Century Theatre
40 S. 7th Street,
Minneapolis,
MN
55402
40 S. 7th Street,
Minneapolis,
MN
55402
3 people
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The April 17, 1909 issue of Show World revealed that the Miles Theatre had opened un 1908 as a Sullivan & Considine vaudeville house, with four shows a day. Owner C. H. Miles announced a change in policy effective April 19, 1909 when the house would be booked by Wm. Morris and prices would be advanced to a fifty cent top for evening performances (Sullivan Considine’s seven-act shows typically had a top price of thirty cents.) There would be only two shows a day, as at the rival Orpheum across the street.
One thing in the article contradicts our current theater description above. It says that the Miles had only about 1,100 seats, not the 2,000 our description claims. The larger Orpheum seated about 1,800.
1916 photo as the New Garrick added credit Minnesota Historical Society.
December 28, 1908 grand opening ad as Miles in the photo section.
September 29th, 1929 grand opening ad in the photo section.
Photo added courtesy of The Last Remaining Seats Facebook page.
CENTURY THEATRE – Minneapolis “THIS IS CINERAMA” Premiere: April 19, 1954 Engagement Duration: 67 weeks
All the photos show the address to be 40 S. 7th Street.
The Cinerama installation at the Century was highly successful. Orchestra and front half of the balcony were very effective for audience being put “in the picture”. The theatre’s moderate size was a factor. When I saw Cinerama in Chicago at the cavernous Palace, it was less sensational despite a larger screen.
It’s been nearly half a century since the Century screened its last film, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, but it hasn’t been forgotten. During those five decades, the theatre burned down, an office building rose and was later razed to make way for City Centre, a downtown shopping mall which never really took off. But now the Hennepin Ave Theatre Trust, the folks who run the State, Orpheum and Pantages in downtown Minneapolis, are opeing the “New Century”. Located in inside City Centre, it will be a 300 seat, black box theatre. Although smaller and less grand than the old cinema, it’s good that the memory of the Century will live on in Minneapolis.
The photos linked in the previous comment show that elements of the original facade of the Miles Theatre survived through both of the major remodelings of the building.
A photo of the Miles Theatre from the trade journal The Western Architect, issue of December, 1908, attributes the design of the Miles to the architectural firm of Kees & Colburn, also architects of the Loring, Orpheum, and Pantages theaters in Minneapolis.
A later page of the magazine displays the original floor plan of the Miles Tehatre.
Future home of the Miles Theatre (about 1908):
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The Miles Hippodrome (about 1910):
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The New Garrick Theatre (1925):
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The Century Theatre (about 1948):
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The September 28, 1929, issue of the trade publication Movie Age said that the Century Theatre had been opened by the Publix circuit the previous Saturday.
The article said that the plans for the rebuilding of the former Garrick Theatre had been done by the architectural firm of Lieberman & Kaplan, but they must have meant Liebenberg & Kaplan.
The Century was built next to the Strand theatre.
Interesting
Anyone know what “the Forum” next to the Century was? Looks like an interesting building.
1960 photo here:
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