MORE ON THE PORT THEATRE FOR SALE: I just added phone number and another web site on the site link listed above. We are the owners/listing agents for this building. We also have a co listing agent, but it’s best to call us first and we can direct you to other agent if you prefer. (Co listing agent has changed since earlier posting on this site.) THANKS. Wade and Paula 850-229-9282
There are usually more than one photo album. One is of the Theatre and any others are of our weekly auction items. We have over 40 photos of the theatre up. You might have to copy and paste the link into your browser, rather than click, but that address will get you to the photos. Port Theatre is located on the Gulf Coast of Florida in an area that has been going up 30+% per year on average in property values.
Wow. I am sorry to hear about the wall. Hope that it is found to be repairable. Old Theatres certainly touch hearts. I truly hope all works out well for the Tivoli’s future. Keep us all posted!
Effective July 1st, 2004, John Mazzanovich with Anchor Realty & Mortgage Co. is handling the listing of the Port Theatre. His email address is: and his cellphone number is
850-899-3600.
This property is listed effective July 1st 2004 with agent John Mazzanovich, through Anchor Realty & Mortgage Co. 850-899-3600 is his cell phone number. He can be reached at also.
We have been working on restoring the marquee of the Port Theatre for some time now. Hit a dead end a couple years back, but have it about halfway restored at this point. The owner of Savage Neon in Baltimore, Maryland helped us with the neon glass restoration. Which, actually, proved to be climbing up on the marquee and measuring, searching out what was left of the signage, and remaking signs, because neon, for the most part, is unrepairable (the glass is). Haley was fascinated by our project. Our marquee is fairly simple compared to some, so I can imagine how overwhelming it could be to begin the process of researching and restoration for a complex one. Good luck! Port Townsend is a nice town. We used to live near enough to visit it once in awhile. One thing: you might check Ebay for postcards of your theatre now and then. Occasionally a post card of our theatre comes up on ebay. Most post cards will show the original marquee fairly accurately, though not as detailed as one would wish.
I am sorry for the loss you feel. It truly is sad when City officials fail to defend historic properties, and development claims them. It is a constant struggle everywhere, I think, to try to preserve even portions of our past.
Take heart, though, as the memories you have are yours and cannot be taken from you. Sometimes we don’t see the whole picture as to why things happen as they do in our cities, but it is still a shame when a cool place is lost to us. I don’t know if any theatre I grew up with is still standing. I hope to go back and check it out someday!
Update: the permit was issued on Friday, June 4th. Although the owners are still researching their legal rights in this matter, their real estate broker has pointed out that in the long run, this could prove to be beneficial to a new owner, especially if the new owner had any plans of changing anything from the original.
The latest is that it is on the market, for sale. My husband and I own it, and hope someone will come along who will lovingly take this project from here and make more progress along that line. We have owned this building since 1995, and have used it for our business since 1996. Our business is an auction business, and we would like to see the building back to something closer to its original use. If you look at the fiddle fest news (other part of this website) you’ll see more info about the acoustics in the building. It was built right for acoustics.
The latest is that it is on the market, for sale. My husband and I own it, and hope someone will come along who will lovingly take this project from here and make more progress along that line. We have owned this building since 1995, and have used it for our business since 1996. Our business is an auction business, and we would like to see the building back to something closer to its original use. If you look at the fiddle fest news (other part of this website) you’ll see more info about the acoustics in the building. It was built right for acoustics.
I wish to encourage you in your endeavor! When we purchased the Port Theatre in August of 1995, it had been boarded up for nearly 30 years, and was a real eyesore. However, it was a solid building, and with ALOT of work became a usable building with extreme character! Those several years of neglect leave their toll, but you can reverse the process, make a building come back to life. It is well worth the effort. In our case, we put the building to use in a way that helped to pay the bills of continuing to restore it, but eventually we hope to see the building used again for performing arts. One thing I would suggest, you might wish to reach out to find folks who knew the building from the beginning. In our case, we heard lots of stories, but never could get any photos of the inside, as it was. Time passes, and that makes it harder to obtain old photos and the stories that go along with them. Good luck! Feel free to email me anytime regarding your project. If nothing else, I can encourage you to keep at it!
