State Palace Theatre (New Orleans)

Exterior view, 2007

State Palace Theatre is a performing arts venue located in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] It is located at the uptown lake corner of Canal Street and Rampart Street. The theatre was constructed in 1926 for the Loew's Theatre circuit. It had a seating capacity of 3,335 and also contained a 3/13 Robert Morton organ.[2]

Lew Cody, Buster Keaton, Jack Mulhall, Dorothy Mackaill, Conrad Nagel, Dorothy Phillips, Lloyd Hamilton, and Dorothy Mason were among the stars who appeared on stage with Marcus Loew when the theatre opened on Easter Sunday, April 3, 1926. It was named simply, State Theatre. The theatre showed silent films and hosted many live performances in the early days. As time went on, the silent films were replaced with talking pictures and eventually the prized 3/13 Robert Morton organ was destroyed in a flood.

In 1976, the State Theatre was tripled. After closing as a movie house in the late-1980s, the partition was removed, and the State Theatre was restored and renamed, as the State Palace Theatre, showing classic movies and offering concerts.

The theater flooded in 2005's Hurricane Katrina levee failure disaster. Some clean-up was done, allowing it to open for a few raves through 2007; but the building was in need of serious renovation and was closed by the fire marshal after it was sold to new owners.

Planned rebirth

City Officials and Broadway South planned to reopen the theater for the 2010-11 season. Renovations were set to take place in the summer of 2009, but were never started.

In August 2014 it was announced the State Palace Theater had been purchased by New Orleans developer Gregor Fox. Fox confirmed the purchase to WWL-TV. Fox plans to renovate both the interior and exterior of the historic building and put the property back into commercial use.[3] Fox says he wants the space to contribute to the city's arts community and is excited about the redevelopment.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "State Palace Theatre". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Loew's State Theatre". saengeramusements.com. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "New Orleans' State Palace theater". nola.com/Times-Picayune. August 8, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2015.

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