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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Charlottesville Metropolitan Area » Downtown Area » Main Street (Mall) and Water Street » Paramount Theater

Paramount Theater

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1931, Rapp and Rapp. 215 E. Main St.
  • (Photograph by Patricia Lynette Searl)
  • Paramount Theater (Richard Guy Wilson)

The Paramount, designed by well-known Chicago theater architects, has classical detailing on its high, partially false facade, an indication that, here in the land of Jefferson and the Colonial Revival, Art Deco was a hard sell, even for theaters. The murals inside the octagonal auditorium continue the “colonial” theme. Competition from less expensive theaters at shopping malls, beginning in the 1960s, forced its closure, and it awaits restoration.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Wachovia Bank (National Bank of Charlottesville)
Albemarle Historical Society
Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (U.S. Post Office and Courthouse)
200 Block of West Main Street
First United Methodist Church

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Paramount Theater", [Charlottesville, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-CH18.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 148-148.

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