Riverview Theater
The Riverview's lit marquee in 2011
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| Address | 3800 42nd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55406 |
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| Coordinates | 44°56′03″N 93°12′47″W / 44.934051°N 93.21316°WCoordinates: 44°56′03″N 93°12′47″W / 44.934051°N 93.21316°W |
| Type | Indoor movie theater |
| Seating type | Stadium |
| Capacity | >700 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1948 |
| Opened | December 30, 1948 |
| Renovated | 1956 |
| Architect | Liebenberg and Kaplan |
| Website | |
| riverviewtheater.com | |
The Riverview Theater is a neighborhood movie theater in the Howe neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Designed by Liebenberg and Kaplan, the theater was built by theater owners Bill and Sidney Volk in 1948. After building a subsequent theater in a new ultramodern style, the Volks returned to the Riverview in 1956 and had its lobby area heavily renovated and updated. The Riverview remains one of several surviving single-screen cinemas in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and typically shows second-run films for $2 or $3, as well as other special programming. Since the early 2000s, it has been consistently recognized by City Pages as one of the best movie theaters in the area.
The Lithuania-born Volk brothers, Bill and Sidney, came to Minnesota in the early 1920s and got involved in the movie business by purchasing neighborhood theaters during the Great Depression. In 1946, the Volks initiated what the publication Greater Amusements called a "theater-building orgy" when they received a permit from the Minneapolis City Council to build the first new theater in Minneapolis in twelve years in spite of the protests of other theater managers. The Riverview was designed by architectural firm Liebenberg and Kaplan and built in 1948 in the Streamline Moderne style. It opened December 30, 1948, with a showing of June Bride. The single-screen theater utilized stadium seating, making it one of the earlier movie theaters to do so.
Three years later, the Volks again called on Liebenberg and Kaplan to construct the Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, "one of the first ultramodern theaters in America", and considered by author Larry Millett to be "their masterpiece". Pleased with the results (and the industry-bucking receipts), the Volks turned back to the Riverview and had Liebenberg and Kaplan remodel it to reflect the successful Terrace model. This occurred in 1956, eight years after the theater's initial construction. The new lobby space was intended to reflect a living room and even included a separate TV lounge. Amenities were ample: "Dunbar tables, McCobb stools, Herman Miller divans and chairs, walnut panels imposed on light wood, graceful modern lamps, stunning draperies." Inside the theater space, however, little changed about the proscenium stage and seating.
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Wikipedia