Tennessee Theatre facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Tennessee Theatre
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Tennessee Theatre on South Gay Street, 2019
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| Location | 604 South Gay Street Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 |
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| Built | October 1, 1928 |
| Architect | Graven & Mayger |
| NRHP reference No. | 82003979 |
| Added to NRHP | April 1, 1982 |
The Tennessee Theatre is a beautiful old movie theater in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. It first opened its doors in 1928. This special theater is inside the Burwell Building, which was once Knoxville's tallest building. The Tennessee Theatre is known for showing classic movies and hosting live shows. It is also the home for the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.
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Live Shows and Movies
The Tennessee Theatre offers many different kinds of live shows and classic movies for everyone to enjoy. It is managed by a company called AC Entertainment. The theater is a main stage for the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.
Broadway Shows
After a different Broadway show series ended, the Tennessee Theatre started its own series called Broadway at the Tennessee. This brought big, exciting Broadway-style shows to Knoxville. Some of the famous shows that have been performed here include Chicago, Hairspray, and Stomp.
History of the Theater
The land where the Tennessee Theatre stands has a long history. Back in the 1790s, the first classes for Blount College were held in a log building on this very spot. Blount College later became the University of Tennessee.
The Burwell Building, where the theater is located, was built in 1908. It was the tallest building in Knoxville at the time. In 1917, a man named Clay Brown Atkin bought the building and named it after his wife, Mary Burwell.
The Tennessee Theatre officially opened on October 1, 1928. It was called "Knoxville's Grand Entertainment Palace" and had about 2,000 seats. The theater was designed by architects from Chicago, Graven & Mayger. They used a mix of styles from around the world. You can see Czechoslovakian crystals in the chandeliers, Italian floor tiles, and designs from Asia in the carpets.
The theater was one of the first public buildings in Knoxville to have air conditioning. It also had a special musical instrument called a Wurlitzer organ.
Over the years, the theater hosted some world movie premieres, like So This is Love in 1953. The theater changed owners a few times and even closed for a while in the late 1970s. In 1981, a local radio company bought it and started to fix it up for the 1982 World's Fair. On April 1, 1982, the theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's a very important historical building.
Amazing Restoration
In 1996, a group called the Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation was created. They received the theater as a gift and worked to make it "The Official State Theatre of Tennessee." In 2001, the Foundation announced a big plan to completely restore the theater.
The theater closed for renovations in June 2003. The goal was to make it look just like it did when it first opened in 1928. The stage was made bigger to fit larger shows. They also improved the sound, dressing rooms, and lighting. New elevators were added, and a new sign was put outside.
The restoration team made sure everything looked perfect. They put in new carpets, curtains, and lights that matched the original designs. All the plaster and paint in the lobby and seating areas were carefully fixed to look exactly as they did before.
The theater reopened on January 14, 2005, and had a very busy season. By 2013, the Tennessee Theatre had sold over one million tickets since its restoration!
The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
The amazing Wurlitzer organ was installed in the Tennessee Theatre when it first opened in 1928. It was built in New York and was very expensive at the time.
The organist at the Tennessee Theatre is always a big part of the show. The first organist was Miss Jean Wilson, and her name was even on the theater's sign! Today, Freddie Brabson is the current performer.
In 2000, the entire organ was sent away to be restored by a master organ builder named Ken Crome. He fixed every piece of the instrument. Artists and craftspeople made the organ look exactly like it did in 1928. The special rooms on either side of the stage, where the organ pipes are kept, were also repaired to protect the restored instrument.
The Wurlitzer organ came back to Knoxville in August 2001. It was put back together over the next month. A famous theater organist, Lyn Larsen, helped make sure the organ sounded perfect. He was the first to play it publicly at a special concert on October 1, 2001.
See also
- Bijou Theatre
- The Burwell
