Ohio Theatre 

39 E. State Street

Columbus, Ohio

Thomas W. Lamb, Architect

Architectural style:  Spanish Baroque (blending Mission Revival and Baroque elements)

Opening Date: March 17, 1928

Capacity: 2,791 seats

Added to the National Register of HIstoric Places on May 5, 1977

Added to the National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1977

Today the Ohio Theatre is home of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, BalletMet, the Broadway Series, Opera Columbus, Broadway tours such as Les Miserables, Pops concerts and the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) Summer Movie Series.

In 1966, members of the American Theatre Organ Society began restoring the Robert Morton and playing the organ for shows again.  The "Mighty Morton" Theatre Organ has been the soul of the Ohio Theatre since the doors opened in 1928.  Built by the Robert Morton Organ Company of Van Nuys, California, the "Mighty Morton" was installed just in time for the Ohio Theatre's grand opening.  It is one of only four identical organs built for Loew's theatres and ..  the only one still in its original home.

While the "Mighty Morton" has been lovingly maintained with routine care and small repairs, it hasn't undergone a major restoration since 1987.  After nearly 40 years, a more comprehensive effort is needed to ensure the organ plays on for generations to come. Donations have collectively contributed nearly $200,000 towards the restoration project. To help sustain the organ's maintenance and restoration, The McCutchen Foundation* has made a generous gift to see an endowment specifically for the organ.

*To find specific information, you'll need to know which "McCuthchen Foundation" you're interested in, as they have differeent focuses and locations. 

The Ohio Theatre features elaborate interior design, a grand lobby and unique elements like a color-changing ceiling and an organ elevator. This theatre is not considered to be an "atmospheric"in the formal architectural sense.  This type of movie palace design was popular in the late 1920s.  They were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors.  

The most successful promoter of the atmospheric style was John Eberson.* Before the end of the 1920s he designed around 100 atmospheric theatres in the United States. His most notable surviving theatres include the Tampa Theatre (1926), Palace Theatre (Louisville) 1928, Palace Theatre (Canton) 1926, Palace Theatre (Marion, Ohio) 1928, Majestic Theatre (Dallas) 1920, Majestic Theatre (San Antonio) 1929, Loew's Theatre (Akron Civic Theatre) 1929, Orpheum Theatre (Wichita, Kansas) 1922, Paramount Theatre Centre & Ballroom (Anderson, Indiana) 1929, Ramona Theatre (Frederick, Okahoma) 1929, Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center (Omaha, Nebraska) 1926, State Theatre (Kalamazoo, Michigan) 1927 and Uptown Theatre (Kansas City) 1928.

If you have never visited an atmospheric theatre, they are special and memorable. 

Civic Theatre

Auckland, Zealand

267 Queen Street

Opening Date:  December 20, 1929

Renovated 1998-1999

Architects:  Charles Bohringer and William T. Leighton

Capacity:  2,378 seats

The Civic Theatre is a famous example of the atmospheric theatre style wherein lighting and interior design create the illusion of an open sky complete with twinkling stars, giving the audience the impression of being seated in an outdoor auditorium at night.  The Civic was the creation of Thomas O'Brien, who built a movie empire in Auckland's inner suburbs in the 1920s and brouth the atmospheric cinema to New Zealand.  O'Brien persuaded a group of wealthy Aucland businessmen to build a massive atmospheric cinema and managed to secure a substantial loan from the Bank of New Zealand for the project.  The cinema was built by Fletcher Construction over eight months.  However, the loan and soaring construction costs caught the attendiong of the NZ Parliment as the final price tag ballooned to approximately the equivalent to $18.9 million in 2016.

With supreme confidence in the future of Auckland and with gratitude to those who have toiled with me in this great endeavor, I present to my fellow citizens the consummation of an ideal .. the creating of a place of entertainment symbolizing the progressive spirit of our beautiful city. 

