This house opened as Ye Liberty Theater on February 22, 1912, with 1,600 seats. The original operator, Young Chun, was involved in a lawsuit which is recorded in legal journals of the time.
The seating capacity is found in various editions of All About Hawaii, an annual publication of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The house was still listed in the book as Ye Liberty Theater at least as late as 1921.
The Alhambra Theatre originally opened on December 21, 1907, according to that day’s issue of the Utica Herald Dispatch. The building, owned by the Lux Brothers, had previously been occupied by Lux & Sons Washington Market. I still haven’t been able to discover if whether the Alhambra Theatre of 1915 was entirely new construction or a rebuilding of this earlier structure.
During the years 1918 and 1919, the Geneva Daily Times carries ads for the Regent and Temple Theatres and for a vaudeville and movie house called the Strand Theatre, but I find no mentions of the opera house during that time. The ads for the Strand vanish by 1920, and the Smith Opera House reappears. I wonder if they were the same theater?
The Temple Theatre opened on January 20, 1912, according to Ranjit Sandhu’s list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son. Sandhu doesn’t attribute the original design to any architect, but cites an item in the June 21, 1913, issue of American Contractor saying that Leon Lempert Jr., was the architect for a stage that was being added to the house.
It’s possible that Lempert was also the original architect for the Temple Theatre. The lack of attribution simply means that Sandhu was unable to find one in publications from the period. I haven’t found one either.
This colorized postcard is probably later than the one we currently display. It shows that a marquee had been added to the building, glass doors had been put in place to create a vestibule, and a colorful fan light had been installed in the arch above the entrance.
Ranjit Sandhu’s partial list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son attributes the design of the Smith Opera House building to Pierce & Bickford, but says that Leon H. Lempert, Sr., designed the auditorium and stage of the theater itself, but he doesn’t cite a source for the claim.
The March 10, 1894, issue of The Engineering Record does note Lempert as the architect for William Smith’s proposed opera house at Geneva, but doesn’t mention Pierce & Bickford. It is possible that Smith decided to change architects, though its also possible that Lempert served as consulting architect for the theater portion of the building.
In any case, even if Lempert did design the auditorium, Victor Rigaumont’s later remodeling completely transformed the interior, so it’s unlikely that anything would remain of Lempert’s design today.
Google’s street views for Exchange Street are a complete mess. I’ve set the view as near the theater as it will get. Also, lostmemory was apparently right that the correct address for the Geneva Cinema 5 is 495 Exchange Street.
Periodicals from 1914-1915 confirm that the Regent Theatre was designed by Leon H. Lempert & Son, but as Leon Lempert, Sr. died in 1909, Leon H. Lempert, Jr. should be listed as the architect.
Thanks to Keith Wondra for the excellent photos of this splendid survivor.
Since my previous comments about him, a bit more information about the architect has appeared on the Internet, most notably in a publication from the City of Wichita’s Historic Preservation Office that indludes a brief biography (PDF file here.)
Samuel Siegfried Voigt was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1885. His family moved to Wichita in 1896. He studied architecture and engineering through the International Correspondence Schools, earning a degree in 1909. He became a draftsman in the office of Wichita architect Fred G. McCune, and established his own practice in 1913. Voigt appears to have specialized mostly in institutional projects, as by 1929 he had designed over 400 schools and 200 churches, completing projects in four states according to that year’s edition of Who’s Who in Wichita. He died in 1937, so the Anthony Theatre was a fairly late project.
I still haven’t been able to discover if Voigt designed any theaters other than the Anthony.
Information about the Strand Theatre in Ranjit Sandhu’s list of works by Leon H. Lempert & Son says that this house was designed by Lempert, Jr.; that it opened on January 22, 1913; that its auditorium was new construction but its lobby was in the structure formerly occupied by a nickelodeon called the Golden Palace; and that the auditorium was demolished in 1923 and the lobby structure in 1956.
This web page about the Stone Opera House says that it is likely that Elfred Bartoo and Sanford O. Lacey designed the Stone Opera House under the supervision of architect Isaac G. Perry.
This brief biography of Elfred Bartoo says that he worked as a draftsman on the State Capitol project with Perry in 1891, which is also the year Charles Stone announced his intention of building this theater. The biography also notes that, prior to forming his partnership with Bartoo, Sanford Lacey had been Isaac Perry’s senior draftsman.
Ranjit Sandhu, who compiled a partial list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son, says that Lempert acted as consulting architect on the Stone Opera House. He also credits I. G. Perry as the architect of the project, though he doesn’t cite a source for the claim. Still, it seems likely that Stone would have chosen Binghamton’s leading architect to design his theater, and also likely that Perry, as busy as he was with the State Capitol and other projects at the time, would turn the project over to his trusted draftsmen.