Update: I was informed today that the permit process is completely and finally approved for the neighboring property to violate the party wall agreement, go up two or more feet, block our manager apartment windows somewhat, and place four A/C units on their new roof that will cover a second story (prohibited by private recorded agreement). Of course, we have the option to pursue legal routes to prevent this, which we are researching. It seems so pointless to me, though. I spent THREE years working hard to obtain the historic status on the building. Now, the City of Port St. Joe does not seem to honor that status, and simply makes decisions as if that status doesn’t exist. The State of Florida recommended against this addition to neighboring property, but could not prohibit it. I’ve been told our Party Wall Agreement will stand up in court. We are consulting with legal expert in real estate law.
WOW! Cool that you took the time to put this list together! Our Port Theatre is currently for sale, although we have had several inquiries recently regarding the wonderful historical building just put back on the market last month. It is located in Port St. Joe, FL and more info can be found on this website under Port Theatre, one of the original Martin Theatres.
Wanted to also let folks know that there is an artist who paints movie stars and loves it. His website is: www.oceanclark.com and he lives in New Orleans. He can sometimes be found to have art on sale on Ebay under neworleansartist (ebay id). Our front entry of our theatre has several paintings done by Ocean and he does a great job! If you need additional contact info for him, feel free to contact me.
It’s true 19 million is alot of money. The situation with alot of real estate in today’s world is that the land becomes so valuable that whatever is on the land may not seem worth the price. We have a theatre in Florida for sale for 1.55 million currently. We may take it off the market this summer, for a break, after being under contract for four months recently and having it fall through. It was kinda nice to own the building all over again when the deal fell through. Real estate in our area has been booming for several years now. Everyone loves this little town on the Gulf of Mexico. Being on Hwy 98, alot of people pass through, and many come for vacations now.
Hi, This is Paula’s husband, Wade. She addressed this question pretty well. It was an Accoustical Engineer who marveled at our building’s accoustics. Echo is the enemy of sound clarity. When the sound bounces back at you it’s fun to listen to, but it keeps going and bounces back again and again. If the angles are such that it can’t directly bounce back to you, but rather is sent at an angle to another off-set angle and another offset, it disipates without echo. With echo you hear every sound several times and can’t hear any of them clearly because they are all reaching you over and over at the same time. Maybe I’m giving too much information, but when he showed me this picture of sound, it was a real revelation to me! Our Theatre has the floor sloped, of course, from North to South. It also has the roof structure sloped from East to West, with about a 1/12 pitch (slight). A square or cubed building would echo. A 20x40 would echo. a40x60,80,100,120 would also echo. Our inside walls are aprox. 42x117, which breaks the echo pattern. Combined with the floor and roof angles, the echo doesn’t exist, so sound travels clearly, free of reverberation! It’s amazing to me! It may be just common sense to others, but I needed it explained to me to see it! We have a lady coming this evening to play her fiddle; she’s always been amazed at our accoustics and asked if we’d let her bring her fiddle by…I can hardly wait!
Though the building was without a roof for 10 years before we bought it, the walls, the sloped floor and the steel roof structural system were still in great shape. The new roof system went on that steel at the same angle as the old and capturing the same beautiful accoustics!
Have a great day!
I’m not sure where you gathered that so “little of the house remains”. There was probably never much plaster in the main auditorium, nor was there ever a ceiling cavity that I know about. The acoustical engineer who spent an hour explaining it to my husband said that our building’s dimensions were a major factor in the acoustics. If the building’s dimensions are odd, not divisible by each other, like 200 by 800 or something. The roof is slightly angled toward the southwest and the floors are raked. The angles of the building cause the sound to just keep going! There is another historical building in town that has horrible acoustics. It has lots of ceiling panels and other such things but the sound echoes back at whoever sings or speaks and those trying to hear in the building are unable to hear much. Also, our building is 40 ft tall. We DO have enough remaining of the building to have been accepted on the National Register of Historic Places, so perhaps somehow a description or picture you read or saw wasn’t very representative. I don’t know all the answers to your question, comment, but I do know that this building has great acoustics, and my husband, when he builds his next auction building, will use many of the principles he learned about after owning this building! Hope that helps explain.
