Palacio Chino

Located in the Colonia Centro district of Mexico City. The fancy Palacio Chino opened on March 29, 1940. It used the shell of a former ball court, whose space was sufficient for a big movie theatre. It was the only one built ever in Mexico in a Chinese style, but unlike the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA, the interior was in an Atmospheric style. In 1945 it was listed as having 4,000 seats in two levels, orchestra and balcony. It featured a fairly big stage, enough so to hold a symphony orchestra, and indeed was sometimes used as a music theater. Celibidache once directed the National Symphony Orchestra here, as an alternate theater to Bellas Artes, itself the home theater of said orchestra. The inevitable comparation with Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood stands only as original inspiration goes, because both buildings are very different. The Palacio Chino has a big, traditional flat facade, right in front of Iturbide street. The many windows of this facade are adorned as small pagodas, and there is a big, ornate marquee. The vestibule was spacious and full of Chinese decorations, even the ticket booths were rendered as pagodas.

Inside the Atmospheric style auditorium there are pagodas, temples and gold Buddha statues amid gardens. The ceiling was vault-like, not flat but very arched, and of course was painted deep blue. The screen was protected by a heavy black curtain, with Chinese motifs painted upon. The screen arch is very heavily decorated, with dragons appearing here and there. In October 1979 it was converted into a 4-screen cinema and it last operated as a 9-screen cinema. It had closed by January 2023 when the vacant building still stood, looking very dilapidated.

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