The Mount Baker Theatre (officially abbreviated MBT) is a 1,517-seat performing arts venue and

national historic landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

. The theater hosts professional productions and concerts as well as community performances from the north of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

. The theater's main stage is the largest theatrical venue in Washington north of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

's Paramount and

5th Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

. The Mount Baker Theatre was designed by architect

Robert Reamer Robert Chambers Reamer (1873–1938) was an American architect, most noted for the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their architecture. Reamer was ...

(who also designed Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre) in a

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

–

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

style. Popular legend holds that the building is haunted by a ghost named Judy. The facility is owned by the city of Bellingham and managed by the

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

Mount Baker Theatre organization, headed by president Gary Barnett and executive director Brad Burdick.

Facility

The Mount Baker Theatre occupies half a city block. It has three distinct facilities for concerts, live theater, films, receptions, and other events. All public facilities, except the balcony, are fully

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accessible. Some non-public facilities, such as backstage and storage spaces, may not be accessible.

Main Theater

The main theater contains large stage facing floor and balcony seating. Using the main floor and balcony,

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

is 1,517 people. An orchestra pit sits five feet below the stage and can hold 25 musicians. The theater has a professional lighting and sound system, a large movie screen and projection room, and a historic pipe organ.

Encore Room

The Encore Room is a reception hall or meeting space in the southern portion of the theater. It can accommodate 120 people in standard seating and 60-80 seated at tables. A kitchen is adjacent to the room.

Walton Theater

The Walton Theatre is named in honor of Harold and Irene Walton. It is a smaller performance space west of the main theater. There are attached restrooms and a kitchen.

Events

The Mount Baker Theatre hosts a variety events including live theater, concerts, movies, arts festivals, and comedy shows.

Architecture

History

The Mount Baker Theater was built in 1927 to provide entertainment for a growing city. It was designed by architect Robert Reamer. Originally, it held live theater and concerts. A screen was added later to show silent movies. The theater was in a historic part of downtown. Bellingham's Carnegie library was just south of the theater. The Bellingham Tower stands tall to the theater's west. The tower was built as a luxurious hotel; it is an office building with a café at street level. At 15 stories, it is the tallest building in Bellingham and

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan ...

. The original City Hall, built in 1891, stands two blocks west of the theater and is home to the Whatcom Museum. The Bellingham Bank Building, Federal Building, and Crown Plaza are within a few blocks to the southeast.

Ghost

For decades, theater staff have reported unusual phenomena, which has led to an urban legend of a ghost. In August 2010, paranormal investigators, affiliated with the

Syfy Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

's show Ghost Hunters, and

psychics A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

spent a night in the theater to find evidence of paranormal activity.

References

External links

Mount Baker Theatre official siteMount Baker Theatre Organ SocietyWhatcom Symphony Orchestra
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bellingham, Washington Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Robert Reamer buildings Moorish Revival architecture in Washington (state) Spanish Revival architecture in Washington (state) Theatres completed in 1927 Tourist attractions in Bellingham, Washington National Register of Historic Places in Whatcom County, Washington Public venues with a theatre organ