art deco film theaters
Two Colorado Art Deco film theaters. First up, the Boulder Theater.
Originally built as an opera house in 1906, it was remodelled in
terra cotta Art Deco by Robert Boller in 1936.
The Boller Brothers were from Kansas City and built Art Deco theaters all over Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
The theater was turned into a concert hall in 1981, and great care
is taken to preserve this building.
Even though Boulder had a smoking ban long before the rest of the state, and because Boulder is a college town, the theater has a reputation that on concert nights there still seems to be some sort of smoke wafting around. ;<)
Next up, the Mayan Theatre in Denver.
The Mayan was also built in terra cotta Art Deco style, with a design by
Montana Fallis. It was slated to be demolished in the 1980s, but it was
rescued by preservationists and restored and reopened as an art theater in 1986.
Art Deco theater designers often revived historical cultures like the Egyptian and the Mayan. In fact Montana Fallis also designed the Egyptian Theatre in Delta, CO, two years prior to The Mayan.
Montana Fallis designed the Buerger Brothers Building one of Denver’s most famous Art Deco landmarks. I was going to link to my pictures of it, but I am shocked to see that I haven’t posted photos of it yet. I could have sworn I had. Look for that as the next post!
Fallis also designed the Oxford Hotel Annex in 1912, just north of the main building. While it is not Art Deco, it is clad in white terra cotta.
(click this picture)
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A late Boulder friend always used to say that that was Krishna’s phallus on the exterior of the Boulder Theater, above the marquee.
P.S. My all-time favorite show at the Boulder Theater, (pre-refurbishment): Iggy Pop circa ‘82-’83, with Frank Infante and Clem Burke of Blondie as part of the backing band. Iggy was decidedly reptilian, operating from his lizard brain, at that gig.