Temple Theater

An item in the July 30, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that Cincinnati architectural firm C. C. & E. A. Weber were working on plans for a theater at 6th and Monmouth Streets in Newport for J. J. Ryan. The project was to cost $45,000.

An earlier issue of the same publication had listed a smaller version of the same project, to cost only $10,000 and seat fewer than 500, but the plans were apparently scaled up. The Weber’s firm designed a number of theaters, including the Orpheum (RKO Orpheum) in Cincinnati and the Hiland Theatre in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. In 1910, they were also designing a theater at St. Louis for Ryan & Cornelius, the same brokerage firm behind the Temple Theatre project, but I’ve been unable to track down which St. Louis house this was. In 1917, the firm designed a theater at Bluefield, West Virginia, but again I’ve been unable to discover its name, or whether it was actually built.

There’s no evidence that either of the Weber brothers had any formal architectural training, and it is known that at least some of their major works were designed by employees or associates of the firm. This might have been the case with these theaters as well.

I think this was the same project as the earlier version and was an early John Eberson design. The June 4, 1910 American Contractor describes, “Theater (seating cap. 200): $45,000. 6th & Monmouth sts., Newport, KY. Architect John Eberson, 303 Rentschler bldg., Hamilton. Owner John J. Ryan, Cincinnati, O. Plans nearing completion: architect will soon be ready for bids. Brick, Bedford stone trimming, composition roof, metal skylight, galv. iron cornice, struct. iron, hardwood finish, cement floors, marble, mosaic & tile, electric fixtures, lavatories, water closets.”

This description seems to fully match the photograph above. Then in the July 2 issue, the project is described under C.C. & E.A. Weber, (and in the July 30 issue, the $10,000 figure is corrected back to $45,000). I suspect what happened here is that Eberson did not have full licensing at this time and did his designing through associate architects who executed his plans. He could also have worked on other Weber projects, like a 1100 seat theater planned for Cincinnati at the same time.