Saenger Theatre (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Exterior of venue (c.2007)
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| Address | 1111 Canal St New Orleans, Louisiana 70112-2625 |
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| Location | French Quarter |
| Owner | Canal Street Development Corporation |
| Operator | Ambassador Theatre Group |
| Capacity | 2,600 |
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| Broke ground | 1924 |
| Opened | February 4, 1927 |
| Renovated | 1978-80, 2009-11 |
| Construction cost | $2.5 million ($34.9 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Emile Weil |
| Website | |
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Saenger Theatre
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| Coordinates | 29°57′20.87″N 90°4′22.24″W / 29.9557972°N 90.0728444°WCoordinates: 29°57′20.87″N 90°4′22.24″W / 29.9557972°N 90.0728444°W |
| Architect | Emile Weil |
| Architectural style | Italian Renaissance |
| NRHP Reference # | 77000676 |
| Added to NRHP | November 25, 1977 |
Saenger Theatre is an atmospheric theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana, that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Once the flagship of Julian and Abe Saenger's theatre empire, today it is one of only a handful of Saenger movie palaces that remain.
The Saenger Theatre opened on February 4, 1927. The 4,000-seat theatre took three years to build and cost $2.5 million. Its opening prompted thousands to parade along Canal Street. The top ticket price was 65 cents, and the bill for each performance included a silent movie and stage play (produced by the Paramount-Publix Corporation), and music from the Saenger Grand Orchestra.
Architect Emile Weil designed the interior of an atmospheric theatre to recall an Italian Baroque courtyard. Weil installed 150 lights in the ceiling of the theatre, arranged in the shape of constellations of the night sky. The theatre also employed special effects machines to project images of moving clouds, sunrises, and sunsets across the theatre's interior.
In 1929, Julian Saenger sold the theatre for $10 million to Paramount Publix, which continued to operate the theatre successfully throughout the Great Depression. In 1933 Paramount Publix converted the theatre to "talking pictures" only.
In 1964, ABC Interstate Theatres turned the Saenger into a piggyback theatre, building a wall in front of the balcony to divide the larger space into two smaller theatres. The upstairs theatre was known as the Saenger Orleans. On September 29, 1977 the theatre was designated a historic landmark by the New Orleans Landmark Commission. That December it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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Wikipedia