Thomas O'Brien

Underneath the Civic was an underground ballroom which became one of the major centers of entertainment for American soldiers who were stationed in Auckland during WWII.  During this period, the venue was host to events such as concerts by Bob Hope and speeches by Eleanor Roosevelt.  Eventually, after a campaign by a support group named the Friends of the Civic, the council spent $41.8 million to refurbish the venue.  It reopened in 1999 for both film and theatre, followed by the Wintergarden re-opening in 2000.

*John Eberson was born January 1, 1875 John Adolph Emil Eberson in Romania and died in 1954 in Stamford, CT.  He arrived in the United States in the early 1900s and first settled in St. Louis.  There, while working for a construction company he designed his first theatre, the Jewel located in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1904, Eberson and his family moved to Hamilton, Ohio.  It was there that Eberson's first theatre was located.  He eventually moved to Chicago and in 1926 he made his final move to New York City.  He opened a office at the Rodin Studios located at 200 West Fifty-seventh Street.  In July 1929, he made the decision to close the Chicago office and consolidate all of the design work in New York City.  At about that same time, he formally brought his son into the business.

 He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime earning the nickname "Opera house John".  

John Adolph Emil Eberson

Circa 1912

John Eberson's son was Drew Eberson (1904-1989) who became a partner in his father's influential architectural firm.  John & Drew Eberson designed and renovated numerous theatres alongside his father and continued his business after John's passing, known for his own work and later adapting his father's atmopheric style.  He formally joined his father's practice in New York City around 1929.  While John specialized in "atmospheric" theatres, Drew also designed many structures and adapted the Art Deco style.  

Eberson's first atmospheric theatre, the Majestic designed and built in Houston, Texas though now razed.

Tampa Theatre

711 N. Franklin Street

Tampa, Florida 

This theatre was built by Paramount Pictures and opened on October 15, 1926 as one of America's most elaborate movie palaces.  For 25 cents the common person could escape into an opulent fantasyland cooled by "man-made air", enjoy first-class entertainment and be treated like royalty by platoons of uniformed ushers.  For decades, the Tampa Theatre remained a jewel at the center of the city's cultural landscape as generations of patrons stole their first kisses in the balcony, followed the world through the newsreels and grew up coming to the theatre week after week. 

By 1973, the Tampa Theatre was slated for demolition though the citizens rallied, committees were formed, community leaders got involved and the City Council struck a deal to purchase and preserve the building.  By the time the Tampa Theatre reopened to the public in January 1977, it had become something of a national model for how to sae an endangered theatre.  It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and as a Tampa City Landmark when the designation was created in 1988. 

Today, the Tampa Theatre opens its doors more than 1,000 times each year. Since its rescue, the theatre has welcomed more than 5 million visitors to downtown including 1 million school children for field trips and summer camps.  All within the context of one of Tampa's largest historic preservation projects.

I appaud the citizens of Tampa for having the foresight to save their most unique and special atmospheric Tampa Theatre.

Tampa Theatre showing an orchestra pit

Historical theatres often remove orchestra pits for modern needs like larger stages for shows or to create more seating/floor space.  Orchestra pits are valued though can be costly to maintain. Opening in 1926 as a lavish movie palace, the Tampa Theatre transitioned from silent films (with lie ustic) to "talkies" and then evolved into a live performance venue, likely altering its stage needs.

The Tampa Theatre first broke ground on April 12, 1925 and opened October 15, 1926.  Construction cost was $1.2 million ($21.5 million in 2024 dollars). Its style was Mediterranean Rival and was added to the National Register Historic Places January 3, 1978.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ is a magnificent 1,400 pipe instrument originally installed to accompany silent films in 1926. As "talkies" took over in the early 1930s, the organ was retired and eventually sold to Bayshore Baptist Church, but in the 1980s the theatre enlisted the help of volunteers from The Central Florida Theatre Organ Society to reacquire and reinstall the Mighty Wurlitzer to its original home.  Today, Tampa Theatre's Artist in Resident, Steven Hall and volunteer CFTOS members maintain the Mighty Wurlitzer and play the instrument before film screeings and for special silent film events as part of their ongoing dedication to the preservation of the theatre pipe organ and its music. 

The Tampa "blade" sign above the marquee.

The Tampa Theatre vintage ticket kios.