This was the second Capitol Theatre to be built on this site. The original house was destroyed by a fire on May 22, 1946. A fairly detailed story of the fire can be found in this post at Central PA Fire Forums. From the description, it appears that the new theater was built at least partly within the shell of the old theater.
The Capitol Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY with only 430 seats, while the description of the fire says it had 1,400 seats in 1946. Either it had been expanded or rebuilt at some point after 1926, or there was an earlier Capitol Theatre at another location in Shenandoah.
I don’t think the new opera house of 1906 ever got finished. The 1909-1910 Cahn guide still lists only the Hogan Opera House in Susquehana, and the description is the same as in the 1906 guide so it was not a new theater. There was a new manager, though. Doherty & Shanahan had been replaced by J. J. Ryan.
However, The May 27, 1916, issue of The American Contractor had an item about a planned new opera house in Susquehanna. It was to seat 1,100, cost $50,000, and be designed by Leon H. Lempert. The promoter of the project was J. J. Ryan. The construction contract had been let.
But that project appears to have fallen through too. Then in 1921 the March 19 issue of the same magazine reported that J. J. Ryan was contemplating the building of a moving picture theater at Susquehanna. It was to cost about $50,000 and to be designed by Leon Lempert, which sounds like a recycling of the project from 1916. I don’t think that the 1921 project got built, either. The 1926 Yearbook of Motion Pictures lists only the 400-seat Opera House for Suquehanna.
Redwards1: the architect is listed in the sidebar at the right of the page. S. Charles Lee designed the Los Angeles Theatre, and Samuel Tilden Norton designed the Fox Building, the office structure fronting on Hill Street at the back of the theater.
The Regal 16 Cinemas Westchester Commons was designed by Birmingham, Alabama architectural firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s web site has a photo, and says that the multiplex has a seating capacity of 3,209.
There is a slide show with three photos on the web site of the theater’s architects, RLS Design Group. The seating capacity of the Regal Walden Galleria Stadium 16 is 3,054.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed the Cobb Lakeside Village 18. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the total seating capacity of the theaters as 3,534.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed the Regal American Mall Stadium 16 Cinemas. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the seating capacity of the project as 1,926.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed Regal’s Loop Stadium 16 Cinemas. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the seating capacity as 3,376.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed Regal’s Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 Theatres. Their web site has a slide show with three photos.
The web site of Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group lists the Rocky Top 10 at Crossville as one of their works. They have one photo, and give the seating capacity as 1,664.
The web site of Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group lists the Cobb Hollywod 16 Theatres in Tuscaloosa as one of their works. There is a photo on this page, which also gives the seating capacity as 3,226.
Regal’s Southpark Mall Stadium 16 was designed by the Birmingham, Alabama firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s principals are Rodney L. Sartain and David W. Breedlove. There are two photos of the theater on the firm’s web site.
Regal’s River Ridge Mall Stadium 14 was designed by the Birmingham, Alabama firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s principals are Rodney L. Sartain and David W. Breedlove. There are a few photos of the theater on the firm’s web site.
ScreenClassic is correct. The building has not been demolished. If you move Street View two clicks to the left you can still see the same roof-line it had as the Paramount.
The October 24, 1927, issue of The Film Daily said that the Rose Theatre in Thomasville, Georgia, had recently been opened by the Interstate Amusement Company. The Rose was designed by architect C. K. Howell.
A survey of Greenville’s architecture for the NRHP says that the Rivoli Theatre was designed by the local architectural firm Beacham & LeGrand (James Douthit Beacham and Leon LeGrand.) It says that they also designed a house called the Piedmont Theatre. We don’t have a Piedmont Theatre listed for Greenville, and I’ve been unable to discover when it was operating or whether it later operated under another name.
scmovietheatres and the Greenville County Historical Society’s book Remebering Greenville both say that the Rivoli Theatre opened in 1925. The book also notes that the Rivoli became the Fox Theatre in 1949. The Fox remained in operation the longest of any of Greenville’s Main Street theaters, finally closing in 1978 according to an article quoted on this page at Greenville Film House.
