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Fox Fullerton Theatre Complex
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Street view of Fullerton Fox Theatre
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| Location: | 500-512 N. Harbor Blvd Fullerton, California |
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| Built: | 1925 |
| Architect: | Raymond M. Kennedy |
| NRHP Reference#: | 06000948 |
| Added to NRHP: | October 25, 2006 |
Fox Theatre is a movie theater located on Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton, California. Built in 1925 as part of the chain of Fox Theatres, the theater was closed and abandoned in 1987. The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation is currently in the process of fundraising and restoring the theater.
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The Fox Theatre was originally commissioned by C. Stanley Chapman to show vaudeville performances and silent movies. The theater was designed by architect Raymond M. Kennedy of the firm Meyer & Holler, who later designed Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The original name of the theater was the Alician Court Theatre, in honor of Chapman's wife, Alice.[1]
An official landmark of the City of Fullerton since 1990, the Fox Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October 2006. In 2005 the city of Fullerton began to show movies in the rear parking lot to raise funds for the restoration, projecting the film onto the outer wall of the theater, and in 2006 Los Angeles magazine named it as one of LA's strangest places to see films.[2]
The Fox Theatre has lavish interior design in the Italian Renaissance style, and is approached through a spacious courtyard open to the street. The theater once featured six large murals which were created by Anthony Heinsbergen and Company who also painted murals for Los Angeles City Hall, the Biltmore Hotel, and the Wiltern Theatre. The original murals were painted over in the 1950s during the building's first refurbishment. The proscenium, on the other hand, remains intact.
The original theater complex included a tea room run by Alice Chapman, but the space was later leased as a separate restaurant. The restaurant has since moved, and the tea room will be reincorporated into the theater when it reopens.
The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation is currently restoring the building. In 2007, the theater received nearly $2 million in grant money from the state of California. The tentative date for completion of the restoration work is 2010.[3]
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