Paramount Theatre
169 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30303
169 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30303
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Showing 51 - 68 of 68 comments
John – Thank you very much for sharing this information with us! Someone once asked me to describe the facade of the Paramount. Not being an architectural student, I called it Florentine Renaissance. Although, I don’t claim that to be technically correct, it seems to strike my fancy. The vintage photographs of the Paramount do suggest a touch of Firenze on Peachtree Street in a bygone day.
The upper facaded of the Atlanta Howard/Paramount Theatre was purchased around 1960 by my friend, Mr. Robert Byrd Wright, Jr., of Moultrie, GA. He comissioned my uncle, architect William Frank McCall, Jr.,FAIA, of Moultrie to design an Italian villa in the Palladian style utilizing the upper facade. This remarkable house is now owned by Mr. Bill Cole, formerly of Atlanta. The bronze marquee boards were also utilized as cased openings in the residence’s foyer. The house is on Tallokas Road in Moultrie, GA, a few hundred yards from where I am currently writing this commentary.
The Howard/Paramount was of special architectural interest as it was designed by Philip T. Schutze and Neil Reid of the firm Hentz, Reid, and Adler. Schutze and Reid are recognized as some of the finest classicists in the world of American architecture. Schutze was awarded the prestigious Classical America Award and later, William Frank McCall, Jr. won this same honor, in 1986.
Here’s a link to a photograph from the Lane Brothers Collection, housed at George State University:
View link
In this mid-20th Century nightime photo, you can see the Collier Building on the southeast corner of Peachtree Street and Ellis Street. The site of the Collier Building is presently occupied by the MARTA Station. The Paramount Theatre is one door to the south of the Collier Building.
Here’s another link to a 1951 nightime photo looking north on Peachtree Street, with the Paramount Theatre and the Collier Building on the right hand side:
View link
You could use these photos as a pretty good guide to the exact location of the Paramount Theatre.
No, not specifically. The southeast corner of Peachtree Street and Ellis Street, where the MARTA station is currently located, was previously occupied by the Collier Building. The Howard/Paramount Theatre was one door to the south, at 169 Peachtree Street. Off hand, I don’t recall when the Collier Building was demolished.
Speaking aproximately, the site of the Paramount Theatre is currently occupied by a grassy lawn behind a black wrought iron fence next to the Georgia Pacific Building. However, you’d probably need the specific measurements of the buildings that previously occupied that site in order to determine precisely where they stood.
Here’s a link to the website for the Atlanta Time Machine:
http://atlantatimemachine.com/downtown/ellis2.htm
This link features a pair of then (1943) and now views taken from the intersection of Peachtree Street and Ellis Street. In the contemporary photo of the Georgia Pacific Building, you should just be able to make out the wrought iron fence that marks the aproximate location of the Paramount Theatre.
Search the Georgia State University website at:
View link
for more views of the Paramount Theatre and the Collier building.
And today is the MARTA station on the site of the Howard/Paramount Theater?
Anny
The theater closed in July of 1960. As I recall, the demolition occured shortly thereafter.
Doing historic research in Atlanta. Looking for demolition date of Paramount Theater, former Howard Theater. Need month/day/year. From bits and pieces,assume theater’s demolition year was 1960. Need to check primary sources before publishing in Atlanta INtown.
Thanks,
Anny
Hi, HLAsbell –
Would love to know the specific location of the Paramount facade! Could you furnish us with some particulars? The Paramount Theatre was a great favorite of mine when I was growing up in Atlanta. It was a terrific theater for seeing movies!
Wartime photo:
View link
All is not lost. The facade of the Paramount stands in a south Georgia town. Granted the insides may have been scattered here and there but the bronze frames that showed coming and featured attractions are still inside the home. It is lovingly care for – I visited there this weekend.
A photograph of the Howard/Paramount Wurlitzer organ console, orchestra pit and stage appears on page 136 of THE WURLITZER PIPE ORGAN: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, recently published by the American Theatre Organ Society. The house opened with a Robert-Morton organ, replaced by the Wurlitzer in 1925.
The change of names from Howard to Paramount occured in 1929 as reported in PUBLIX OPINION.
