Woodward Theater

hanksykes on September 20, 2012 at 5:47 pm

In the film ,“Eight Men Out”, this theatre was redressed with a false tin marquee and served as a nickelodeon in front of which two of the kids sold newspapers with headlines of the 1918 White Sox scandal.

Joe Vogel on September 21, 2012 at 5:58 pm

CSWalczak: The Rapps of Rapp & Rapp were not related to the Rapps of Rapp, Zettle & Rapp (except perhaps through some distant common ancestor in Sweden), and I’ve never found any connection between the firms.

Rapp, Zettle & Rapp was a Cincinnati firm consisting of George W. Rapp, his son Walter Rapp, and partner John Zettle. George W. Rapp retired from the firm about the time the Woodward Theatre was built, and died in 1918 (obituary in The Western Architect, February, 1918.) The successor firm Zettel & Rapp was active into the early 1930s.

The theater architects, based in Chicago, were Cornelius W. Rapp and George Leslie Rapp. An older brother, Isaac Hamilton Rapp, practiced architecture in Trinidad, Colorado, beginning around 1890, and was later joined by another brother, William M. Rapp, to form the Trinidad firm of I. H. & W. M. Rapp. To add a bit of confusion, some sources also refer to this firm as Rapp and Rapp. The Colorado Rapps eventually established an office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well, and were pioneers of the Pueblo Revival style.

Biographies of both the Chicago and Cincinnati Rapps can be found on this page of the Biographical Dictionary of Cincinnati Architects.

Information about I. H. and W. M. Rapp can be found in a biographical sketch of Isaac H. Rapp on this Google Documents page or in PDF format at this link.

I. H. and W. M. Rapp were the architects of the 1908 West Theatre in Trinidad. I’ve been unable to discover if they designed any other theaters.

hanksykes on February 27, 2013 at 4:32 pm

Woodward Th. has been bought to re-emerg as a concert venue,but will retain the theater’s namesake .

Joe Vogel on June 21, 2023 at 9:11 pm

Here is a link to the official web web site of the Woodward Theater. Though now primarily a live music venue and event center, the house is equipped to show movies and has hosted several film events since its renovation in 2014 (see the “Film Exhibitions” section on the site’s “Event Venue” menu.)