page_title: Timothy L. Pflueger
section_title: Movie palaces
hierarchical_section_title: Timothy L. Pflueger / 1920s / Movie palaces
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Senator Theatre in Chico, California.
context_page_description: Timothy Ludwig Pflueger was a prominent architect, interior designer and architectural lighting designer in the San Francisco Bay Area in the first half of the 20th century. Together with James R. Miller, Pflueger designed some of the leading skyscrapers and movie theaters in San Francisco in the 1920s, and his works featured art by challenging new artists such as Ralph Stackpole and Diego Rivera. Rather than breaking new ground with his designs, Pflueger captured the spirit of the times and refined it, adding a distinct personal flair. His work influenced later architects such as Pietro Belluschi.
  Pflueger, who started as a working-class draftsman and never went to college, established his imprint on the development of Art Deco in California architecture yet demonstrated facility in many styles including Streamline Moderne, neo-Mayan, Beaux-Arts, Mission Revival, Neoclassical and International. His work as an interior designer resulted in an array of influential interior spaces, including luxurious cocktail lounges such as the Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, the Patent Leather Bar at the St.
context_section_description: The three Nasser brothers, William, Elias and George, specifically requested Pflueger in 1920 after they received financing for a grand movie palace on Castro Street. In a hurry to see the 2,000-seat project completed, the Nasser Brothers gave Pflueger a free hand in its design. The Castro Theatre was finished in June 1922 for $300,000 ($4,582,000 in today's dollars) in a largely Spanish Baroque style which evoked cathedrals in Spain and Mexico. Churrigueresque elements were used sparingly on the facade, and ornate tile detailing was employed in the vestibule, ticket booth and the lobby. A canopy modeled after ancient Roman silk brocade shelters was fashioned of steel lath and plaster and painted with Asian and Buddha figures to overhang the main theater seating area. The whole was an eclectic assemblage of styles.
  In 1925, Michael Naify and William Nasser turned to Pflueger again for a new neighborhood theater design based on the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. The Alhambra Theatre opened on November 5, 1926 with a grand facade flanked by twin minarets that glowed red at night. Pflueger's vision stayed firmly planted in the Moorish Revival style, complete to the iron scrollwork and amber shade redesign of two municipal streetlamps standing outside of the theater. Pflueger worked with muralist Arthur Frank Mathews to achieve a rich palette of color most prominently displayed in a geometric floral pattern on the main ceiling. The Alhambra was named San Francisco Landmark No. 217 in 1996.
  The Nassers and Naify contracted with Pflueger in early 1926 to build three large movie theaters in central California cities. They assigned Pflueger the design of the Tulare Theatre (1927) in Tulare, the Senator Theatre (1928) in Chico and the State Theatre (1928) in Oroville. The $250,000 Tulare Theatre (now demolished) featured motifs based on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. Pflueger included zigzag patterns in the twin-towered facade trimmed in neon accents, and brought Streamline Moderne stylings to the interior via sweeping curves in steel banister railings as well as Mayan touches in the stepped mirrors. The $250,000 State Theatre appeared Spanish Colonial with its tiled roof and concrete bas-relief exterior, but turned to Streamline Moderne in a 1,529-seat interior that featured chrome railings, plush carpet and indirect lighting. Aztec elements were incorporated in the proscenium design. The $300,000 Senator Theatre was delayed in construction by the discovery of running water under the foundation, a condition that required channelization and pumps. The movie palace's eclectic theme was largely Egyptian with Moorish, Asian and Aztec details dominated by a landmark tower topped by a giant faceted amber glass gem lit from within.
  Back in San Francisco, Pflueger designed the Nasser Brothers' 1,830-seat El Rey Theatre (1931) at 1970 Ocean Avenue in pure Moderne style, including a sleek tower topped by an aircraft warning beacon. A mirrored foyer in black and gold held floral and geometric accents, and twin curved stairways to the balcony flanked the foyer.
  Shortly before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, investors including William Henry Crocker bought adjoining parcels of land in Oakland for the purpose of erecting a movie palace to rival the nearby Fox Orpheum, intending that Miller and Pflueger build it. One of the largest studio and theater chains in the country, Paramount Publix, showed great interest, but wanted to use their own East Coast architect instead. Pflueger went to New York and convinced Paramount Publix to use his firm by demonstrating that past projects of his had stayed within budget, a concern of increasing importance in the cautious financial climate of early 1930.
  For the 3,200-seat design, Pflueger took his inspiration from Green Mansions, a romantic fantasy novel by William Henry Hudson set in the Guyana jungle of Venezuela. Tropical rain forest motifs were used throughout the theater, including climbing vines, waterfalls, parrots and emerald green lighting. As with his other works, Pflueger mixed together sources from a
caption: The Senator Theatre in Chico, California includes a prominent tower at the street corner.
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