Lyceum Theatre
423 W. Superior Street,
Duluth,
MN
55802
423 W. Superior Street,
Duluth,
MN
55802
1 person
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Additional Info
Architects: Francis Willford Fitzpatrick, Oliver Green Traphagen
Firms: Traphagen & Fitzpatrick
Styles: Romanesque Revival
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Said to be Duluth’s first “fire-proof” theatre. It was built for live theatre in 1892, but in 1921 it was converted to showing movies.
The Lyceum Theatre was closed January 11, 1966 and was soon demolished.
Contributed by
Kirk J. Besse
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The Duluth Public Library posted this brief entry about the Lyceum on their weblog. It says the Lyceum opened in 1892, and was designed by Traphagen and Fitzpatrick. It was demolished in 1966.
There are thumbnail biographies of the architects on this page. Oliver Traphagen later moved to Hawaii, and was the architect of the Moana Hotel.
From the 1920s a view of the Lyceum Theatre in Duluth.
It’s hard to tell in any of the photo links above but this theater was adorned with high-quality stone carvings, the work of George Thrana. Thrana’s talent can still be found in Duluth on the facade of the old Duluth Central School, now the school district’s administrative building. The Board of Trade Building downtown on First Street is also graced by Thrana’s stone carvings. On either side of the Lyceum’s entrance stone carved Theatrical Masques were salvaged and are installed at the entrance to the Duluth Playhouse Theater in the historic Duluth Depot. The Lyceum was demolished in 1963.
The exterior style of the Lyceum is predominantly Romanesque Revival. I’ve never found any interior photos.
The Lyceum in Duluth is listed in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. L. Scott and T. Marsh, Mgrs. 1,664 seats. Ticket prices 25 cents to $1.25; electric illumination, auditorium on the ground floor. The proscenium opening was 30 feet wide X 39 feet high, and the stage was 45 feet deep. There were 12 in the house orchestra. Duluth had 2 daily newspapers and 3 weeklies; and there were 4 hotels for show folk. The 1897 population of Duluth was 75,000.
Here is a link with an interior view of the Lyceum and its three balconies:
View link
There was a closing in 1960, but researchers miss that it was reopened in July 1962 with “better seats, improved projection, wider screen.” Once in a while there would be a stage presentation such as “The King and I” (Aug ‘64). The final closing was Jan 11 1966: triple feature “The Sins of Rachel Cade”. “The Chapman Report”, “Girl of the Night”. Marie Dressler appeared at the theatre in Aug '31 promoting her film “Politics”. The theatre block was torn down for the KDAL-TV and radio building, which ironically was also recently demolished. There are at least two photos of the theatre front in the early 60s on the MN Digital web page cited in the previous comment.
There’s a nice picture on Shorpy very similar to the postcard view above.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/18952?size=_original#caption
1925 & 1963 photos added.