The Palace Theatre is a 2,695-seat restored

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. Wi ...

located at 34 W. Broad Street in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. It was designed and built in 1926 by the American architect Thomas W. Lamb as part of the American Insurance Union Citadel (now the LeVeque Tower). Today the theater functions as a multi-use performing arts venue. It is owned and operated by The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. The Palace Theater's "house" is considered separate from LeVeque Tower, while the marquee and lobby are part of the LeVeque complex.

History

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The Palace Theatre was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in his signature "Adam" style, reminiscent of the 18th century neo-classical work of the Scottish architects

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

and

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

. Originally named the Keith-Albee Theatre, its construction was personally supervised by the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

mogul

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

of the Keith-Albee circuit. It opened in 1926 as the Keith-Albee Palace and featured live vaudeville along with silent feature films, an orchestra and "Miss Buckeye", a Style 260 3/16 Mighty

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 ...

Theatre Pipe Organ. The dressing room tower in the backstage area was designed as a small hotel, complete with a "front desk", where performers picked up their room keys and mail. Kitchen facilities and a children’s playroom were available. The dressing rooms are named after cities on the vaudeville touring routes. The under-stage room includes an animal shower and small sanitary stable, along with a ramp built for hoofed animals to help facilitate their transport to and from the stage during the Vaudeville era. In 1929, the Keith-Albee Palace was renamed the

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

(Radio Keith Orpheum) Palace. The theater was closed as a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

by RKO in 1975. It was later renovated and preserved by owner Katherine LeVeque as a home for Opera Columbus and touring Broadway shows. In 1989, the Palace Theatre was purchased by the non-profit theater management company CAPA, which consolidated its administrative functions with those of the Ohio Theatre. The Palace now hosts performances by the

Columbus Symphony Orchestra The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Columbus, Ohio. The oldest performing arts organization in the city, its home is the Ohio Theatre. The orchestra's current executive director is Denise Rehg. R ...

, the Jazz Arts Group, the Broadway Series, and scores of CAPA-sponsored shows. The Palace's Wurlitzer organ was removed in 1968 by the Central Ohio Theatre Organ Society “COTOS”. In 1976, COTOS formed an agreement with Worthington City Schools to install the organ inside the new Hottenroth Auditorium at

Thomas Worthington High School Thomas Worthington High School (TWHS) is a public school in Worthington, Ohio. The school was named Worthington High School until 1991, when sister school, Worthington Kilbourne High School, opened. With approximately 1700 students, TWHS is the ...

Worthington, Ohio Worthington is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States, and is a northern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 14,786. The city was founded in 1803 by the Scioto Company led by ...

. In 2022, Worthington voters passed a tax levy calling for the demolition & re-construction of Thomas Worthington High School. The organ, having sat dormant since COTOS dissolved almost a decade prior, was removed & placed in storage in May 2024 prior to the auditorium’s demolition, which was completed in August.

References

External links

*
Palace Theatre at CAPA website
{{Authority control 1926 establishments in Ohio Concert halls in Ohio Culture of Columbus, Ohio Buildings and structures in Downtown Columbus, Ohio Landmarks in Ohio Movie palaces Theatres completed in 1926 Theatres in Columbus, Ohio Thomas W. Lamb buildings Broad Street (Columbus, Ohio)