MORE ON THE PORT THEATRE FOR SALE: I just added phone number and another web site on the site link listed above. We are the owners/listing agents for this building. We also have a co listing agent, but it’s best to call us first and we can direct you to other agent if you prefer. (Co listing agent has changed since earlier posting on this site.) THANKS. Wade and Paula 850-229-9282
Port Theatre is still on the market. However, we have had several inquiries over the last few weeks! See photos at
View link
There are usually more than one photo album. One is of the Theatre and any others are of our weekly auction items. We have over 40 photos of the theatre up. You might have to copy and paste the link into your browser, rather than click, but that address will get you to the photos. Port Theatre is located on the Gulf Coast of Florida in an area that has been going up 30+% per year on average in property values.
Yes it is. We have had alot of interest in it in the last three months, but it is still for sale.
Vince, we could tell what you meant!
Do you have any interest in any other area of Florida? The Port Theatre is for sale in Port St. Joe, Florida……
Wow. I am sorry to hear about the wall. Hope that it is found to be repairable. Old Theatres certainly touch hearts. I truly hope all works out well for the Tivoli’s future. Keep us all posted!
Effective July 1st, 2004, John Mazzanovich with Anchor Realty & Mortgage Co. is handling the listing of the Port Theatre. His email address is: and his cellphone number is
850-899-3600.
This property is listed effective July 1st 2004 with agent John Mazzanovich, through Anchor Realty & Mortgage Co. 850-899-3600 is his cell phone number. He can be reached at also.
We have been working on restoring the marquee of the Port Theatre for some time now. Hit a dead end a couple years back, but have it about halfway restored at this point. The owner of Savage Neon in Baltimore, Maryland helped us with the neon glass restoration. Which, actually, proved to be climbing up on the marquee and measuring, searching out what was left of the signage, and remaking signs, because neon, for the most part, is unrepairable (the glass is). Haley was fascinated by our project. Our marquee is fairly simple compared to some, so I can imagine how overwhelming it could be to begin the process of researching and restoration for a complex one. Good luck! Port Townsend is a nice town. We used to live near enough to visit it once in awhile. One thing: you might check Ebay for postcards of your theatre now and then. Occasionally a post card of our theatre comes up on ebay. Most post cards will show the original marquee fairly accurately, though not as detailed as one would wish.
I am sorry for the loss you feel. It truly is sad when City officials fail to defend historic properties, and development claims them. It is a constant struggle everywhere, I think, to try to preserve even portions of our past.
Take heart, though, as the memories you have are yours and cannot be taken from you. Sometimes we don’t see the whole picture as to why things happen as they do in our cities, but it is still a shame when a cool place is lost to us. I don’t know if any theatre I grew up with is still standing. I hope to go back and check it out someday!
Your positive viewpoint is to be commended. May you carry that forward with you always. I will toast the glorious memories!
Update: the permit was issued on Friday, June 4th. Although the owners are still researching their legal rights in this matter, their real estate broker has pointed out that in the long run, this could prove to be beneficial to a new owner, especially if the new owner had any plans of changing anything from the original.
Please see May 26th news article, archived on this site about the Fiddle Fest hosted in the building, and the acoustics. (2004)
The latest is that it is on the market, for sale. My husband and I own it, and hope someone will come along who will lovingly take this project from here and make more progress along that line. We have owned this building since 1995, and have used it for our business since 1996. Our business is an auction business, and we would like to see the building back to something closer to its original use. If you look at the fiddle fest news (other part of this website) you’ll see more info about the acoustics in the building. It was built right for acoustics.
The latest is that it is on the market, for sale. My husband and I own it, and hope someone will come along who will lovingly take this project from here and make more progress along that line. We have owned this building since 1995, and have used it for our business since 1996. Our business is an auction business, and we would like to see the building back to something closer to its original use. If you look at the fiddle fest news (other part of this website) you’ll see more info about the acoustics in the building. It was built right for acoustics.
I wish to encourage you in your endeavor! When we purchased the Port Theatre in August of 1995, it had been boarded up for nearly 30 years, and was a real eyesore. However, it was a solid building, and with ALOT of work became a usable building with extreme character! Those several years of neglect leave their toll, but you can reverse the process, make a building come back to life. It is well worth the effort. In our case, we put the building to use in a way that helped to pay the bills of continuing to restore it, but eventually we hope to see the building used again for performing arts. One thing I would suggest, you might wish to reach out to find folks who knew the building from the beginning. In our case, we heard lots of stories, but never could get any photos of the inside, as it was. Time passes, and that makes it harder to obtain old photos and the stories that go along with them. Good luck! Feel free to email me anytime regarding your project. If nothing else, I can encourage you to keep at it!
