Fairborn Theatre facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Fairborn Theatre
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Front and northern side
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 Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Location | 34 S. Broad St., Fairborn, Ohio |
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| Area | 1.1 acres (0.45 ha) |
| Built | 1948 |
| Architect | Lloyd Zeller, Herman Hunter; C.W. Fry Construction Company |
| Architectural style | Moderne |
| NRHP reference No. | 05000755 |
| Added to NRHP | July 27, 2005 |
The Fairborn Theatre is an old movie theater in Fairborn, Ohio, USA. It was built after World War II in a town with a big Air Force base. This theater is special because it has cool airplane-themed designs inside and out. That's why it's now a historic site!
Cool Design and History
Architects Lloyd Zeller and Herman Hunter created the plans for this theater. It's made of brick with a strong concrete base and an asphalt roof. When it first opened in 1948, it was huge! It could seat about a thousand people. The C.W. Fry Construction Company built it.
The theater is close to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Because of this, it has many aviation-related designs. For example, there's a painting inside showing soldiers and airplanes from World War II. The theater is also a great example of Streamline Moderne architecture. This style uses smooth, flowing lines and metal details, like old trains or cars. Its spot along Ohio State Route 444 shows how Fairborn grew with cars and businesses.
Saving the Theater
Chakeres Theatres ran the Fairborn Theatre from 1948 until the early 1970s. Then, it closed for a short time to be changed into two smaller movie rooms. After this update, the theater kept running until January 2000. Chakeres Theatres stopped operating it but still owned the building until 2002. They then gave the building to a local arts group in Fairborn.
Soon after, a big renovation project started, lasting more than ten years. Many volunteers helped with the work, often with a small budget. They removed old, unsafe materials like asbestos and fixed the roof. They also took down the wall that separated the two movie rooms. This brought the theater back to its original one-room design. The total cost to restore the theater was about $5.5 million. Some money came from the Ohio Department of Development. In 2010, they gave $48,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the arts group.
In 2005, the Fairborn Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is a list of important places in the United States. It was added because of its special architecture. The Fairborn Theatre is one of three places in Fairborn on this list. The others are the 1924 Bath Township Consolidated School and the 1799 Mercer Log House.
