This theatre was opened in the late 70’s by ABC Southeastern Theatres. It had two auditoriums each seating 375. Ownership changed to Cineplex Odeon, to Plitt, and then to Carmike. After Carmike build the Commons Six Theatre less than half a mile away in the late 80’s, they closed the Cedar Bluff Theatre.
Yes, lost memory, you are correct, the Staubs was renamed the Lyric in the early 20’s. Lowe’s had taken over the operation of the Staubs in 1920 and remodeled the theatre as their flagship theatre in Knoxville and changed the name to Lowe’s Theatre. Lowe’s also installed a 4 manual 26 rank (?) Moller pipe organ at that time. Lowe’s gave up on the theatre after only two years and the name was changed to the Lyric, this is the name that most Knoxvillians remember it by. In the 1940’s the theatre was used mostly for wrestling matches. The stage was large enough, (some accounts say 50 feet deep) that ringside seating was on stage. The theatre was torn down with the organ still in the chambers in 1956 to make way for a department store that was never built.
As a side note, when the Tennessee Theatre opened in 1928, “Wings†was playing at the Lyric.
Since the second balcony is not used for seating due to structural concerns and lack of appropriate fire exits, the current seating capacity is 750. The Lamar House which is the old hotel portion dates back to 1816 and is the third oldest building still standing in Knoxville. It has been host to five U.S. presidents from Andrew Jackson to Rutherford B. Hayes.
Dick Broadcasting, who owned the Tennessee in Knoxville from 1981 to 1996, also owned WKDF in Nashville. When the story that the Tennessee Theatre in Nashville was being torn down, the station manager for WKDF was told to check about the veridical sign. The idea was to have the sign moved to Knoxville to replace the old vertical sign that was taken down in 1956. To make a long story short, by the time they checked, the sign had been taken down by the demolition company, and sent through the shredder. We were disappointed at the time of the missed opportunity, but it turned out for the best. Now the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville has an exact replica of the original marquee and vertical sign. This might not have happened if the Nashville sign (which is art deco) had been relocated to Knoxville in the early 90’s.
The Alabama’s sister theatre The Tennessee is pretty darn spectacular especially after the $24 million restoration is completed in January. But I have personally been to many Movie Palaces including the Alabama and I can not rate one as more spectacular than the other. I can remember the big debate over which is the greatest movie palace ever built, the NYC Roxy, or the San Francisco Fox. I think that ALL true movie palaces are special and spectacular in their own way. And I am thankful for all of them that we still have standing.
I skimmed the list of theatres on the above website. The one theatre that jumped out at me was the Lowes Midland in Kansas City, which is one of Thomas Lamb’s masterpieces. This makes me wonder how accurate the above site is.
The architects who designed the Alabama were Graven and Mayger. The Alabama Theatre and the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville are the only two movie palaces designed by this firm that are still intact.
Thank you for deleting the comment that was laced with four letter words. It does not really deserve a comment, but I want to come to the defense of Cinema Treasures. The statement was made that they could not find the phone number (Jim, I agree that this is not the purpose of CT) anywhere on the net for the Cadillac Palace. You can go to the link to the official web site for “Broadway In Chicago” located on this page. Click on theatre info and then click on contact, its that simple. With the language that this individual used in the comment, it is obvious that he does not have the intelligence to surf the web.
The statement that this is one of only twelve Eberson atmospherics left is not correct. I checked on this web site under Eberson theatres and found sixteen atmospheric theatres that are open plus four more that are closed but still intact.
I bet that the DuPage Theatre thread will have more posts than Radio City Music Hall’s by the end of the year. Any takers?
This theatre was opened in the late 70’s by ABC Southeastern Theatres. It had two auditoriums each seating 375. Ownership changed to Cineplex Odeon, to Plitt, and then to Carmike. After Carmike build the Commons Six Theatre less than half a mile away in the late 80’s, they closed the Cedar Bluff Theatre.
Yes, lost memory, you are correct, the Staubs was renamed the Lyric in the early 20’s. Lowe’s had taken over the operation of the Staubs in 1920 and remodeled the theatre as their flagship theatre in Knoxville and changed the name to Lowe’s Theatre. Lowe’s also installed a 4 manual 26 rank (?) Moller pipe organ at that time. Lowe’s gave up on the theatre after only two years and the name was changed to the Lyric, this is the name that most Knoxvillians remember it by. In the 1940’s the theatre was used mostly for wrestling matches. The stage was large enough, (some accounts say 50 feet deep) that ringside seating was on stage. The theatre was torn down with the organ still in the chambers in 1956 to make way for a department store that was never built.
As a side note, when the Tennessee Theatre opened in 1928, “Wings†was playing at the Lyric.
Since the second balcony is not used for seating due to structural concerns and lack of appropriate fire exits, the current seating capacity is 750. The Lamar House which is the old hotel portion dates back to 1816 and is the third oldest building still standing in Knoxville. It has been host to five U.S. presidents from Andrew Jackson to Rutherford B. Hayes.
Dick Broadcasting, who owned the Tennessee in Knoxville from 1981 to 1996, also owned WKDF in Nashville. When the story that the Tennessee Theatre in Nashville was being torn down, the station manager for WKDF was told to check about the veridical sign. The idea was to have the sign moved to Knoxville to replace the old vertical sign that was taken down in 1956. To make a long story short, by the time they checked, the sign had been taken down by the demolition company, and sent through the shredder. We were disappointed at the time of the missed opportunity, but it turned out for the best. Now the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville has an exact replica of the original marquee and vertical sign. This might not have happened if the Nashville sign (which is art deco) had been relocated to Knoxville in the early 90’s.
The Alabama’s sister theatre The Tennessee is pretty darn spectacular especially after the $24 million restoration is completed in January. But I have personally been to many Movie Palaces including the Alabama and I can not rate one as more spectacular than the other. I can remember the big debate over which is the greatest movie palace ever built, the NYC Roxy, or the San Francisco Fox. I think that ALL true movie palaces are special and spectacular in their own way. And I am thankful for all of them that we still have standing.
I skimmed the list of theatres on the above website. The one theatre that jumped out at me was the Lowes Midland in Kansas City, which is one of Thomas Lamb’s masterpieces. This makes me wonder how accurate the above site is.
The architects who designed the Alabama were Graven and Mayger. The Alabama Theatre and the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville are the only two movie palaces designed by this firm that are still intact.
The architects who designed this theatre were Graven and Mayger.
Down here in Knoxville people would call the Riviera Theatre “The ra-VER-a"
I guess that is a southern thing.
Thank you for deleting the comment that was laced with four letter words. It does not really deserve a comment, but I want to come to the defense of Cinema Treasures. The statement was made that they could not find the phone number (Jim, I agree that this is not the purpose of CT) anywhere on the net for the Cadillac Palace. You can go to the link to the official web site for “Broadway In Chicago” located on this page. Click on theatre info and then click on contact, its that simple. With the language that this individual used in the comment, it is obvious that he does not have the intelligence to surf the web.
The statement that this is one of only twelve Eberson atmospherics left is not correct. I checked on this web site under Eberson theatres and found sixteen atmospheric theatres that are open plus four more that are closed but still intact.