Area Highlands NRHP Reference # 78000844 Opened 1890 Added to NRHP 21 March 1978 | Built 1890 CSRHP # 5DV.143 Phone +1 720-593-9395 | |
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Location W. 38th Ave. and Tennyson St., Denver, Colorado Address 4655 W 37th Ave, Denver, CO 80212, USA Architectural styles Queen Anne style architecture, Stick style, Shingle style architecture Similar Elitch Gardens, Rocky Mountains, Elitch Gardens Theme P, Lakeside Amusement Park, Avenue Theater Profiles | ||
The Historic Elitch Theatre is located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. Opened in 1890, it was centerpiece of the park that was the first zoo west of Chicago. The theatre was Denver's first professional theatre, serving as home to America's first and oldest summer-stock theatre company from 1893 until the 1960s. The first films in the western US were shown there in 1896. Cecil B. DeMille sent yearly telegrams wishing the theatre another successful season, calling it "one of the cradles of American drama."
Contents
- The ghosts of elitch theatre trailer
- History
- Restoration
- Stars Who Appeared at The Elitch Theatre
- References
The theatre closed in 1991 and exterior restoration on the historic auditorium was completed in 2007. Fundraising continues for interior renovations before opening to the public. The vision is to reopen as a year-round multimedia performing arts complex for the community offering education, film, live music, and theatre.
The ghosts of elitch theatre trailer
History
John Elitch and Mary Elitch Long first opened Elitch Gardens on May 1, 1890, with animals, bands, flowers and an open-air theatre where Mayor Londoner of Denver spoke. Inspired by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the first shows were vaudeville acts by accomplished local and national performers. In 1891 the theatre was enclosed and rebuilt for $100,000. The Boston Opera Company performed musicals, and light opera starting with The Pirates of Penzance. In 1893 the first summer stock theatre company, the Norcross Company, was organized in the East and brought to the gardens. Vaudeville shows continued until 1900.
In 1896, Edison's Vitascope was exhibited at the theatre showing the first films in Colorado.
The Elitch Gardens Stock Theatre Company began performing in 1897 under the management of Mary Elitch Long. Its first season in 1897 opened with leading man James O'Neill, who had promised John that he would act in the new theatre when it was ready. The first show performed there was Helene. The company became known for putting on ten plays in a ten-week summer season and attracting internationally known stars of the theatre and screen.
Sarah Bernhardt came to Denver in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake destroyed the California Theatre where she was scheduled to perform. At Elitch's she played Camille at the matinée and LaSorcier at night. Douglas Fairbanks was hired into the same company. Prior in 1905, he was hired to sweep the stage for theatre tickets. Operating the park became too costly for Mary Elitch. With the purchase of Elitch Gardens by John Mulvihill in 1916, she relinquished control of the Gardens and theatre. (two theatre boxes were always reserved for her and her friends). Mulvihill oversaw the theatre until his death in 1930 and was succeeded by his son-in-law Arnold Gurtler.
In 1953, the Elitch Theatre was used to film scenes for The Glenn Miller Story.
The Elitch Garden Theatre Company became its own incorporated business, separate from the Elitch Gardens Park, renting the theatre in 1963. The company stopped operating as a traditional resident summer-stock, switching to single, star-packaged shows from New York. The company had many successful years, but as time and culture changed the theatre building was neglected.
The park's Trocadero Ballroom was razed in 1975. Fearing a similar fate, the community added the theatre to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The Elitch Theatre Company's last season was in 1987. The park booked the "Incredible Acrobats of China" for a season, then one night musical acts before it was officially closed in 1991. The Robber Bridegroom was performed with Patrick Cassidy for the theatre's centennial anniversary. Actor Raymond Burr raised $2 million for an educational program at the theatre. The money was instead donated to local Cole Middle School.
The Elitch Gardens amusement park moved to the current central Platte Valley location in 1994. The new $94 million park was opened in 1995 with attendance reaching one million. Two fires in 1995 on the old Gardens property near the theatre cause public outcry for additional security. The original Elitch property was sold to Perry Rose LLC in 1996 with the conditions that the theatre and carousel shell never be demolished.
A nonprofit organization, the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation, was formed in 2002 to raise funds, maintain, preserve and restore the Elitch Gardens Theatre and carousel pavilion. In 2006, groundbreaking for the renovation of the theatre began with restoring the building's exterior, including a cement foundation for the building.
As of 2010, the exterior restoration of the building is complete but the interior remains unrestored. In 2011, Barbara Medill, a friend of Mary Elitch Long, donated some of Long's possessions to the Foundation, including an engraved silver table setting. After a massive volunteer cleanup, the interior was opened for Doors Open Denver in April 2012. Musicians and Shakespearean performers were the first acts on stage in the 22 years since the building closed.
Restoration
In 2006, the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation received $5 million in federal, state, city, grants and private donations. Work began on saving and restoring the historic exterior. A concrete foundation was poured under the exterior walls, replacing beams supported by stones resting upon bare ground. The roof, gable, main entrance/lobby, and exterior walls were replaced and painted.
In 2011, the hand-painted decorative historic "Anne Hathaway" curtain, (oil on canvas: circa early 1900's), was removed and stored, after water damage and tears in the fabric were found: (the curtain was rolled and stored in a backstage room at the theatre.) There was also extensive erosion to areas of the theatre owing to neglect and disuse. Vermin in the theatre were evicted in 2011, and volunteers removed their excrement.
2012: Roof repaired in the fly building due to leaks above the stage. The repairs were not suitable, and the roof still has some leaks. Toddler swimming pools have replaced buckets in the back stage area. 2013/2014: A fire suppression sprinkler system was installed, and restoration work for code compliance and safety issues was instituted.
2016: "Curtains Without Borders" (a non-profit organization promulgating proper storage etiquette of antiquated theatre curtains and drapes.) Representatives from the group gave a lecture at the Elitch Theatre about theatre grand drapes and curtains. They were asked to review the Elitch Theatre's "Anne Hathaway" grand drape and consult on its restoration. The drape was removed from storage, and unrolled by CWB representatives and theatre volunteers who discovered improper storage. The drape was illegible, and the paint dissolved into dust as the curtain was unrolled. The curtain was displayed on the backstage theatre floor for lecture attendees to view. Those who regarding it as a piece of Colorado history were devastated that it had been destroyed by time and neglect.
Interior historic restoration work is still needed. Currently without plumbing or air conditioning, the building needs modernization while preserving the original woodwork and design. Fundraising continues by the Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation to reach those goals.