Update: I was informed today that the permit process is completely and finally approved for the neighboring property to violate the party wall agreement, go up two or more feet, block our manager apartment windows somewhat, and place four A/C units on their new roof that will cover a second story (prohibited by private recorded agreement). Of course, we have the option to pursue legal routes to prevent this, which we are researching. It seems so pointless to me, though. I spent THREE years working hard to obtain the historic status on the building. Now, the City of Port St. Joe does not seem to honor that status, and simply makes decisions as if that status doesn’t exist. The State of Florida recommended against this addition to neighboring property, but could not prohibit it. I’ve been told our Party Wall Agreement will stand up in court. We are consulting with legal expert in real estate law.
WOW! Cool that you took the time to put this list together! Our Port Theatre is currently for sale, although we have had several inquiries recently regarding the wonderful historical building just put back on the market last month. It is located in Port St. Joe, FL and more info can be found on this website under Port Theatre, one of the original Martin Theatres.
Wanted to also let folks know that there is an artist who paints movie stars and loves it. His website is: www.oceanclark.com and he lives in New Orleans. He can sometimes be found to have art on sale on Ebay under neworleansartist (ebay id). Our front entry of our theatre has several paintings done by Ocean and he does a great job! If you need additional contact info for him, feel free to contact me.
Thank you for all your hard work on behalf of all theatres!
Nice website, nice theatre paintings, nice idea!
It’s true 19 million is alot of money. The situation with alot of real estate in today’s world is that the land becomes so valuable that whatever is on the land may not seem worth the price. We have a theatre in Florida for sale for 1.55 million currently. We may take it off the market this summer, for a break, after being under contract for four months recently and having it fall through. It was kinda nice to own the building all over again when the deal fell through. Real estate in our area has been booming for several years now. Everyone loves this little town on the Gulf of Mexico. Being on Hwy 98, alot of people pass through, and many come for vacations now.
Everyone loved the music during our preview! We hope to do it again!
Hi, This is Paula’s husband, Wade. She addressed this question pretty well. It was an Accoustical Engineer who marveled at our building’s accoustics. Echo is the enemy of sound clarity. When the sound bounces back at you it’s fun to listen to, but it keeps going and bounces back again and again. If the angles are such that it can’t directly bounce back to you, but rather is sent at an angle to another off-set angle and another offset, it disipates without echo. With echo you hear every sound several times and can’t hear any of them clearly because they are all reaching you over and over at the same time. Maybe I’m giving too much information, but when he showed me this picture of sound, it was a real revelation to me! Our Theatre has the floor sloped, of course, from North to South. It also has the roof structure sloped from East to West, with about a 1/12 pitch (slight). A square or cubed building would echo. A 20x40 would echo. a40x60,80,100,120 would also echo. Our inside walls are aprox. 42x117, which breaks the echo pattern. Combined with the floor and roof angles, the echo doesn’t exist, so sound travels clearly, free of reverberation! It’s amazing to me! It may be just common sense to others, but I needed it explained to me to see it! We have a lady coming this evening to play her fiddle; she’s always been amazed at our accoustics and asked if we’d let her bring her fiddle by…I can hardly wait!
Though the building was without a roof for 10 years before we bought it, the walls, the sloped floor and the steel roof structural system were still in great shape. The new roof system went on that steel at the same angle as the old and capturing the same beautiful accoustics!
Have a great day!
Wade
I’m not sure where you gathered that so “little of the house remains”. There was probably never much plaster in the main auditorium, nor was there ever a ceiling cavity that I know about. The acoustical engineer who spent an hour explaining it to my husband said that our building’s dimensions were a major factor in the acoustics. If the building’s dimensions are odd, not divisible by each other, like 200 by 800 or something. The roof is slightly angled toward the southwest and the floors are raked. The angles of the building cause the sound to just keep going! There is another historical building in town that has horrible acoustics. It has lots of ceiling panels and other such things but the sound echoes back at whoever sings or speaks and those trying to hear in the building are unable to hear much. Also, our building is 40 ft tall. We DO have enough remaining of the building to have been accepted on the National Register of Historic Places, so perhaps somehow a description or picture you read or saw wasn’t very representative. I don’t know all the answers to your question, comment, but I do know that this building has great acoustics, and my husband, when he builds his next auction building, will use many of the principles he learned about after owning this building! Hope that helps explain.