The web page about the Opera House I cited earlier also says that the house opened as the Columbia Theatre, but came to be called the Stone Opera House within a year. The house, then under construction, was referred to as the Columbia Theatre in an item in the July 6, 1892, issue of The Electrical Engineer.
Research by Ranjit Sandhu reveals that Leon H. Lempert, Sr., was the architect of the 1900 remodeling of the Dellinger Opera House, and Leon H. Lempert, Jr., designed alterations made in 1912 (Lempert, Sr., went into semi-retirement in 1906 and died in 1909, but the firm name Leon H. Lempert & Son was still in use at least as late as 1922.)
Additional alterations were done in 1926, but Lempert Junior’s plans for that project were rejected in favor of plans by architect Simon Fennel.
In a partial list of work by Leon H. Lempert & Son, Ranjit Sandhu says that the Family Theatre was rebuilt in 1923 with the design done by Leon Lempert, Junior.
Lempert Senior went into semi-retirement in 1906 and died in 1909, so Lempert, Jr. must have been the architect for the original Family Theatre design of 1912 as well.
Despite Senior’s death in 1909, the firm name Leon H. Lempert & Son still appeared on a list of architecture firms in New York that was published by the new York Society of Architects as late as 1922. I’ve found the firm name used in announcements about current projects appearing in trade publications as late as 1920.
A partial list of the works of architects Leon H. Lempert & Son compiled by Ranjit Sandhu (it says “Rough Draft- Not for Publication or Distribution” but somebody has posted a PDF to the Internet) credits Leon Lempert Sr. with the design of both the Burtis Opera House and Burtis Auditorium.
It gives the opening date of the Auditorium as June 14, 1904, and gives the house the aka Loew’s Strand. I think Sandhu got the demolition dates of the two house reversed though, as he says that the Capitol Theatre (former Opera House) was demolished in 1939 and the Strand in 1953. We know that the Capitol was still in operation in the early 1950s, so I’m thinking it was more likely the Strand that was demolished in 1939, even though it was still being listed in the FDY in the early 1940s.
The January, 1905, issue of National Magazine mentioned the Burtis Auditorium in Auburn as having been “just erected.” It must have opened in late 1904 or early 1905.
The March 6, 1907, issue of the Auburn Citizen said that a five-cent vaudeville and movie theater had opened the previous night in the Burtis Auditorium Annex. As early items abut the Burtis Auditorium gave it a seating capacity of up to 6,000, and one report said that its stage was 100 feet wide and 42 feet deep, I wonder if it was this annex that eventually became the Strand Theatre? If not, then the auditorium itself must have been downsized considerably.
auburnbeer: This house was never called Burtis Auditorium. The Auditorium was located at 80 Water Street, and was built in 1904. It later became the Strand Theatre.
The Empire Theatre opened in June, 1909, but the original building was destroyed by fire in July, 1912. The house was rebuilt, and reopened on Christmas Day, 1913. The entrance of the Empire Theatre was on N. Cameron Street, but when the house was taken over by Warner Brothers as the Capitol Theatre it was remodeled and a new entrance was opened on Rouss Avenue.
This 1953 photo of Third Street shows the Border Theatre on the right and the Grand Theatre building a bit farther down the block on the opposite side of the street. The side wall of the Grand features a faded sign reading Orpheum Theatre.
In the satellite view this is a very small building. I don’t see how it ever held 780 seats.
The Park Theatre has a facade that is very similar to those of two other theaters built by the Baehr Theatres circuit about the same time: the Ridge Theatre at Breckenridge, Minnesota, and the Border Theatre at International Falls, Minnesota. The three houses differed in size and fenestration, but all shared details in common, including the boxy vertical signs that rose from the marquee instead of being attached directly to the facade of the building.
This weblog post indicates that the Border Theatre was demolished in April, 2009.
The Border Theatre’s facade was almost identical to that of the Ridge Theatre in Breckenridge, Minnesota, and to the Park Theatre in Park Rapids, Minnesota, seen in this photo. If we can find the architect of one, I’m sure we’ve found the architect of all three. All of these houses were built for the Baehr Theatres circuit during the late 1930s-early 1940s.
Boomer: Wagner Sign Company of Elyria, Ohio, still makes marquee letters, as does Gemini Signs and Letters of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Chances are they both have dealers in your region (Buffalo, Syracuse, maybe some smaller towns.) Both companies make the classic dimensional letters, which are fairly costly, but also make flat letters (Wagner’s Zip-Change and Gemini’s Pronto line) that are (and look) considerably cheaper.
