RKO Orpheum Theatre | |
 | |
 | |
| Address | 17 W 7th place Saint Paul, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Operator | First Avenue, JAM Productions |
| Capacity | 2,500 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1916 |
| Renovated | 2016 |
The Palace Theatre is a historic theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Dating from 1916, it was renovated in 2016 to become a live music venue.
Called the New Palace upon opening on November 27, 1916, the theater was designed by Saint Paul architects Buechner & Orth in a Beaux-Arts style. [1] It was built with the surrounding St. Francis Hotel, which also included shops, a ballroom, and the largest single-room billiard hall in the country. The basement was later home to the Granada Club, famous for its Spanish style and known as a gangster hangout. [2]
The theater originally seated 2,300 people on the main floor and one balcony, and was part of the Finkelstein & Ruben circuit [3] – a large regional chain that developed several other theaters in downtown Saint Paul, including the Princess (1909–1931) and the Capitol (1920–1965), as well as the State Theatre in Minneapolis. It made the transition from vaudeville to talkies, and was considered one of the city's two finest movie palaces – the other being the Paramount located directly across the street. [4]
Over the years the Palace would be affiliated with different production companies, including the Orpheum, RKO, and Ted Mann. First-run feature films were shown from the 1920s until its closure in 1977 due to new competition from both multiplexes and television. In the following years the theater was used only for sporadic events, such as a few live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion while the nearby Fitzgerald Theater underwent renovations. [5]
While dozens of theaters were built in the early 20th century in downtown Saint Paul, the Palace and the Fitzgerald are the only two that have survived.
The building was dark for three decades and on the verge of condemnation before the City of Saint Paul purchased it in 2015, embarking on a $15 million rehabilitation meant to prepare the venue for concerts. [6] The scope of the project was not a full historical restoration; instead they stabilized the structure and preserved what remained, adding new plumbing and mechanical systems but leaving "rough edges" throughout. Seats on the main floor were removed to accommodate larger crowds in general admission and differentiate the Palace from other regional venues with similar capacities, including the Orpheum Theatre and Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis. The balcony's 725 seats were refurbished.
The Palace had a public unveiling on December 16, 2016, around the time of its 100th anniversary. [7] Bookings will be handled by First Avenue of Minneapolis and JAM Productions of Chicago. The first show at the renovated theater was March 10, 2017 by Atmosphere, with The Jayhawks and Phantogram also playing opening weekend.
Orchestra Hall, located on 11th Street at Peavey Plaza, between Nicollet Mall and Marquette Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is home to the Minnesota Orchestra. It is a major landmark of the southern portion of Nicollet Mall and home to many events throughout the year, in addition to being the Orchestra's home.
The Fox Theatre is a performing arts center located at 2211 Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, near the Grand Circus Park Historic District. Opened in 1928 as a flagship movie palace in the Fox Theatres chain, it was at over 5,000 seats the largest theater in the city. Designed by theater architect C. Howard Crane, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture. The area surrounding the Fox is nicknamed Foxtown. The city's major performance centers and theatres emanate from the Fox Theatre and Grand Circus Park Historic District and continue along Woodward Avenue toward the Fisher Theatre in the city's New Center.
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Orpheum Theatre is a theater located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is one of four restored theaters on Hennepin Avenue, along with the Pantages Theatre, the State Theatre and the Shubert Theatre.
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Minneapolis is the largest city in the US state of Minnesota, and the county seat of Hennepin County.
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The Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city. Three previous theatres also bore the name Orpheum before the one at 842 Broadway was the final one with that moniker.
The Sottile Theatre is a theater in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. It is owned by the College of Charleston and is a rental venue used by many local, regional and national performing arts groups including Spoleto Festival USA. It has 785 seats and was built in the 1920s by Albert Sottile.
Downtown Saint Paul is an official neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the south, University Avenue to the north, US 52 to the east, and Kellogg Avenue to the west. It is bounded by the Dayton's Bluff, Summit-University, West Seventh, Frogtown, West Side, and Payne-Phalen neighborhoods. The West Side neighborhood is on the other side of the river, and can be accessed via the Robert Street Bridge or the Wabasha Street Bridge. Interstate 35E and Interstate 94 run through the north side of the neighborhood, providing a separation between the Minnesota State Capitol and other state government buildings with the rest of downtown.
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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-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.
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Coordinates: 44°56′50″N93°05′48″W / 44.947096°N 93.096745°W