Elsinore Theater
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Elsinore Theater
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Exterior of the theatre
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| Location | 170 High Street, SE Salem, Oregon |
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| Coordinates | 44°56′20″N 123°02′14″W / 44.938856°N 123.037153°WCoordinates: 44°56′20″N 123°02′14″W / 44.938856°N 123.037153°W |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Lawrence & Holford |
| Architectural style | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Tudor Gothic |
| Part of | Salem Downtown State Street – Commercial Street Historic District (#01001067) |
| MPS | Architecture of Ellis F. Lawrence MPS |
| NRHP reference # | 91001575 |
| Added to NRHP | June 17, 1994 |
The Elsinore Theatre is a theatre located in Salem, Oregon, United States, that first opened on May 28, 1926.
Owner George Guthrie enlisted the firm of Lawrence and Holford to design the theatre in a Tudor Gothic style meant to resemble the castle in the city of Elsinore from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Ellis F. Lawrence, the first dean of the University of Oregon school of architecture, was the project's principal architect. The building features stained glass by the Povey Brothers and a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ similar to the original, which was dismantled in 1962. Originally the Elsinore was designed for live performances and silent films. Three years after its construction in 1926, Guthrie leased the theatre to Fox West Coast Theatres. It was at this time that sound movies came to the theatre. One year after the lease to Fox Theaters, Guthrie leased it out to a different theater company, Warner Brothers Theaters which ran it as a movie theater until 1951.
In 1954, the theater began a general decline from its once great status in Salem into a second-run movie theater. In 1980, the Elsinore was set to be demolished. A grassroots effort known as the Save the Elsinore Committee did not want to let this historical treasure be demolished, and so began to work hard with local authorities to save the theater. While the theater was eventually saved from demolition, the committee was unable to effect any other major changes, as the two ballot measures pertaining to the theater, one for its purchase and restoration, and another for long term operating funds, were defeated in 1981.
During the 1980s, the Save the Elsinore Committee obtained the consent of the owner to use the theater for 18 days of the year for free community events in order to spark public interest about the theater and its fate. The free events drew attendance of over 75,000 people.
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