Plaza Theatre (El Paso)

Infobox_nrhp | name =Plaza Theatre
nrhp_type =nrhp


caption =The stage of the Plaza Theatre as seen from the far back of the balcony.
location= El Paso, Texas
lat_degrees = 31 | lat_minutes = 45 | lat_seconds = 31.26 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 106 | long_minutes = 29 | long_seconds = 10.51 | long_direction = W
area =
built =1929
architect= Dunne,W. Scott; Goetting,C.A.
architecture= Colonial Revival, Other
added = June 04, 1987
governing_body = Private
refnum=87000902 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2006-03-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Plaza Theatre is a historic building located at 125 Pioneer Plaza in El Paso, Texas. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks, and remains operational today, showing various Broadway productions, musical concerts, and individual performers.

History

In February of 1927, the owner of the principal El Paso theaters, Louis L. Dent, bought a property on Pioneer Plaza with the intention of doing something good for the city of El Paso. Upon purchase of the property, he said in the El Paso Times, "El Paso has been good to me, and I am going to put something everybody will proud of."

In 1929, construction of the Plaza Theater began. H. T. Ponsford & Sons built the theater, designed by architect W. Scott Dunne and constructed by C.A. Goetting Construction Company. The Plaza was designed, as a modern film house in a Spanish Colonial revival style with the flexibility of presenting stage shows. Opening night was on September 12, 1930 with the movie "Follow Through" to a capacity crowd of 2,410. Although several theaters existed in downtown El Paso at the time the Plaza Theatre opened, its size, elaborate decor, and technical innovations made it stand out. It was advertised as the largest theater of its kind between Dallas and Los Angeles. The Plaza started as a vaudeville or burlesque house and graduated to movies. The theatre features an atmospheric ceiling complete with twinkling stars and lazily floating clouds and was the first public theatre in the United States with air conditioning.

On February 10, 1934, the Plaza's very first stage drama, "Richelieu," was performed. The cast included then famous Walter Hampton, Dallas Anderson, John Davenport and Mable More. In 1949, the Plaza hosted the world premier of the film " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041332/ El Paso] ," which drew a capacity and star-studded crowd, and also showed Tom Lea's "The Brave Bulls."

Decline

By the 1950s, two major influences factored into a slow decline in the Plaza Theatre's patronage. The advent of television and the rise of suburban neighborhoods located further and further away from downtown served as major challenges to the Plaza Theatre in addition to other downtown establishments. At the same time, a new source of competition arose with the advent of drive-in theaters in the late 1940s.

By the early 1970s, the theater had fallen into disrepair, and was sold. Many of its impressive amenities, including furnishings, artwork, and the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ were auctioned off. Only by the acquisition of the theater by the local Dipp Family in 1973 was the Plaza saved from demolition at that time.

The Plaza closed in 1974, and was briefly reopened in 1976 and 1985, only to finally close its doors in 1989.

In 1986, after years of infrequent programming, the decision was made to demolish the Plaza Theatre in order to make way for a parking lot. Spurred by a groundswell of community support, the El Paso Community Foundation began negotiations to raise the required $1 million to save the theatre from demolition. With only six weeks to raise the funds, fundraising events were held across the community with the most visible effort being staged by actress Rita Moreno the day before the deadline. It was announced that evening that enough money had been raised to save the Plaza Theatre. After the El Paso Community Foundation placed a new roof on the theater, it was donated to the City of El Paso in 1990.

Reopening

One of relatively few remaining theatres of its kind in the country, the Plaza had lost most of its original splendor. Furnishings and artwork had been removed, the facade had been altered, and parts of its once-advanced electrical systems were no longer functional, yet the interior structure appeared as it has for close to seventy years. In 2000, a volunteer steering committee, assembled by the El Paso Community Foundation, began to assess the viability of restoring the Plaza Theatre. The committee concluded that the project was feasible, and in 2001, a leading promoter, producer and marketer of live entertainment events, conducted an extensive survey of El Paso’s local performing arts community. The survey concluded that: a market did exist in El Paso for additional performing arts programming, and that the public had a strong affinity for the Plaza and was eager to attend events at a restored Plaza. On July 30, 2002the City of El Paso formally approved a public/private partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation to restore the Plaza Theatre to its original appearance. The Foundation committed to raising $12 million towards the renovation effort, to restoring and reinstalling the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ at the Plaza Theatre, and to donating the adjacent building (Centre Annex), which will be integrated into the overall operations of the Plaza. The City of El Paso agreed to fund the remaining cost of the restoration.

Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd and Arrow Builders were hired to perform the restoration. The companies took particular interest in the project, noting that "With over 2,000 seats at the commencement of restoration, the Plaza is currently one of the nation's largest non-functioning theaters in the United States." The companies worked diligently to insure all phases of construction complied with historical restoration guidelines.

At a cost of nearly $38 million, the Plaza reopened on March 17, 2006. The first performance hosted at the refurbished theatre was Riverdance which played Friday, March 17, 2006 through Sunday, March 19 with multiple sold-out performances. The reopened theatre boasts a 2,050-seat main theater with a 10-story stage house capable of handling large traveling Broadway shows. In addition, upon the completion of the Centre Annex, the facility will include a 200-seat children’s theater, a rooftop garden, meeting facilities and a privately managed restaurant. The smaller theatre will be named the [http://www.plazatheater.org/philanthropy.sstg Philanthropy Theatre] .

Despite the completion of the project, the El Paso Community Foundation continues appropriating funds to buy back original art and furnishings of the Plaza.

The Building

No expense was spared in creating the elaborate building. At the point where the entrance wing of the Plaza adjoined the auditorium, a domed tower rises in three tiers, projecting above the roof line. Other exterior references to the Spanish mission-style included modest brick delineations at the building's corners, simple cartouche motifs and stepped and curved parapets with tile accents along the roof line. While the exterior facade was designed to be reminiscent of a mission-style parapet, patrons were awed by the interior, with its intricately painted ceilings, mosaic-tiled floors, Posh carpeting, decorative wrought iron banisters and sconces and, to heighten the effect, antique furnishings. Due to such grandiose rococo design, the Plaza became known as "The Showplace of the Southwest."

The Mighty Wurlitzer

Further emphasis of the illustrious interior stands in the $60,000 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, designed to elevate from the orchestra pit to accompany vaudeville shows, sing-alongs, and to entertain patrons before and after films. Its "toy box" provides the organ with the versatility to replicate such sounds as horses' hooves, the ocean surf and birds chirping. The organ had 15 ranks with 61 pipes in each rank.

In 1972, the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ was sold at auction and housed at the home of a private collector in Dallas. In 1998 the organ was restored and returned to El Paso as a donation by the late Karl O. Wyler, Sr.. During renovations of the theatre, the organ was put on display at Sunland Park Mall located in Northwest El Paso

Trivia

* Through the years, the Plaza hosted such popular entertainers as Sarah Bernhardt, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, the Barrymore family, Sally Rand, Tallulah Bankhead, Hopalong Cassidy, John Wayne, the Marx Brothers, Rita Moreno, Henry Fonda, Tom Mix, and James Stewart.
* The Plaza Theatre is located where the old Sheldon Hotel once stood. The hotel gained notoriety in 1901 when President William McKinley spent the night there with three other members of his staff. Further notoriety came in 1911 when The Mexican Revolution caused national correspondents and Secret Service agents to gather in the hotel as plans to invade Juárez intensified. The hotel suffered an extensive fire in the late 1920s. "The Herald News" was also located on the site.
* The original seating capacity was 2,410, with 1,510 seats on the main floor, 508 in the mezzanine and 392 in the balcony. Before reopening, the seating accommodations were diminished to provide future patrons with wider, more comfortable seating.
* Originally, colored patrons were only allowed to sit in the balcony of the theatre. The main seating was segregated as white seating only.
* The Plaza had one fallout shelter located beneath the stage. Prior to restoration, food rations could still be found within the shelter with the original packagings intact.

External Links & References

* [http://www.theplazatheatre.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/visitelpasotexas/walking_elpaso_4.asp El Paso Historic Registry]
* [http://www.elpasotimes.com/search/ci_3767781 El Paso Times article]
* [http://www.epcf.org/ The El Paso Community Foundation]
* [http://www.epcf.org/news_detail.sstg?id=90 Article on the The Mighty Wurlitzer]
* [http://www.epcc.edu/nwlibrary/borderlands/12_the_plaza_theater.htm El Paso Community College]
* [http://plaza-movies.com/index.php]

Local History Project]