Fox Theater (Spokane, Washington)
The Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington is a 1931 Art Deco movie theater that now serves as a performing arts venue and home of the Spokane Symphony. It was designed by architect Robert C. Reamer, notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. It was part of the Fox Film Corporation Empire founded by studio mogul William Fox. The theater opened September 3, 1931 and showed films continuously until it closed September 21, 2000 after an engagement of the movie "Gladiator" starring Russell Crowe. History. Planning and construction. In 1927 rumors  began circulating that William Fox's expanding Fox Film Corporation was to build a large "million dollar movie palace" in downtown Spokane. "The Spokesman-Review" published an initial depictions of the theater, which was in a Mediterranean Revival architectural style. However, the project was delayed due to the financial difficulties of Fox Film Corporation following the 1929 stock market crash and the companies subsequent reorganization as Fox West Coast Studios. Construction started in early 1930 and employed 200 people. The Art Deco building was designed by architect Robert Reamer, notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone  National Park, with Whitehouse & Price brought on as associate architects and Anthony Heinsbergen designing the interior of the theater. Heinsbergen's decorations and appointments were a fusion of the rectangular angles associated with the Art Deco movement and the classical flowing style of Art Nouveau. The Spokane Fox theaters motif is derived from a Hollywood interpretation of art deco, which was a synthesis of the modernist and art nouveau movements of Europe in the late 1800s. The centerpiece of the theaters interior was a wide light fixture made of etched glass and plaster in the shape of a sunburst. The  building was outfitted with modern amenities for the time such as air conditioning and the cost of construction was publicized as . Grand opening and first decades. The Fox Theater opened with seating for 2,350 patrons (1,450 on the ground floor and 900 in the balcony) on September 3, 1931. Anita Page, Mitzi Green, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen and El Brendel attended the opening performance gala. A crowd of onlookers estimated to be as much as 20,000 people crowded the streets outside the theater to see a free of charge outside show and catch a glimpse of the celebrities in attendance  as they were escorted from the Davenport Hotel. The public was surprised at the sight of the buildings sleek modern art deco exterior, which was in stark contrast to the Italianate renderings that were shown in the Spokesman-Review. The interior decorations were singled out for praise in contemporary newspaper accounts. Wilbur Hindley at the Spokesman-Review commented that the design was "so unusual, so bizarre and so futuristic that the casual passerby catches his breath in surprise and wonder;" the design utilized aluminum and glass as opposed to the traditional marble and wood in the interior décor, which included  embellishments like hand painted murals of undersea plants and etched glass light panels. The Fox opened with a live production of Fanchon and Marco's "About Town" variety show followed by the film "Merely Mary Ann". Ticket holders also got to see acts by Laurel and Hardy and a performance by the Fox Theater Orchestra. This mix of alternating traditional vaudeville style live entertainment and trendy Hollywood talkies was part of the theaters long term business strategy and reflected the evolving tastes of the public. Movies had become a low cost escape from the challenges of the Great Depression. The  Fox would be the primary performing arts venue in Spokane for its first three decades. Multiplex and Decline. In May 1961, the Fox Theater sold its theatre organ to a Los Angeles-area collector, who disassembled it and had it shipped to California, the process of dismantling the organ took approximately one week. The Fox Theater subdivided its main screen and opened as a three-screen complex (with one main screen downstairs and two balcony screens upstairs) on 14 November 1975. In 1989, the theater began showing second-run movies at per ticket. When Regal Cinemas built the new 12 -screen megaplex at NorthTown Mall, it sold half of its eight Spokane theaters, including the Fox. The final movie, a screening of "Gladiator", was shown on 21 September 2000, and a small ceremony before the showing marked the sale of the theater to the Spokane Symphony, where representatives of Regal Cinemas and the Spokane Symphony exchanged a symbolic $1.3 million check for the keys to the theater. Fundraising and restoration. The adjacent Spokane Club sought to purchase and demolish the building to build a parking garage. Although the club had entered into negotiations with the then-owners, Regal Cinemas , the Club dropped its plans to purchase the theater when they learned the Spokane Symphony was interested in the site. The theater was saved when the Spokane Symphony purchased it for  million in June 2000. Once the Symphony determined whether the renovations were feasible and the funds could be raised, it began an extensive fund raising campaign to raise the budget needed for restoration. Part of the funds were raised from state sources. Prominent architectural features were renamed in honor of significant donors. The restoration designer was NAC Architecture of Spokane and the contractor on the project was Walker Construction . Restorers catalogued, cleaned, painted, and re-created lost architectural details and lighting fixtures. They also removed partitions installed in 1975 which converted the theatre into a multiplex. They reduced the original 2,300 seats to 1,700. The Wurlitzer 3-manual, 13-rank theatre organ installed when the building was constructed in 1931 was removed in 1961. The total cost of the renovations was $31 million and it was completed in November 2007. The theatre was renamed the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox in honor of the father of a donor who contributed $3 million towards the renovations. It  re-opened as the home of the Spokane Symphony on November 17, 2007, presided over by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. The re-opening included a special celebration featuring a performance by Tony Bennett on November 19, 2007. The meticulous restoration was documented in the KSPS-TV film "Spokane's 21st Century Fox". Notable performances. Notable performances at the theatre include: Katharine Hepburn, in "As You Like It", as well as Marian Anderson, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. Michelle Obama, wife of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama held a rally campaigning for her husband's presidential campaign on February  8, 2008.