|
Casino Theatre
|
|
|
|
|
| Location: | 78 S. Main St., Gunnison, Utah |
|---|---|
| Area: | 0.2 acres (0.081 ha) |
| Built: | 1912 |
| Architectural style: | Beaux Arts |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 89001416[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 22, 1989 |
The Casino Theatre in Gunnison, Utah, also known as the Star Theater, is a Beaux Arts building constructed in 1912 and currently undergoing renovations. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[2]
Contents |
Gunnison entrepreneur Sims Douglas built the theater in 1912 as a "big box" as a first step in construction. Douglas had the Beaux-Arts School of Architectural Design in Paris design the facade and hired a Pittsburgh company to build it. Components of the facade arrived by train and were installed in 1915. Duggins died in 1928 and his widow hired C.E. Huish, whose family owned theaters throughout Utah, to manage the theater. Huish installed a metallic false facade over the arch and lower part of the ornate facade, and the addition ended up preserving many of the original decorations over the years. In 1940, the Cryill E. Anderson family of Gunnison bought the theater and in the 1950s put up the triangular marquee that is still on the building. They continued to operate it until 1973, although it became less profitable as the years passed, and it faced competition from TV movies, videos and DVDs. In 1987, Paul Mower, owner of the Huish Theater in Payson, and a descendant of one-time Star Theater manager C.E. Huish, purchased the Star.[3]
In the late 1980s, Diana Spencer and Lori Nay founded the non-profit organization Save Our Star ("SOS") to rehabilitate the theater and tried to purchase it. When the theater was put on the market in 2004, Nay and Spencer formed the Casino Star Theatre Foundation to finance the building’s purchase and repair.[4]
|
||||||||||||||||||||