Please join APT WGLC on August 14, to tour the historic Hollywood Theater in Minneapolis, MN!
With its highly coordinated interior color scheme and original detailing, the Hollywood Theater designed by the architectural firm Liebenberg and Kaplan is one of the most intact Art Deco theaters remaining in Minnesota. The Hollywood Theater operated as a movie theater from its opening in 1935 until it closed in 1987. The property has been vacant and dark since 1987. Redevelopment of the Hollywood Theater was a challenge similar to that which plagues many Main Streets and commercial nodes throughout the country: the neighborhood movie theater stands empty with the lights off and without a viable reuse. The spatial configuration of a theater combined with the lack of windows makes an economically viable reuse nearly impossible. A phased project was developed so that the exterior could be stabilized and restored with a multi-purpose event center reuse for the main auditorium. This tour will present the key design features of the Hollywood Theater, its main reuse challenges, and the main rehabilitation treatments that were sensitively introduced to the building.
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