the rising popularity of large multiplex chains in the 1980s and 1990s signaled the obsolescence of single-screen theaters. Many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple-screen venues or performing arts centers, though some have undergone restoration and reopened to the public as historic buildings.
The Michigan Theater is a movie palace in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, near the Central Campus of the University of Michigan. It shows independent films and stage productions, and hosts musical concerts.
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.
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.
The Senator Theatre is a historic Art Deco movie theater on York Road in the Govans section of Baltimore, Maryland. It is the oldest operating movie theater in central Maryland and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated Baltimore City Landmark.
The Somerville Theatre is an independent movie theater and concert venue in the Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. Over one hundred years old, the Somerville Theatre started off as a vaudeville house and movie theater. The theater has since transitioned and now operates as a live music venue and first-run movie theater. As a music venue, the theater has played host to many historic concerts, including the first of the two Last Dispatch concerts, two shows by Bruce Springsteen in 2003, and a performance by U2 in 2009. Recent live performances have included Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cursive, Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Joan Baez, and the John Butler Trio.
The Strand Theater is a vaudeville theater located at 400 Clifton Avenue in Lakewood Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 22, 1982, for its significance in architecture, art, and theater.
The Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb, Illinois, United States, is an Egyptian Revival theatre that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The theatre was built in 1928 and 1929 as part of a much larger wave of national fascination with Ancient Egypt throughout the United States, due, in large part, to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. The theatre was added to the National Register in 1978 and its 1,430-seat auditorium is currently DeKalb County's largest.
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 Victoria Theatre is a historic 1,154-seat performing arts venue located in downtown Dayton, Ohio. The Victoria hosts a variety of events including theatre, music, dance, film, and comedy.
The ten-story Fine Arts Building, formerly known as the Studebaker Building, is located at 410 S Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–1885 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled in 1898, when Beman removed the building's eighth (top) story and added three new stories. Studebaker constructed the building as a carriage sales and service operation with manufacturing on upper floors. The two granite columns at the main entrance, 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 m) in diameter and 12 feet 10 inches (3.91 m) high, were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country. The interior features Art Nouveau motifs and murals by artists such as Martha Susan Baker, Frederic Clay Bartlett, Oliver Dennett Grover, Frank Xavier Leyendecker, and Bertha Sophia Menzler-Peyton dating from the 1898 renovation. In the early 20th century, the Kalo Shop and Wilro Shop, firms owned by women and specializing in Arts and Crafts items, were established in the Fine Arts Building.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre is a movie theater in Franklin, Indiana in the United States. The theater operated as a first-run movie theater continuously for 78 years before closing. It was the headquarters for Syndicate Theatre's cinema network from 1936-2000. Saved from demolition by historic preservation group Franklin Heritage Inc., the theater shows classic movies and hosts concerts as the group restores the Artcraft and other local buildings. The Artcraft is one of the best examples of an art deco theatre in Indiana.
The Yucca Theatre in Hysham, Montana, was built in 1931 by David Manning. The Mission style movie theater initially had a stage for theatrical productions which was removed in 1936. The theater closed in 1957 and became a part of the adjoining Manning home. The theater has since been restored and is used as a community theater. The theatre is significant for its architecture and its association with Manning, a prominent Montana legislator.
The Rivoli Theatre in South Fallsburg, New York, United States is located at the intersection of NY 42 and Laurel Avenue. It was built in 1923, renovated in the late 1930s and remains almost intact from that period.
The Ohio Theatre is a historic movie theater in downtown Lima, Ohio, United States. Built in 1927, the theater is a brick and concrete structure featuring multiple architectural styles. Outside, large amounts of terracotta details produce a Churrigueresque appearance, while Corinthian columns, marble and mosaic floors, and a massive chandelier produce an Italianate interior.
The Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre is an apartment building and theater complex located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places by its original name, the Hotel Mississippi and RKO Orpheum Theater. The Hotel Mississippi was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005. In 2020 the complex was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.
The Capitol Theater was a 700-seat theater in Burlington, Iowa. Opened in 1937, with the first showing being Mark Twain's classic The Prince and the Pauper. The theater was both a movie theater and an auditorium used for performances. The theater closed in March 1977, the final showing was the Stephen King horror classic Carrie.
The State Theatre is a Moderne style cinema in Red Bluff, California, USA. It was built in 1945-46 to a design by architects Alexander A. and Mackenzie A. Cantin, replacing a theater that had burned two years before. It provided the only public stage in Tehama County until 1991, and was the only cinema until 1993. It is notable as one of the few theaters to be built in the United States during World War II.
The Montgomery Building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is an iconic building located on Church Street in Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It was built in 1924, and is a ten-story, nine-bay-wide, steel frame skyscraper faced in precast concrete. It originally housed the offices of textile companies, cotton brokers, and factories. The building also contained a theatre/auditorium space, a radio and television station. The Montgomery Building was the tallest building in Spartanburg until the 1950s. In 2016, a developer announced a $29 million plan to renovate the building for mixed-use to include apartments, offices and retail. Restoration began in Spring 2017 and was completed in December 2018.
The Terrace Theatre was located at 3508 France Avenue North in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Upon its opening on May 23, 1951, the Terrace received critical acclaim for its “bold architectural lines [and] extensive patron services.” The 1,299-seat theater, designed in the mid-century modern style by the Minneapolis architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan (L&K) for movie exhibitors Sidney and William Volk, was a popular Twin Cities destination for nearly fifty years. It changed hands in 1980 and again in 1987, when it was remodeled from a single-screen auditorium into three screens by dividing the balcony. The last movie was screened in 1999 and the theater remained boarded up for seventeen years before it was demolished in the fall of 2016 to be replaced by a Hy-Vee grocery store.
