The Paramount Theatre was a movie palace in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building was designed by Philip T. Shutze and was completed in 1920 as the Howard Theatre, a name it kept until 1929. It was located at 169 Peachtree Street, in an area that soon became the location of several other major theaters, earning it the nickname "Broadway of the South". With a seating capacity of 2,700, it was at the time the second largest movie theater in the world, behind only the Capitol Theatre in New York City. In addition to functioning as a movie theater, the building hosted live performances, with several nationally renowned orchestras playing at the venue through the 1940s and Elvis Presley playing at the theater in 1956. By the 1950s, however, movie palaces faced increased competition from smaller movie theaters and the rise in popularity of television, and the Paramount was demolished in 1960.
History
Background and construction
The of land in downtown Atlanta on which the theater would eventually be built traded hands several times throughout the late 1800s before it was sold to Asa Griggs Candler for $97,000 on November 30, 1909. Candler sold the land on April 17, 1911, to brothers Forrest and George W. Adair Jr. for $120,000. On March 28, 1919, the Adairs agreed to lease the land to C. B. and George Troup Howard, the latter of whom was a successful cotton merchant. The lease was granted on the condition that a theater be built on the property, which at this time had a valuation of $625,000. The theater's value, including its equipment, was to be greater than $250,000. At the end of the 25-year lease, the property, including the theater, would revert to the Adairs. Prior to the theater's construction, several one-story commercial stores were located on the property.
The design of this new building, to be called the Howard Theatre, was handled by the Atlanta-based architectural firm of Hentz, Reid & Adler, with Philip T. Shutze serving as the building's architect. He drew up the designs in 1919 and construction started shortly thereafter. Construction costs for the project reached roughly $1 million, which was considered a monumental sum for a theater at this time. Upon completion, the building and its equipment were valued at over $750,000, far exceeding the terms set in the lease. While an August 1920 issue of The City Builder (published by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce) stated that the theater would be open by October 1, 1920, it was not open to the public until early December of that year.
Theater in operation
Upon its opening, the theater was well received by the general public. Contemporary publications in the city called it one of the "show spots of the city" and the "wonder theater of the South", while historian Franklin Garrett later called the building "by far the most palatial movie house ever erected in the city". The construction of the Howard was considered the start of a major boom of movie palaces in the city, with the Metropolitan Theater, which had been under construction at the same time as the Howard, opening shortly afterwards. The Howard had been built along Peachtree Street near Loew's Grand Theatre, an area which soon became known as the "Broadway of the South" in reference to the numerous theaters there.