 Buildings on Southwest Broadway in Portland during the 1973 energy crisis. | |
  Fox Theatre Location in Portland, Oregon | |
| Former names |
|
|---|---|
| Location | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 45°31′06″N122°40′50″W / 45.51837°N 122.68043°W /45.51837; -122.68043 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | July 22, 1910 (1910-07-22) |
| Demolished | 1997 |
TheFox Theatre (formerly known as theHeilig,Rialto, andMayfair) was a theatre building located at the intersection of Southwest Broadway and Taylor Street inPortland, Oregon, in the United States.[1]
The Heilig auditorium was designed by E. W. Houghton and opened on July 22, 1910.[2] The theatre was initially used as an opera house, and notably staged a production of Zandonai'sConchita starring sopranoTarquinia Tarquini in 1912.[3] The theatre was a frequent stop for the Lambardi Grand Opera Company; a touring opera company based out of California that was founded by impresarioMario Lambardi. TheBoston Opera Company toured to the theatre in 1916; giving a performance ofL'amore dei tre re starring sopranoMaggie Teyte.[4] In 1929, the Paramount-Publix chain began leasing the theatre and showingdouble feature film and vaudeville shows. The company added a marquee and talking equipment, but only operated the venue for two years due to the Great Depression. Under the J. J. Parker chain, the theatre was renamed the Mayfair. It hosted double features and road show stage performances[5]
The Mayfair closed in October 1953 to undergo a nine-month restoration, becoming part of Fox West Coast Theatre's CinemaScope line of movie theaters. The local architectural firm Dougan and Heims oversaw the building's conversion.[6] To promote the theatre's reopening,20th Century Fox chartered an airplane and brought celebrities to Portland, includingRex Allen,Edward Arnold,Van Heflin,Rita Moreno,Mary Murphy, Johnnie Ray, andMamie Van Doren. City and state officials, along with members of the public, greeted the celebrities atPortland International Airport.[7] The venue, billed as the "Million Dollar" Fox Theatre, opened on August 12, 1954.[8] It featured the second largest screen in the United States (two feet smaller than the screen at theRoxy Theatre in New York City).[9] The theatre opened to the public the following day (August 13), screeningBroken Lance (1954).[10]
The Fox stopped screening films regularly in September 1990, then hosted occasional special events before the venue was demolished in 1997. The block is now occupied by theFox Tower.[11]