The Pretzinger name belongs to a family of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s and engineers in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. Albert Pretzinger (born February 28, 1863) started the family's architectural legacy. In 1892 he was with Peters, Burns & Pretzinger. He established his own firm Albert Pretzinger Architect by 1906. He was part of Pretzinger & Musselman in 1913 and Pretzinger & Pretzinger in 1928. The firm became Freeman A. Pretzinger Architect in 1941 before switching to Pretzinger and Pretzinger by 1962, and Pretzinger and Pretzinger Architects and Engineers in 1968. In 1980 the firm became Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer, changing in 1982 to Pretzinger and Klenke, Inc. Consulting Engineers. After Thomas Klenke retired in the mid-1990s, the firm's name reverted to Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer. The firm closed in 2010 with the death of Robert Pretzinger.

Colonial Theater, Dayton

Albert Pretzinger's work included the Colonial Theater (later the RKO Colonial Theatre) on Ludlow Street. It featured premium reserve balcony seating, twenty individual dressing rooms, and two chorus rooms. Showings changed from

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

to movies, and then

western movie The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

s and burlesque shows as management sought to capture a profitable audience. The 1,800-seat theater hosted Dayton's first "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

s" on September 22, 1928 with showings of '' Lights of New York'' bringing in the throngs. The theater had its own chorus, the Colonialettes, and a band during its prime, and acts who took the stage included the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

, and Ozzie & Harriet. In 1930, the Colonial became part of RKO and started showing second-run and

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

s. By 1964 the theater was sold to St. John's Lutheran Church and was demolished to build a new church.Jon Flyn
Cinema Treasures
/ref> Records from the Pretzinger firms were donated to

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

by Robert Pretzinger in 1994.Pretzinger Architectural Collection
MS-153 Wright State University

Projects

* Rudolph Pretzinger House, 908 S. Main St, Dayton * Duncarrick Mansion, an example of American provincial architecture with Tudor detail. Designed by Peters, Burns and Pretzinger and listed on the NRHP. Birthplace and lifelong residence of Katharine Kennedy Brown (1891–1986), daughter of Grafton C. Kennedy. Brown began her political activities in 1920, shortly after women won

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

, and served as Ohio's

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

national Committeewoman from 1932 through 1968. * First Lutheran Church, 138 West First Street, designed by Peters, Burns, & Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio. The Late Gothic Revival church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. *RKO Colonial Theatre (1912), an 1810-seat theater at 141 S. Ludlow Street Dayton, Ohio (demolished) *

Commercial Building Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

, designed by Peters, Burns and Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio (1908), added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

(NRHP) in 1982. * Dayton Fire Station No. 14 at 1422 N. Main St., designed by Peters, Burns & Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio. Mission/Spanish Revival style building added to the

in 1980. * Springfield High School (1909–1911), a Beaux Arts style building designed by Albert Pretzinger: from one-room schools and Carnegie ... Modeled after the Library of Congress building in Washington D.C.Preservation Priorities
Springfield Preservation Alliance *

Dayton Daily News Building The Dayton Daily News Building is a historic structure located at the corner of 4th and Ludlow Streets in Dayton, Ohio. It was designed by architect Albert Pretzinger for ''Dayton Daily News'' founder James M. Cox. According to Cox's autobiograph ...

at the corner of 4th and Ludlow Streets in

, designed by Albert Pretzinger. Added to the

1978. *

University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...

, Pretzinger and Pretzinger Architects and Engineers (1969) *

Reibold Building The Reibold Building in Dayton, Ohio was the area's tallest building from the time of its completion in 1896 until 1904 (when the first part of the Centre City Building, then known as the United Brethren Building, was completed). The Reibold ...

in Dayton, Ohio. Peters Burns and Pretzinger are credited as architects as well as Dayton native

Charles Insco Williams Charles Insco Williams (December 12, 1853 - February 13, 1923) was an artist and architect in Dayton, Ohio. Biography He was born on December 12, 1853, to Mary Forman and John Insco Williams. His father seems to have been an accomplished pain ...

* Adam Schantz buildings, in Dayton, Ohio * Theodore Marston House / Major Renovation 1918 214 S. Main St. Middletown, Ohio * Sorg Mansion / Major Renovation 1901 in Middletown, Ohio * Sorg Opera House / Major Renovation 1906 in Middletown, Ohio

References

{{Reflist Architecture firms based in Ohio People from Dayton, Ohio 1863 births