State Palace Theatre is a performing arts venue located in downtown New Orleans,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. It is located at the uptown

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

corner of Canal Street and

Rampart Street Rampart Street (french: rue du Rempart) is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The section of Rampart Street downriver from Canal Street is designated as North Rampart Street, which forms the inland or northern border of the Fr ...

. The Saenger Theater is directly opposite the State Palace on Canal Street. The theatre was constructed in 1926 for the

Loew's Theatre Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, is an American theater chain operating in North America. From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM). The company was originally ca ...

circuit. It had a seating capacity of 3,335 and also contained a 3/13 Robert Morton organ.

Lew Cody Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films ...

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

Jack Mulhall John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years. Early years Mu ...

Dorothy Mackaill Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 – August 12, 1990) was a British-American actress, most active during the silent-film era and into the pre-Code era of the early 1930s. Early life Born in Sculcoates, Kingston upon Hull in 1903 (although she l ...

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1940 and ...

Dorothy Phillips Dorothy Phillips (born Dorothy Gwendolyn Strible, October 30, 1889 – March 1, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her emotional performances in melodramas, having played a number of "brow beaten" women on screen, bu ...

Lloyd Hamilton Lloyd Vernon Hamilton (August 19, 1891 – January 19, 1935) was an American film comedian, best remembered for his work in the silent era. Career Having begun his career as an extra in theatre-productions, Hamilton first appeared on film in ...

, and Dorothy Mason were among the stars who appeared on stage with

Marcus Loew Marcus Loew (May 7, 1870 - September 5, 1927) was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loew's Theatres and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio (MGM). Life and career Loew was born in New York City, ...

when the theatre opened on Easter Sunday, April 3, 1926. It was named simply, State Theatre. The theatre showed

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s and hosted many live performances in the early days. As time went on, the silent films were replaced with talking pictures and eventually the prized 3/13 Robert Morton organ was destroyed in a flood. In 1976, the State Theatre was tripled. After closing as a movie house in the late-1980s, the partition was removed, and the State Theatre was restored and renamed, as the State Palace Theatre, showing classic movies and offering concerts. The State Palace Theater was the epicenter of the southern rave scene in the mid-1990s hosting the world's top DJs. The documentary "Rise: Story of Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie" highlights the rave scene at the State Palace Theater. The theater flooded in 2005's Hurricane Katrina levee failure disaster. Some clean-up was done, allowing it to open for a few raves through 2007; but the building was in need of serious renovation and was closed by the fire marshal after it was sold to new owners.

Planned rebirth

City Officials and

Broadway South Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

planned to reopen the theater for the 2010–11 season. Renovations were set to take place in the summer of 2009, but were never started. In August 2014 it was announced the State Palace Theater had been purchased by New Orleans developer Gregor Fox. Fox confirmed the purchase to

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart Street ...

. Fox indicated he planned to renovate both the interior and exterior of the historic building and put the property back into commercial use. Fox said he wanted the space to contribute to the city's arts community and was excited about the redevelopment. Fox decided to sell the theater in 2015, after learning the restoration he planned would cost as much as $40 million. A new developer, LC Hospitality Group, submitted a proposal to the Central Business District Architectural Review Committee on April 24, 2018. The proposal is to gut most of the theater's interior and construct a 9-story, 132-room hotel. The plans, drawn up by the architectural firm of Trapolin-Peer, include a parking garage.

References

External links

Official web siteRecent photographs by Matt LambrosProfile at Cinema Treasures
Music venues in Louisiana Theatres in New Orleans Cinemas and movie theaters in Louisiana Music of New Orleans Loew's Theatres buildings and structures Movie palaces {{NewOrleans-stub

Planned rebirth

See also

References

External links