Wagner actually invented the plastic-molded dimensional marquee letter in 1942, and when you see old photos of theater marquees you are probably seeing Wagner letters in most cases.
You can also sometimes find vintage letters, but they tend to be badly worn and more expensive than new letters. As yours went missing, odds are that somebody stole them and sold them to an antique dealer.
The Santa Maria Theatre must have been twinned in its last years, which is probably why Flix70 remembers it as being smaller than 1,200 seats. Check the 1983 photos linked earlier. The signage on the building didn’t specifically claim two screens, but there are two different movies on the marquee, each with the same starting times. There had to have been two screens.
The January 21, 1928, issue of Building and Engineering News said that architect C. H. Jensen was completing revised plans for a 1,250 seat theater to be built at Daly City for E. Baron and Carol Nathan, proprietors of the Jefferson Theatre.
If the Daly City Theatre resembles the work of Reid Brothers, it might be because C. H. Jensen was that firm’s chief draftsman for several years prior to striking off on his own in 1921.
Given its location and the date of its construction, it is likely that the Campus Theatre was the project mentioned in the July, 1924, issue of The Architect and Engineer:
“Berkeley Theatre
“Plans are being completed by Architects James T. Narbett and R. F. de Sano, associated, of Richmond, for a two-story brick store and theatre to be erected on Bancroft Way, near Telegraph avenue, Berkeley, for Mr. Frank Atkins.”
When the project was noted in the January 10, 1925, issue of Building and Engineering News, associate architect Raymond de Sano was not mentioned, so perhaps he had withdrawn. The building was no longer to be built of brick, either:
“THEATRE, ETC. Cost, $100,000
“BERKELEY, Alameda Co., Cal., Bancroft W of Telegraph Ave. Steel and reinforced concrete theatre and store building. Owner — Frank Atkins. Architect — James T. Narbett, 910 Macdonald Ave., Richmond. Contract is shortly to be awarded to the low bidder, F. W. Maurice, 1362 E 25th St., Oakland.”
The Campus Theatre was probably completed and opened before the end of 1925, and so the earlier Campus Theater on Durant Avenue was most likely closed that same year.
An item about a proposed theater on Bancroft Way near Telegraph Avenue appeared in the July, 1924, issue of The Archtiect & Engineer. Given the location and the date, the project was probably the second Campus Theatre. As plans for that house were being completed in mid-1924, and the second Campus was built in 1925, it seems likely that it was also opened in 1925, so the first Campus Theater probably closed that year.
This house opened as Ye Liberty Theater on February 22, 1912, with 1,600 seats. The original operator, Young Chun, was involved in a lawsuit which is recorded in legal journals of the time.
The seating capacity is found in various editions of All About Hawaii, an annual publication of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The house was still listed in the book as Ye Liberty Theater at least as late as 1921.
The Alhambra Theatre originally opened on December 21, 1907, according to that day’s issue of the Utica Herald Dispatch. The building, owned by the Lux Brothers, had previously been occupied by Lux & Sons Washington Market. I still haven’t been able to discover if whether the Alhambra Theatre of 1915 was entirely new construction or a rebuilding of this earlier structure.
During the years 1918 and 1919, the Geneva Daily Times carries ads for the Regent and Temple Theatres and for a vaudeville and movie house called the Strand Theatre, but I find no mentions of the opera house during that time. The ads for the Strand vanish by 1920, and the Smith Opera House reappears. I wonder if they were the same theater?
The Temple Theatre opened on January 20, 1912, according to Ranjit Sandhu’s list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son. Sandhu doesn’t attribute the original design to any architect, but cites an item in the June 21, 1913, issue of American Contractor saying that Leon Lempert Jr., was the architect for a stage that was being added to the house.
It’s possible that Lempert was also the original architect for the Temple Theatre. The lack of attribution simply means that Sandhu was unable to find one in publications from the period. I haven’t found one either.
This colorized postcard is probably later than the one we currently display. It shows that a marquee had been added to the building, glass doors had been put in place to create a vestibule, and a colorful fan light had been installed in the arch above the entrance.
Ranjit Sandhu’s partial list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son attributes the design of the Smith Opera House building to Pierce & Bickford, but says that Leon H. Lempert, Sr., designed the auditorium and stage of the theater itself, but he doesn’t cite a source for the claim.
The March 10, 1894, issue of The Engineering Record does note Lempert as the architect for William Smith’s proposed opera house at Geneva, but doesn’t mention Pierce & Bickford. It is possible that Smith decided to change architects, though its also possible that Lempert served as consulting architect for the theater portion of the building.