Miller’s Theatre was expanded in 1916, according to an item in the October 21 issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer. Construction was to begin immediately on an addition 28x60 feet. There would be anew stage, and seating capacity was to be increased by 210. A sprinkler system was to be installed throughout the theater, and the entire house would be redecorated. The project was being carried out by the Milwaukee Building Company.
In the August 1, 1941, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor there was an item saying that Clifford Balch had made plans for a theater on Maclay Avenue in San Fernando for Maude L. and John T. Rennie. This house was refereed to at least once as Rennie’s Towne Theatre in The Film Daily (Towne appears to have been the original spelling of the theater’s name.) If the Towne did open in 1942, it must have been the project designed by Balch.
Now that I’ve seen photos of the Azteca Theatre, and the Town (Centre) Theatre has been added, with an approximate opening year of 1942, I suspect that the project that Clifford Balch designed for the Rennies in 1941 was the Town Theatre, which was referred to as Rennie’s Towne Theatre at least once in The Film Daily.
A history of the San Fernando Hardware Company Building (PDF here), which was designed by Edward J. Borgmeyer in 1925, says that Borgmeyer also designed the Rennie Theatre, which had opened earlier that year. Although the paper doesn’t cite a source for the claim, it does seem plausible. Before its remodeling, the theater definitely had the look of the mid-1920s, and Borgmeyer was a well-known theater architect by 1925.
Interestingly, Borgmeyer had designed another movie theater in San Fernando almost a decade earlier. The project was noted in the May 13, 1916, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer. So far I’ve been unable to find the name of that theater or any details about it.
The Hamilton 16 was designed by the Grand Rapids architectural firm Paradigm Design.
The seating capacity of the Southpark Mall Stadium 16 is 3,076.
This was the second Capitol Theatre to be built on this site. The original house was destroyed by a fire on May 22, 1946. A fairly detailed story of the fire can be found in this post at Central PA Fire Forums. From the description, it appears that the new theater was built at least partly within the shell of the old theater.
The Capitol Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY with only 430 seats, while the description of the fire says it had 1,400 seats in 1946. Either it had been expanded or rebuilt at some point after 1926, or there was an earlier Capitol Theatre at another location in Shenandoah.
I don’t think the new opera house of 1906 ever got finished. The 1909-1910 Cahn guide still lists only the Hogan Opera House in Susquehana, and the description is the same as in the 1906 guide so it was not a new theater. There was a new manager, though. Doherty & Shanahan had been replaced by J. J. Ryan.
However, The May 27, 1916, issue of The American Contractor had an item about a planned new opera house in Susquehanna. It was to seat 1,100, cost $50,000, and be designed by Leon H. Lempert. The promoter of the project was J. J. Ryan. The construction contract had been let.
But that project appears to have fallen through too. Then in 1921 the March 19 issue of the same magazine reported that J. J. Ryan was contemplating the building of a moving picture theater at Susquehanna. It was to cost about $50,000 and to be designed by Leon Lempert, which sounds like a recycling of the project from 1916. I don’t think that the 1921 project got built, either. The 1926 Yearbook of Motion Pictures lists only the 400-seat Opera House for Suquehanna.
Redwards1: the architect is listed in the sidebar at the right of the page. S. Charles Lee designed the Los Angeles Theatre, and Samuel Tilden Norton designed the Fox Building, the office structure fronting on Hill Street at the back of the theater.
The Regal 16 Cinemas Westchester Commons was designed by Birmingham, Alabama architectural firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s web site has a photo, and says that the multiplex has a seating capacity of 3,209.
There is a slide show with three photos on the web site of the theater’s architects, RLS Design Group. The seating capacity of the Regal Walden Galleria Stadium 16 is 3,054.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed the Cobb Lakeside Village 18. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the total seating capacity of the theaters as 3,534.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed the Regal American Mall Stadium 16 Cinemas. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the seating capacity of the project as 1,926.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed Regal’s Loop Stadium 16 Cinemas. The firm’s web site has two photos, and gives the seating capacity as 3,376.
Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group designed Regal’s Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 Theatres. Their web site has a slide show with three photos.
The web site of Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group lists the Rocky Top 10 at Crossville as one of their works. They have one photo, and give the seating capacity as 1,664.
The web site of Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group lists the Cobb Hollywod 16 Theatres in Tuscaloosa as one of their works. There is a photo on this page, which also gives the seating capacity as 3,226.
The web site of Birmingham, Alabama, architectural firm RLS Design Group lists the Capitol Theatres at Madisonville, Kentucky, as one of their works.
Regal’s Southpark Mall Stadium 16 was designed by the Birmingham, Alabama firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s principals are Rodney L. Sartain and David W. Breedlove. There are two photos of the theater on the firm’s web site.
Regal’s River Ridge Mall Stadium 14 was designed by the Birmingham, Alabama firm RLS Design Group. The firm’s principals are Rodney L. Sartain and David W. Breedlove. There are a few photos of the theater on the firm’s web site.
ScreenClassic is correct. The building has not been demolished. If you move Street View two clicks to the left you can still see the same roof-line it had as the Paramount.
The Midland was narrow but fairly deep, about 35 x 150 feet. The building was also fairly tall, and probably had a deep balcony.
There are a couple of early photos of the Grand Theatre on this page at Pittsburg, Kansas Memories.
The October 24, 1927, issue of The Film Daily said that the Rose Theatre in Thomasville, Georgia, had recently been opened by the Interstate Amusement Company. The Rose was designed by architect C. K. Howell.
I just noticed that in this 1925 photo (linked earlier by Lost Memory) the Rivoli’s marquee says “Gala Opening Sept. Seventh.”
A survey of Greenville’s architecture for the NRHP says that the Rivoli Theatre was designed by the local architectural firm Beacham & LeGrand (James Douthit Beacham and Leon LeGrand.) It says that they also designed a house called the Piedmont Theatre. We don’t have a Piedmont Theatre listed for Greenville, and I’ve been unable to discover when it was operating or whether it later operated under another name.
scmovietheatres and the Greenville County Historical Society’s book Remebering Greenville both say that the Rivoli Theatre opened in 1925. The book also notes that the Rivoli became the Fox Theatre in 1949. The Fox remained in operation the longest of any of Greenville’s Main Street theaters, finally closing in 1978 according to an article quoted on this page at Greenville Film House.
Miller’s Theatre was expanded in 1916, according to an item in the October 21 issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer. Construction was to begin immediately on an addition 28x60 feet. There would be anew stage, and seating capacity was to be increased by 210. A sprinkler system was to be installed throughout the theater, and the entire house would be redecorated. The project was being carried out by the Milwaukee Building Company.
In the August 1, 1941, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor there was an item saying that Clifford Balch had made plans for a theater on Maclay Avenue in San Fernando for Maude L. and John T. Rennie. This house was refereed to at least once as Rennie’s Towne Theatre in The Film Daily (Towne appears to have been the original spelling of the theater’s name.) If the Towne did open in 1942, it must have been the project designed by Balch.
Now that I’ve seen photos of the Azteca Theatre, and the Town (Centre) Theatre has been added, with an approximate opening year of 1942, I suspect that the project that Clifford Balch designed for the Rennies in 1941 was the Town Theatre, which was referred to as Rennie’s Towne Theatre at least once in The Film Daily.
A history of the San Fernando Hardware Company Building (PDF here), which was designed by Edward J. Borgmeyer in 1925, says that Borgmeyer also designed the Rennie Theatre, which had opened earlier that year. Although the paper doesn’t cite a source for the claim, it does seem plausible. Before its remodeling, the theater definitely had the look of the mid-1920s, and Borgmeyer was a well-known theater architect by 1925.
Interestingly, Borgmeyer had designed another movie theater in San Fernando almost a decade earlier. The project was noted in the May 13, 1916, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer. So far I’ve been unable to find the name of that theater or any details about it.