Uptown Theater (Kansas City)
Uptown Theater
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| Location | 3700 Broadway Kansas City, Missouri |
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| Owner | UGA, LLC |
| Type | concert venue |
| Capacity | 2,300 originally 1,700 currently |
| Construction | |
| Built | Nov. 1926–Jan. 1928 |
| Opened | January 6, 1928 |
| Renovated | 1994 |
| Closed | 1989 |
| Website | |
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Uptown Building and Theatre
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| Location | 3700--3712 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri |
| Coordinates | 39°3′40″N 94°35′27″W / 39.06111°N 94.59083°WCoordinates: 39°3′40″N 94°35′27″W / 39.06111°N 94.59083°W |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Gornall, Robert; Eberson, John |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| NRHP Reference # | 79001374 |
| Added to NRHP | June 27, 1979 |
The Uptown Theater is a historic theater located at 3700 Broadway in the Valentine neighborhood in the Midtown area of Kansas City, Missouri. As Uptown Building and Theatre, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The original design for the Uptown was carried out by Kansas City architect Robert Gornall. Construction first began on the portion of the Uptown that would house offices and shops along Broadway. This office and retail portion of the Uptown was completed in November 1926. Gornall's plans also called for a theater to extend along the rear portion of the building, with a tower at the north end to serve as an entrance and foyer. As the office and retail portion of the Uptown was nearing completion, the footing was also poured for the theater portion of the Uptown; however work was halted until the Universal Film Company acquired the unfinished building in 1927. Austrian-born designer John Eberson was hired to complete the construction of the Uptown and oversee the decoration of the interior. Kansas City-based Fleming-Gilchrist Construction Company served as the general contractor for both phases of the Uptown construction.
Eberson completed the design of the Uptown in Italian Renaissance style as an atmospheric theatre. It was the only one of its kind in Kansas City as well as the State of Missouri. The inside of the theater replicated an outdoor Mediterranean courtyard, complete with a nighttime sky ceiling with twinkling stars, clouds, and mechanical flying birds. The Uptown opened on January 6, 1928 to a film showing of "The Irresistible Lover". The Uptown was the first theater in Kansas City outside of downtown to show first-run films.
In the summer of 1939, the Uptown copyrighted a Fragratone system, which funneled fragrances into the auditorium via the ventilation ducts at appropriate moments during films.
The Uptown hosted movies as well as live vaudeville and stage productions through the 1970s. By the late 1970s, the theater began to function primarily as a concert venue, and it remained that way until it closed its doors in 1989 as a result of the owner failing to pay back taxes. During its later years, the interior had fallen into disrepair, and all of the original details were whitewashed.
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