In any case, even if Lempert did design the auditorium, Victor Rigaumont’s later remodeling completely transformed the interior, so it’s unlikely that anything would remain of Lempert’s design today.
Google’s street views for Exchange Street are a complete mess. I’ve set the view as near the theater as it will get. Also, lostmemory was apparently right that the correct address for the Geneva Cinema 5 is 495 Exchange Street.
Periodicals from 1914-1915 confirm that the Regent Theatre was designed by Leon H. Lempert & Son, but as Leon Lempert, Sr. died in 1909, Leon H. Lempert, Jr. should be listed as the architect.
Thanks to Keith Wondra for the excellent photos of this splendid survivor.
Since my previous comments about him, a bit more information about the architect has appeared on the Internet, most notably in a publication from the City of Wichita’s Historic Preservation Office that indludes a brief biography (PDF file here.)
Samuel Siegfried Voigt was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1885. His family moved to Wichita in 1896. He studied architecture and engineering through the International Correspondence Schools, earning a degree in 1909. He became a draftsman in the office of Wichita architect Fred G. McCune, and established his own practice in 1913. Voigt appears to have specialized mostly in institutional projects, as by 1929 he had designed over 400 schools and 200 churches, completing projects in four states according to that year’s edition of Who’s Who in Wichita. He died in 1937, so the Anthony Theatre was a fairly late project.
I still haven’t been able to discover if Voigt designed any theaters other than the Anthony.
Information about the Strand Theatre in Ranjit Sandhu’s list of works by Leon H. Lempert & Son says that this house was designed by Lempert, Jr.; that it opened on January 22, 1913; that its auditorium was new construction but its lobby was in the structure formerly occupied by a nickelodeon called the Golden Palace; and that the auditorium was demolished in 1923 and the lobby structure in 1956.
This web page about the Stone Opera House says that it is likely that Elfred Bartoo and Sanford O. Lacey designed the Stone Opera House under the supervision of architect Isaac G. Perry.
This brief biography of Elfred Bartoo says that he worked as a draftsman on the State Capitol project with Perry in 1891, which is also the year Charles Stone announced his intention of building this theater. The biography also notes that, prior to forming his partnership with Bartoo, Sanford Lacey had been Isaac Perry’s senior draftsman.
Ranjit Sandhu, who compiled a partial list of the works of Leon H. Lempert & Son, says that Lempert acted as consulting architect on the Stone Opera House. He also credits I. G. Perry as the architect of the project, though he doesn’t cite a source for the claim. Still, it seems likely that Stone would have chosen Binghamton’s leading architect to design his theater, and also likely that Perry, as busy as he was with the State Capitol and other projects at the time, would turn the project over to his trusted draftsmen.
The web page about the Opera House I cited earlier also says that the house opened as the Columbia Theatre, but came to be called the Stone Opera House within a year. The house, then under construction, was referred to as the Columbia Theatre in an item in the July 6, 1892, issue of The Electrical Engineer.
Research by Ranjit Sandhu reveals that Leon H. Lempert, Sr., was the architect of the 1900 remodeling of the Dellinger Opera House, and Leon H. Lempert, Jr., designed alterations made in 1912 (Lempert, Sr., went into semi-retirement in 1906 and died in 1909, but the firm name Leon H. Lempert & Son was still in use at least as late as 1922.)
Additional alterations were done in 1926, but Lempert Junior’s plans for that project were rejected in favor of plans by architect Simon Fennel.
In a partial list of work by Leon H. Lempert & Son, Ranjit Sandhu says that the Family Theatre was rebuilt in 1923 with the design done by Leon Lempert, Junior.
Lempert Senior went into semi-retirement in 1906 and died in 1909, so Lempert, Jr. must have been the architect for the original Family Theatre design of 1912 as well.
Despite Senior’s death in 1909, the firm name Leon H. Lempert & Son still appeared on a list of architecture firms in New York that was published by the new York Society of Architects as late as 1922. I’ve found the firm name used in announcements about current projects appearing in trade publications as late as 1920.
A partial list of buildings designed by Leon H.Lempert & Son (PDF file) attributes the design of the Burtis Opera House to Leon H.Lempert, Sr.
A partial list of the works of architects Leon H. Lempert & Son compiled by Ranjit Sandhu (it says “Rough Draft- Not for Publication or Distribution” but somebody has posted a PDF to the Internet) credits Leon Lempert Sr. with the design of both the Burtis Opera House and Burtis Auditorium.
It gives the opening date of the Auditorium as June 14, 1904, and gives the house the aka Loew’s Strand. I think Sandhu got the demolition dates of the two house reversed though, as he says that the Capitol Theatre (former Opera House) was demolished in 1939 and the Strand in 1953. We know that the Capitol was still in operation in the early 1950s, so I’m thinking it was more likely the Strand that was demolished in 1939, even though it was still being listed in the FDY in the early 1940s.
