The Poncan Theatre is a historic theater in

Ponca City, Oklahoma Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...

. It is individually listed on 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 ...

, and is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

of the

Downtown Ponca City Historic District The Downtown Ponca City Historic District is a area of historic buildings in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The historic district (United States), historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. The listing included 1 ...

History

The Poncan Theatre was designed by the

Boller Brothers Boller Brothers, often written Boller Bros., was an architectural firm based in Kansas City, Missouri which specialized in theater design in the Midwestern United States during the first half of the 20th century. Carl Heinrich Boller (1868–1946 ...

and opened on September 20, 1927. The building and its equipment cost $280,000, and it housed a $22,500

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

pipe organ. The building served as a combination

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 ...

–movie theater from its opening until the late 1940s when the vaudeville component was discontinued. In 1939, the marquee was replaced with a neon-lit one. In 1954, the marquee was enlarged, obscuring much of the theater's second floor, and was enlarged again in 1962. In 1985, the theater closed; in 1990, the Poncan Theatre Company was founded to revive it. The building was renovated, which included the removal of the marquee in 1992 and replacement with one matching the 1927 original. The theater reopened on September 18, 1994. Ponca Theatre

The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1984. It was nominated for its local significance as the finest example of

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In th ...

in Ponca City and its role as an entertainment venue. In 2001, additional documentation on the theater was submitted, revealing that the theater was designed by the

, not

John Duncan Forsyth John Duncan Forsyth (1886 or 1887–1963) was a Scottish-American architect who became prominent in Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa and working in a variety of styles, he was connected with a number of significant buildings around the state. Biogr ...

as originally identified in the 1984 nomination. In 2011, the theater was designated a

of the newly listed

. At the time, the Poncan Theatre was the only site in the district previously listed on the National Register.

Architecture

The north-facing theater is a three-story building that extends wide. The first floor has a stone facade, while the upper floors are clad in polychrome brick. The facade features a large, central curvilinear gable

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

rimmed with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

ornamentation and five

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. The midline of the gable features a two-story rectangular window with

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

sidelights, topped by a circular stained glass

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

window highlighted by a terra cotta sunburst. The central window is rimmed by spiralled

Corinthian column The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

s and flanked by three rectangular windows on both sides on the second and third stories. Above is a terra cotta cornice supporting a red-tiled

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. The central entrance is recessed behind the box office, and on either side is a shallow store front.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{commonscat-inline, Poncan Theatre, position=left Cinemas and movie theaters in Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Kay County, Oklahoma Theatres completed in 1927 Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Kay County, Oklahoma Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Oklahoma

History

Architecture

See also

References

Bibliography

External links