Spreckels Theatre Building | |
Location | San Diego, California |
---|---|
Built | 1912 |
Architect | Harrison Albright |
Architectural style | Chicago-style |
NRHP reference No. | 75000467 [1] |
SDHL No. | 76 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 1975 |
Designated SDHL | August 4, 1972 [2] |
Spreckels Theatre is a performing arts center in San Diego, California. It was touted as "the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi". [3] It was designed for philanthropist John D. Spreckels, and was meant to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. Built in 1912, it was originally created to host live theater performances, but was converted to allow motion pictures in 1931. The theater has been closed since being sold in 2021. There are currently plans to renovate the building.
Architect Harrison Albright designed the Spreckels Theater for the city's premier philanthropist, sugar heir John D. Spreckels. The building, which opened on August 23, 1912, was constructed to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. As with many west coast buildings from this era, it is constructed of reinforced concrete and concrete panels with architectural terra cotta manufactured by Gladding, McBean. The six-story building has a marquee over the main entrance. The theater is a 1,915-seat auditorium with an ornate Baroque interior. The auditorium is open with no pillars or columns to obstruct sightlines. The number of seats was chosen to correspond with the Panama–California Exposition year (1915). The stage is 82 feet x 58 feet, and was one of the largest stages ever constructed.
The theater originally presented live theatrical productions. Notable performers at the Spreckels included Enrico Caruso, John Barrymore, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, and Abbott and Costello. [4]
In 1931, it was converted into a first-run motion picture house by its then-owner Louis B. Metzger.
In 1976, owner/operator Jacquelyn Littlefield (Metzger's daughter) restored it to a live theater format, bringing touring Broadway shows to San Diego in cooperation with the Nederlander Organization. [5]
When fire destroyed San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in 1978, the Spreckels hosted the Globe's 1978-79 season. [6]
Between July 2015 and July 2019, TBS has rented the theater for a week for Conan O'Brien to host his self-titled talk show from the theater to correspond with that year's San Diego Comic-Con. [7] There are four tapings that occur, which each episode airing the following evening. Casts from several big name television shows have appeared such as Breaking Bad, Top Gun: Maverick, Veronica Mars, and It Chapter Two.
San Diego's Spreckels Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is currently closed indefinitely.
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. The fair was constructed on a 636-acre (257-hectare) site along the northern shore, between the Presidio and Fort Mason, now known as the Marina District.
The Panama–California Exposition was a world exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first United States port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. The fair was held in San Diego's large urban Balboa Park. The park held a second Panama-California exposition in 1935.
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Conan is an American variety and late-night talk show that aired each Monday through Thursday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time on TBS in the United States for 11 seasons, from 2010 to 2021. The show premiered on November 8, 2010, and was hosted by writer, comedian, and performer Conan O'Brien, accompanied by his long-time sidekick Andy Richter. Running for eight years and identifying as a traditional late-night talk show, Conan drew its comedy from recent news stories, political figures, and prominent celebrities, as well as aspects of the show itself. The hour-long show was akin to O'Brien's previous NBC late-night shows and was directed by Billy Bollotino.
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in the theatre until 1904 as well as the Chicago Grand Opera Company and its successors the Chicago Opera Association and Chicago Civic Opera until its relocation to the Civic Opera House in 1929. The theater was home to the Joffrey Ballet from 1998 until 2020. It currently hosts a variety of concerts, musicals, performances, and events. Since the 1940s, it has been owned by Roosevelt University and since the 1960s it has been refurbished and managed by an independent non-profit arts organization.
John Diedrich Spreckels, the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrepreneur's many business ventures included Hotel del Coronado and the San Diego and Arizona Railway, both of which are credited with helping San Diego develop into a major commercial center.
The Old Globe is a professional theatre company in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which is collectively called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts:
The California Pacific International Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California, during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936. The exposition was held in Balboa Park, San Diego's large central urban park, which had also been the site of the earlier Panama–California Exposition in 1915.
The Spreckels Organ Pavilion is an outdoor venue that houses the open-air Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. With more than 5,000 pipes, the Spreckels Organ is the world's largest pipe organ in a fully outdoor venue. Constructed for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition, it is located at the corner of President's Way and Pan American Road East in the park.
Downtown San Diego is the central business district of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. It houses the major local headquarters of the city, county, state, and federal governments. The area comprises seven districts: Gaslamp Quarter, East Village, Columbia, Marina, Cortez Hill, Little Italy, and Core.
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Harrison Albright was an American architect best known for his design of the West Baden Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana.
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James William Reid (1851–1943) was a Canadian-born American architect of the noted San Francisco firm of Reid & Reid.
Reid & Reid, also known as Reid Brothers, was an American architectural and engineering firm that was active from 1880 to 1932. Established in Indiana by Canadian immigrants, the firm moved to the West Coast and became was the most prominent firm in San Francisco, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The San Diego Class 1 streetcar was a fleet of twenty-four unique streetcars that were originally built to provide transportation for the Panama–California Exposition in Balboa Park. The cars were designed by the San Diego Electric Railway Company (SDERy) under the leadership of John D. Spreckels and built by the St. Louis Car Company. These cars, which took the best elements from preceding models and integrated them into a new, modern streetcar design, went on to serve the many neighborhoods of San Diego until they were retired in 1939.
Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) historic urban cultural park in San Diego, California. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. The park hosts various museums, theaters, restaurants, and the San Diego Zoo. It is managed and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.
El Prado Complex is a historic district in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The 13-acre (5.3 ha) complex includes 13 contributing buildings and one contributing structure. Most of the structures were built for San Diego's Panama–California Exposition of 1915–16 and were refurbished and re-used for the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935–36. The original architects were Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow. The area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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