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by | Mar 15, 2018 | Taxus Baccata

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The Orpheum Theater in 1917

The Orpheum Theater in St. Louis, Missouri is a Beaux-Arts style theater, built in 1917. It was constructed by local self-made millionaire Louis A. Cella and designed by architect Albert Lansburgh.[2] The $500,000 theater opened on Labor Day, 1917, as a vaudeville house.[2] As vaudeville declined, it was sold to Warner Brothers in 1930, and served as a movie theater until it closed in the 1960s.[2]

In the 1980s, the theater was restored and renamed to American Theater in the 1980s[2] and was listed under that name on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[1] In 1993, the rock band Phish played two concerts at the venue - one in April and the other in August - both of which were released in full on the band's 2017 live album St. Louis '93.[3] UPDATE; June 2024: It was actually in the 1970's (not 1980's as previously stated) that the theater was restored and renamed the American Theater and used as a concert venue.

The theater was later sold to local businessmen Michael and Steve Roberts, who renamed it the Roberts Orpheum Theater. The Roberts brothers sold the theater in 2012, and it closed.[4] The Chicago developer, UrbanStreet Group, plans to restore the theater.[5]

History

The theater was closed in 2012. However, new owners, Jubilee Group, purchased the building in 2017.[6]

External links

Media related to Roberts Orpheum Theater, St. Louis at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d "The Roberts Orpheum Theater_ a landmark to St. Louis vaudeville past".
  3. ^ "Phish to Release 6-Disc _St. Louis '93_ Live Album - Jambands". Jambands. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  4. ^ "New owners to take the stage at Orpheum Theater - St. Louis Business Journal". Archived from the original on 2014-05-21.
  5. ^ "Chicago developer hopes to transform vacant Roberts properties".
  6. ^ Barker, Jacob (February 19, 2017). "Who Are the New Owners of the Roberts Orpheum Theater Downtown?". St. Louis Post Dispatch (MO).


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