According to a photocopy that I have of pages from a 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory, the street address of the Paramount Theater was 169 Peachtree Street, NE (on the East side of Peachtree Street). My father grew up in Atlanta and attended the theater many times in the 1920’s when it was known as the Howard Theater. He vividly recalled seeing many stage shows there, as well as movies.
The theater that you are referring to as the Cinerama and Columbia, was known primarily as the Tower Theater (located at 583 Peachtree Street, NE) during my childhood in Atlanta. Under that name, it was often used for legitimate plays and concerts. At one time, I found a 1956 program from the Tower Theater for a concert given by the great Swedish tenor, Jussi Bjoerling. The Tower was even used as a pre-Broadway tryout for one or two theater productions that I can remember. The Tower had been previously know as the Erlanger Theater. If you go on the Georgia State University website that I cited in my previous post, you can locate a photgraph of the Erlanger Theater.
For reference, The Loew’s Grand was located at 157 Peachtree Street, NE. The Roxy Theater was located at 204 Peachtree Street, NW (on the West side of Peachtree Street). Source for all addresses is the 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory that cited earlier.
Thank you for the update. I had been to the Howard when it was the Cinerama, Atlanta, and Columbia, but never the Paramount in that it was long gone before I came along. I recall on more than one visit to the former Howard being told that it had gone through several names and remodeling since it first opened. The photograph appearing at the top of this page is almost identical to one I saw in Atlanta of the Howard, hence the mistake on my part. The photo from the Georgia State archives showing with the marquee of the Loews just to the right of the Paramount indeed confirms that the Howard was a separate entity. Thus said, which is/was the correct address for the Paramount, 583 Peachtree Rd NE or 169 Peachtree St NE?
First of all, I grew up going to this theater in the 1950’s. The first post by Mr. Coursey is incorrect. The posts by R. McGee and Mr. Bearden are accurate. The Paramount Theater was located next door to the Collier Building, which stood at the Southeast corner of Peachtree Street and Ellis Street. The Paramount was north of, and next door, to the Loew’s Grand. There was an alleyway between them.
At one time, Peachtree Street also boasted The Roxy Theater and the Capitol Theater, which stood next door to each other just north of Davison’s Department Store, on the west side of the street.
The Howard Theater opened in 1920. It was acquired by the Paramount chain about ten years later. Here is a link where you can find a number of photographs of the theater:
View link
This is the website for the Pullen Library of Georgia State University. You can search the site for photos from the Lane Brothers Collection.
My father knew the projectionist of the Atlanta Paramount. He told us in 1960 that the theater had been bought by an insurance company and was slated for demolition. Regrettably, he was right. The Paramount Theater was torn down in the summer of 1960. The office building that took it’s place was torn down to make way for the Georgia Pacific tower that now sits on the site of the Loew’s Grand. The last time that I was in Atlanta, the site that the Paramount Theater stood on was an open grassy lawn behind a wrought iron fence.
The demolition of Atlanta’s Paramount Theater was a personal loss for me. The Paramount Theater was a great place to see movies. Trust me, I saw a lot of them there.
Peachtree Street has never been the same.
This theatre was located on Peachtree Street and was demolished in 1960.
The Atlanta Theatre ended its life at the Columbia Theatre.
The Howard became the Paramount and the vertical was about 3 times as tall as the building front. The verticals on the Loews Grand and the Paramount tried to out do each other and were beautiful signs. Of course the theatre was demolished to make way for an office building. Just about across the street was the Capital Theatre was was gutted and became part of Davisons Department Store. Go to www.historictheatres.org for some great pictures of the Paramount (Howard).
The above information actully refers to the Atlanta Theatre listing. The Howard was further south in ‘downtown’ Atlanta. The facade is now on the front of a private residence in middle Georgia. This theatre was in the block next to the location of De Give’s Opera House (more famously know as “Loew’s Grand” of Gone With the Wind premiere fame.)
Theater later was later purchased by the Martin Group and transformed into a Cinerama venue. Later it was least to the Walter Reed Group, then closed for a few years. Later it was used by various life theater groups, before reopening as a full time film venue with a new name, the Columbia. Great place to films, but wasn’t able to sustain itself. Later shuttered and demolished. Was two blocks down from the Fabulous Fox.