The Sunrise Theatre (also known as the Sunrise Building) is a historic

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

Fort Pierce Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It is located at 117 South 2nd Street.

History

Built in 1923 by builder C.E. Cahow, the Sunrise Theatre was designed in the

Mediterranean Revival Style Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

by architect John N. Sherwood. Opening day was August 1, 1923 as a vaudeville house. The theatre earned its reputation for becoming the cultural center of the city of Fort Pierce as well as being the greatest and biggest cultural institution in Florida at the time. At the time it had the largest stage between

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. It was designed for plays, movies and variety shows. In 1930 the young A.E. Backus became resident artist for the theater. Backus created displays and posters for the theatre's films and celebrity appearances.

Closure & renaissance

The theater closed in 1983 after it had fallen into disrepair. In 1997, the St. Lucie Preservation Association Inc. bought the building. It later partially reopened in 1999 after a $750,000 grant was awarded to renovate and restore the structure to its former condition. After a complete renovation including adding additional support areas in 2005, the venue opened on January 6, 2006. On December 7, 2001, it was added to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 ...

. It now presents a wide variety of entertainment events from local groups to world-famous artists such as

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Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

, 3 Dog Night,

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Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

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, the late

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

plus world renowned Operas, Broadway Shows, Ballet performances, and various Rock and Jazz concerts. On February 5, 2020

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...

made his last full performance at the Sunrise Theatre as he was backed by the Strangers. The theater received $1 million grant in 2021 from the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and stren ...

to help keep it afloat during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The grant came through the ''Shuttered Venues Operator program'', a part of the

American Rescue Plan The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to s ...

References

External List

St. Lucie County listings
a
National Register of Historic Places

an
Spherical panorama views of the finished theater on stage at the Sunrise
an
in the balcony
fro
i-ota.net's Panoramas of the Treasure Coast, Kennedy Space Center, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, and Stuart
Fort Pierce, Florida Buildings and structures in St. Lucie County, Florida Cinemas and movie theaters in Florida Theatres completed in 1923 National Register of Historic Places in St. Lucie County, Florida Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Tourist attractions in St. Lucie County, Florida Mediterranean Revival architecture in Florida 1923 establishments in Florida {{US-theat-struct-stub

History

Closure & renaissance

See also

References

External List