Pantheon Theatre
327 N. St. Clair Street,
Toledo,
OH
43604
327 N. St. Clair Street,
Toledo,
OH
43604
1 person
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Oh so many fond memories of Sunday afternoon’s watching movies (and boys) at the Pantheon! Hopefully historic preservation will start to replace the tear-down mentality in downtown Toledo.
Although the spelling Sophlet somehow got into the NRHP registration form for one of their buildings, the correct spelling of the architects' surname is Stophlet. That is the only spelling I’ve found in trade journals from the period in which they practiced, but more importantly it is the spelling used in the files of the American Institute of Architects, which includes their membership application forms and other documents.
The March 27, 1920, issue of Motion Picture News said that M. M. Stophlet and M. B. Stophlet were the architects of the Pantheon Theatre. Following a precedent set a few years earlier by Detroit architect C. Howard Crane, Stophlet & Stophlet gave the Pantheon Theatre a large section of stadium seating accounting for about half the capacity of the house. They would again use the stadium configuration in Toledo’s Ohio Theatre, opened in 1921.
As in the Ohio, the architects gave the interior of the Pantheon Theatre a very simple, almost austere, style with minimal decoration, and what there was being based mostly on Roman Classical elements. The front, on the other hand, was fairly ornate, with its eclectic details including elements suggestive of both the Italian Renaissance and the Gothic styles, but not exactly replicating either. The contrast between interior and exterior must have been quite startling for the theater’s patrons.
Manfred M. Stophlet appears to have been more frequently the lead architect on the firm’s projects, with the trade journals of the period more often attributing designs to him than to his brother Mark B. Stophlet.
Uploaded photo of new projector installed in 1961.
The May 19, 1977, issue of the Toledo Blade published this article headlined “Pantheon’s Screen Goes Dark For Final Time As Last Picture Show In Downtown Is Closed.” The theater had shown its last movie on Tuesday, May 17. The Pantheon had opened on November 19, 1919, with the Lilian and Dorothy Gish feature Broken Blossoms.
The article includes mentions of many of the Toledo movie theaters that had closed over the years. The Pantheon was the last of the more than a dozen downtown cinemas that had been in operation fifty years earlier. The only theater still open downtown after the Pantheon closed was the Esquire, which was operating as a live burlesque house.
Here is a newspaper article about the proposed Pantheon Theatre, published in the Toledo Times, July 3, 1919.
M. G. Smith probably sold out to the Skirballs in the mid 50’s.
Martin G. Smith and the Skirball Brothers owned and operated the Pan-Pal Corporation that owned the Pantheon and the Palace. The compelling reason was that Smith’s Pantheon was larger and the Skirballs could obtain better films. Hence the Skirball films were shown in Smith’s Pantheon and Smith films in the Skirball’s Palace.
Skirball Brothers Theatres had the interior of the Pantheon completely rebuilt in 1961. There are three photos of the completed project on this page of the October 2 issue of Boxoffice. The seating capacity was reduced to 808.
Circa late 1950s from the Toledo Public Library:
http://tinyurl.com/dkzqph
The Pantheon was operated by the Skirball Investment Company in the early eighties.
The Pantheon stood across the street from the Princess Theatre on St. Clair Street. The Valentine, still standing, was on the same side of St. Clair one block north of the Pantheon. The Palace and the Rivoli stood directly across from the Valentine. The Pantheon, Palace and Rivoli were part of the Skirball chain. The Pantheon was the primary theatre for Disney films. In the late sixties it also was the home for many roadshow engagements like “My Fair Lady” and “Lawrence Of Arabia”. In later years it became the home for many blaxploitation pictures. It outlasted the wrecking ball for many years after it closed as the lobby was converted to a Taylor Photo Shop. During it’s heyday there were two storefronts by the boxoffice. One was occupied by Joey’s Record Mart, a very popular place to purchase vinyl 45 rpm records. The theatre was demolished in 1999 at the same time the preservation of the Valentine was underway. Toledo had at one time a thriving theatre district. A pity that only one survived.