The January, 1905, issue of National Magazine mentioned the Burtis Auditorium in Auburn as having been “just erected.” It must have opened in late 1904 or early 1905.
The March 6, 1907, issue of the Auburn Citizen said that a five-cent vaudeville and movie theater had opened the previous night in the Burtis Auditorium Annex. As early items abut the Burtis Auditorium gave it a seating capacity of up to 6,000, and one report said that its stage was 100 feet wide and 42 feet deep, I wonder if it was this annex that eventually became the Strand Theatre? If not, then the auditorium itself must have been downsized considerably.
auburnbeer: This house was never called Burtis Auditorium. The Auditorium was located at 80 Water Street, and was built in 1904. It later became the Strand Theatre.
The Empire Theatre opened in June, 1909, but the original building was destroyed by fire in July, 1912. The house was rebuilt, and reopened on Christmas Day, 1913. The entrance of the Empire Theatre was on N. Cameron Street, but when the house was taken over by Warner Brothers as the Capitol Theatre it was remodeled and a new entrance was opened on Rouss Avenue.
This 1953 photo of Third Street shows the Border Theatre on the right and the Grand Theatre building a bit farther down the block on the opposite side of the street. The side wall of the Grand features a faded sign reading Orpheum Theatre.
In the satellite view this is a very small building. I don’t see how it ever held 780 seats.
Web site: Park Theatre.
The Park Theatre has a facade that is very similar to those of two other theaters built by the Baehr Theatres circuit about the same time: theRidge Theatre at Breckenridge, Minnesota, and the Border Theatre at International Falls, Minnesota. The three houses differed in size and fenestration, but all shared details in common, including the boxy vertical signs that rose from the marquee instead of being attached directly to the facade of the building.
This weblog post indicates that the Border Theatre was demolished in April, 2009.
The Border Theatre’s facade was almost identical to that of the Ridge Theatre in Breckenridge, Minnesota, and to the Park Theatre in Park Rapids, Minnesota, seen in this photo. If we can find the architect of one, I’m sure we’ve found the architect of all three. All of these houses were built for the Baehr Theatres circuit during the late 1930s-early 1940s.
The Border Theatre at International Falls (1939) also shared the design of the Ridge Theatre and the Park Theatre.
Boomer: Wagner Sign Company of Elyria, Ohio, still makes marquee letters, as does Gemini Signs and Letters of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Chances are they both have dealers in your region (Buffalo, Syracuse, maybe some smaller towns.) Both companies make the classic dimensional letters, which are fairly costly, but also make flat letters (Wagner’s Zip-Change and Gemini’s Pronto line) that are (and look) considerably cheaper.
Wagner actually invented the plastic-molded dimensional marquee letter in 1942, and when you see old photos of theater marquees you are probably seeing Wagner letters in most cases.
You can also sometimes find vintage letters, but they tend to be badly worn and more expensive than new letters. As yours went missing, odds are that somebody stole them and sold them to an antique dealer.
The Santa Maria Theatre must have been twinned in its last years, which is probably why Flix70 remembers it as being smaller than 1,200 seats. Check the 1983 photos linked earlier. The signage on the building didn’t specifically claim two screens, but there are two different movies on the marquee, each with the same starting times. There had to have been two screens.
The January 21, 1928, issue of Building and Engineering News said that architect C. H. Jensen was completing revised plans for a 1,250 seat theater to be built at Daly City for E. Baron and Carol Nathan, proprietors of the Jefferson Theatre.
If the Daly City Theatre resembles the work of Reid Brothers, it might be because C. H. Jensen was that firm’s chief draftsman for several years prior to striking off on his own in 1921.
Given its location and the date of its construction, it is likely that the Campus Theatre was the project mentioned in the July, 1924, issue of The Architect and Engineer:
When the project was noted in the January 10, 1925, issue of Building and Engineering News, associate architect Raymond de Sano was not mentioned, so perhaps he had withdrawn. The building was no longer to be built of brick, either:The Campus Theatre was probably completed and opened before the end of 1925, and so the earlier Campus Theater on Durant Avenue was most likely closed that same year.An item about a proposed theater on Bancroft Way near Telegraph Avenue appeared in the July, 1924, issue of The Archtiect & Engineer. Given the location and the date, the project was probably the second Campus Theatre. As plans for that house were being completed in mid-1924, and the second Campus was built in 1925, it seems likely that it was also opened in 1925, so the first Campus Theater probably closed that year.