page_title: Beacham Theatre
section_title: Modifications
hierarchical_section_title: Beacham Theatre / Description / Modifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Beacham Theatre upstairs offices in March 1991. Posters for the Dead Milkmen's Beelzebubba album and the Beatles are visible.
context_page_description: The Beacham Theatre is a cinema built in 1921 by Braxton Beacham Sr. in the city of Orlando, Florida. The current address of the theater is 46 North Orange Avenue, and it is located at the southwest corner of Orange Avenue and Washington Street. The building's current lack of impressive architecture is offset by its significant cultural history. The Beacham Theatre was considered an important contributing structure when the Downtown Orlando historic district was created in 1980 and the building was granted local landmark status in 1987.
  The Beacham was once part of the vaudeville circuit and hosted celebrity acts such as John Philip Sousa, the Ziegfeld Follies and W.C. Fields, whose signature was once visible inside a dressing room. In the eras of silent film and Classical Hollywood cinema, the Beacham was operated as a movie theater that utilized then-current state-of-the-art motion picture technology.
  The Beacham, as it is currently named, has since been used as a series of concert venues and nightclubs thus saving it from demolition.
context_section_description: In 1936 Art Deco styling with Mediterranean-style tile was added to the facade and extensive neon lighting was installed the on the entrance overhang. Inside, the theater was modernized to provide lighted stairs, air conditioning into the dressing rooms, an enlarged auditorium, and improved seating.  Capacity was reduced to 1,051.  To diminish echoes from the projectors and recorded sound equipment, the auditorium was carpeted with a floral pattern and the plaster walls were covered with an Ozite material.  Vernon Hunter oversaw the modernization.
  In 1954 the look of the theater was modernized once again with the removal of parapets, cornices, and windows.  The marquee was replaced with a new porcelain one.  The lobby was enclosed with glass doors and the boxoffice was moved to the right side of the lobby exterior and rebuilt.  An entirely new stucco sheeting was installed over the facade, a wide screen was installed, and new decorations and push-back seats were added with additional alterations to the floor plan and seating areas.  Capacity was reduced to 650.
  In 1964 the proscenium was modified to accommodate the installation of Cinerama widescreen. A new projection room was constructed under the balcony to accommodate 70-mm projectors.
  By 1975 the theater was no longer being used as a feature cinema. For the 1976 opening of the Great Southern Music Hall, the theater's interior and stage were remodeled, the proscenium was rebuilt, balcony seating was added.   The facade was repainted with Art Deco graphics and a large mural was painted on the back of the theater.  Capacity was increased to 765.
  The balcony was extended in 1981.
  In 1984 the theater cinema's 765 seats were removed and sold  and the sloped auditorium floor was terraced.  Buffet dinner tables for 400 and balcony tables for 100 were added.  The backstage area was remodeled, and the balcony was restored back to its original shape.  Exterior drainage was improved.
  The degraded ceiling plasterwork was repaired and repainted, the roof was replaced and wiring were upgraded in 1988.  External air conditioning was being pumped in.
  By 1991 the balcony was renovated and re-extended and the 70 mm film projection room under the balcony had been removed and the air conditioning repaired.  Opera boxes were installed on the second floor of either side of the stage and the DJ booth was relocated shortly thereafter.
  As the Beacham was renovated to become Dekkos's in 1992, it was discovered that the stucco sheeting that was installed during a modernization in 1954 could not be economically removed without severely damaging the original facade underneath.  Restoration plans for the facade had to be modified.
  An arched molding was then added to the facade.  A sunburst and red neon lighting was subsequently added.
  Following an effort to "bring back the aesthetics of the old Beacham Theatre," in 2000 owners restored the Beacham's ornate plaster ceiling moldings, facade, and marquee. In addition, the sloping theater floor was made level and the stage was elevated.  The original Beacham Theatre sign is awaiting restoration and is being stored on the roof.
  Around 2005, the facade was modified by removing a small semi-circular molding in front of the sunburst.  The points of the sunburst were also removed leaving a large semi-circular molding and larger arch above it decorating the facade.
caption: Beacham Theatre upstairs offices in March 1991.
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